View Full Version : PB RAM Buying Advice needed
intlplby
2005-02-06, 19:12
i am looking to buy a 1GB SODIMM for my 12" powerbook to replace the 512GB stick in it at the moment and i have one question.
if a G5 powerbook came out would it most likely use the same type of RAM as my 12 inch powerbook (same size format and speed) or would it use a different type of RAM ?
i want be able to take this 1GB and stick it in a G5 PB when they finally come out without having a 1GB which might be a bottleneck for in comparison to the built in powerbook RAM
also..... is there any real difference in the cheaper 1GB sticks from a place like memorytogo.com in comparison to a place like crucial..... i know crucial is the better known brand, but there is a huge difference in price
I'm very new to the Mac world (I'm getting my first as soon as Apple ships it), so someone correct me if I'm wrong.
The G5 runs at a much higher FSB than the G4, and uses significantly faster RAM. The current G4 Powerbooks use PC2700 (*CORRECTED*), which is pretty much the slowest DDR RAM you can get; I don't know what the G5 uses. If you buy ram that is much faster than what the PB G4 can take advantage of, it may be useable later, but obviously no guarantees. Most ram will run just fine at slower speeds than it is rated.
Going with dirt-cheap ram is rarely a good deal, as it can be unstable. I've head on various forums that Apple computer are even more sensitive in this way than PCs, so it's likely any no-name ram you go with will cause more headaches than the savings are worth.
I think that you can use faster RAM in a slow bus without harm but it doesn't work the other way around, with slow RAM in a fast bus. I think Apple is doing that with the Mac Mini in some cases, using faster RAM even if it doesn't support the speed. So I would say buy what ever speed is used in the current G5's and you should be reasonably safe with that once PBooks go G5, unless Apple uses DDR2 or some other strange design.
Yes, the current PowerBooks use PC2700, but you can use PC3200 with no problems. Then if the PowerBook G5s take PC3200, you're set. If they take DDR2, then you'd have to rebuy.
Now the question is where to get it from. I've heard some bad reports of Kingston RAM not working properly in Macs. Other World Computing is a good place to get RAM, but they don't sell PC3200 laptop RAM, so it's not the best option. Crucial is definitely your best bet, but there are plenty of cheaper options that will probably work fine. Here (http://dealram.com/prices/39/1GB.html) is a list of places selling 1 GB, PC3200 SO-DIMMs. Looks like it'll be a little over $200.
intlplby
2005-02-07, 13:08
i know crucial is always the best bet but they are almost 2X as expensive
what's the likelyhood that it'll be DDR2 instead of just a 3200 SODIMM
alright.... i went with the PQi memory from newegg.com..... at $200 the worst that could happen is it doesn't work and i pay a 15% restocking fee (~30) ..... i can make that gamble.....
or if it doesnt work i could do an RMA twice on it and newegg refunds the full amount and doesn't charge restocking fee.
i know crucial is always the best bet but they are almost 2X as expensive
what's the likelyhood that it'll be DDR2 instead of just a 3200 SODIMM
alright.... i went with the PQi memory from newegg.com..... at $200 the worst that could happen is it doesn't work and i pay a 15% restocking fee (~30) ..... i can make that gamble.....
or if it doesnt work i could do an RMA twice on it and newegg refunds the full amount and doesn't charge restocking fee.
(First post here,......ON MY BRAND SPANKIN' NEW 12" SD PB!!!) Let me know how this ram works for you, I originally ordered a BTO from Apple with 768 meg, but after checking the shipping date over and over and over, I cancelled with Apple and ordered from MacMAll yesterday and got it TODAY! Stock 512 meg though, let me know on the PQI.
intlplby
2005-02-10, 13:58
Brand: PQi
SODIMM DDR400 PC3200 1GB of RAM
~$200
works totally fine ...... i got it from NewEgg
i ran TechTools 4 ram tests and it passed fine.......
finally my laptop isn't so sluggish when doing stuff that requires a lot of RAM
I bought a 1GB stick from Newegg for my new 15" PB. No problems at all:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-155-111&depa=0
I've heard some bad reports of Kingston RAM not working properly in Macs.
Bought me the same Kingston stick (as the previous poster) for my new PB, but it hasn't shipped yet so I've have yet to see if it works. I hope your wrong Luca...
I'm just reporting what I've heard. Some people have problems and I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't. Let's hope it works out for you!
donniedarko
2005-02-10, 21:06
Hey guys,
I am currently looking for 2 1gig sticks for my brand spanking new 15" powerbook. I was looking at the ram over at new egg and also at other world computing and besides the $50-$100 price difference between the 2 sites and the name brand of the actual ram what are the differences between the 2 sticks of ram? any help to clear this up for me would be greatly appreciated. I just kind of want to order the best option for my little guy... ahh sweet little guy. thanks for your time.
darko
Well I ordered the Kingston 1gig 333, I'll report back how it works.
ironlung
2005-02-12, 22:13
isnt kingston supposed to a good ram company? Im really confused abt what ram do buy.. can some of u guys list the companies u have bought them from? I mean people who have been using RAM not bought from apple for a few months at least..
