MacBook memory?

rick_x

Hi all, my other half has just bought a MacBook and she didn't want to pay over the odds for memory/RAM (from Apple) so she wants to buy 2GB separately.

The best price we can find for 2 x 1GB of DDR2 PC-5300 (667) SODIMM's is £150 from https://www.phaselogic.co.uk (but we've never heard of them), can anyone give a recommendation or beat this price?

Cheers

rsykes2000

Personally, I *never* buy unbranded memory or from shops I've never heard of for my own machines. I always go to https://www.crucial.com/uk - it might not be quite the cheapest, but top quality and guaranteed to work.

girders

Are you sure you need the 2GB as if you add in the 2x1GB you'll have to remove and "bin" (or ebay) the 512MB that's pre-installed.

Is it really worth paying for the extra 1GB chip to take you from 1.5GB up to 2GB? I know that it says for "best" performance the slots should be balanced but I'd strongly suggest seeking out comments from a mac techie group/forum as to whether this has a big difference. Certainly better to buy 1 chip from a good source than trying to get 2 for a bargain form an unknown company unless you really need to.

manhattan

be careful of crucial as they have been known to place a cookie on your pc that shows them what you have previously looked for on their site.

when you go back they boost the price up.
very cheeky

*!*HIBS*!*

manhattan wrote:

be careful of crucial as they have been known to place a cookie on your pc that shows them what you have previously looked for on their site

Make sure you delete your cookies when you go back and hopefully the prices won't have increased.

Go through Quidco for 7% cashback for sales. Based on the transaction amount excluding VAT.

Nickygoat

Never heard of PhaseLogic although they seem to sell Kingston RAM.
You could try Scan, or Orca for RAM, as well as Crucial.
Both are recommended.
Personally I would just buy 1 1GB stick and see how it works out. Then she can buy another stick later if prices drop. This would give you 1.25GB not 1.5GB.

girders wrote:

Is it really worth paying for the extra 1GB chip to take you from 1.5GB up to 2GB? I know that it says for "best" performance the slots should be balanced but I'd strongly suggest seeking out comments from a mac techie group/forum as to whether this has a big difference. Certainly better to buy 1 chip from a good source than trying to get 2 for a bargain form an unknown company unless you really need to.

The MacBook comes with 2x256MB SO-DIMMS so she wouldn't go to 1.5GB it would be 1.25GB. This should be enough (although you can never have too much RAM ) for the time being, unless she is doing stuff in FCP, Motion or Aperture - in which case an MBP would have been better

Apple themselves say that RAM should be matched, to get the best out of dual channeling, but an increase in overall RAM will more than outweigh any (limited) benefits from matching modules.

Don't forget that until CS2 goes Universal (CS3) Photoshop is going to be a bit of a dog under Rosetta. That's the only area you really need a lot of RAM.

Have a browse through MacRumors or MacOSXHints for more opinions.

rick_x

Cheers everyone, will pass on the info to her!