I've had good luck (and great prices) with transintl.com in the past. See:
http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2578&RequestTimeOut=500
What's the difference in RAM bought from apple.com?
Is it apple brand or who do they use? Is it best to go with apple ram at edu prices?
Thanks,
Matt.
Moving to the Purchasing Advice forum...
Apple has a contract with a RAM manufacturer(s?) with a set price (thus explaining why Apple's prices are sometimes much higher than the market rate and sometimes is actually competitive), but I do not know who that manufacturer is.
I heard it was Samsung. I haven't seen Samsung RAM for sale in places like NewEgg, but I have seen RAM chips with the Samsung label on some video cards.
I heard it was Samsung. I haven't seen Samsung RAM for sale in places like NewEgg, but I have seen RAM chips with the Samsung label on some video cards.
Is my safest bet just to buy from apple and not temp my fate? Or is it a safe bet to try RAM above?
Matt.
You really don't have to buy Apple's RAM. It's a ripoff. If you really don't want to shop around and find a better deal, at least go to Crucial to buy it and you'll save $50-$100 depending on how much you get. Crucial does charge a lot but it's probably worth it. But I'd suggest Other World Computing, Transintl, or WeLoveMacs if you want to get a good deal on RAM. All of those places have RAM for pretty cheap, and they should be of fine quality.
donniedarko
2005-02-15, 21:10
You can get Samsung ram over at Other World Computing. They say "Same module Apple offers factory installed!" and have it listed about $40.00 higher than their generic but still way cheaper than Apple.
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=213&type=Memory&TI=%23TimeFormat%28Now%28%29%2C+&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades
The New Egg ram Kingmax is still the cheapest i have found.
darko
codpilot
2005-02-16, 15:01
Bought the kingmax from newegg, laptop is sitting in China, somehow that is "shipped" :confused: Two days in China, hmmm.
I let you know how the kingmax 1G sodimm works as soon as the box arrives :)
ironlung
2005-02-16, 15:53
codpilot could you please send me a private message and let me know how kingmax turns out for u? Ive really never heard good things abt kingmax, although the reviews vary. Thanks!
thanks to everyone for their advice..
Well I ordered the Kingston 1gig 333, I'll report back how it works.
Whoops, I meant KINGMAX! It arrived today from Newegg, just got done running memtest and passed all tests. ;)
ironlung
2005-02-16, 18:33
interestingly..kingmax has a compatibility list (http://www.kingmax.com/product/test.asp) where it says it has ram that is compatible with apple.
mama's left eye
2005-02-16, 19:56
isnt kingston supposed to a good ram company? Im really confused abt what ram do buy.. can some of u guys list the companies u have bought them from? I mean people who have been using RAM not bought from apple for a few months at least..
I bought a 512Mb Kingston stick for my new powerbook. Works fine. No hiccups. It was fairly cheap too. Bought it at Best Buy for $85 and I get $20 back through mail in rebate.
My kingston stick worked (1 GB for PB 12") bought at newegg
codpilot
2005-02-18, 23:30
Ditto for me, got the new powerbook and to make a long story short. Installed memory, ran hardware test, powerbook is loving 1.5G of memory!!
So does it impact battery life? I have no idea. so far I have been running Itunes, Xcode, 5 Safari pages, 6 Finder pages, and a couple of terminals - no delay in switching between screens at all. :eek:
In the next few days I do a compile test or some such (still have to decide - I'm installing the development toolchains as I spealk - just now downloading the devdocs (325M worth) disk image - while doing all the rest above.
Man I hate XP and love this OS!! too many years of fixing that stuff I guess.
Anyway the bottom line is the kingmax memory is working like a charm. I may even go for the next 1G and round it up a bit 8)
What a great day.
Ditto for me, got the new powerbook and to make a long story short. Installed memory, ran hardware test, powerbook is loving 1.5G of memory!!
So does it impact battery life? I have no idea. so far I have been running Itunes, Xcode, 5 Safari pages, 6 Finder pages, and a couple of terminals - no delay in switching between screens at all. :eek:
In the next few days I do a compile test or some such (still have to decide - I'm installing the development toolchains as I spealk - just now downloading the devdocs (325M worth) disk image - while doing all the rest above.
Man I hate XP and love this OS!! too many years of fixing that stuff I guess.
Anyway the bottom line is the kingmax memory is working like a charm. I may even go for the next 1G and round it up a bit 8)
What a great day.
hi codpilot....i just got a PB myself...the new 12" 1.5 Ghz and would like to find out how your kingmax ram is working.....cos i heard that some bad ram messes up with OS X and causes the PB to crash....how long have u been using your kingmax ram and do u know how much a 1GB piece cost.....thanks a million!!
hey guys....been checking ard the net for advice on the ram by hynix, kingston and kingmax. really at a loss in deciding which one to get as they all have both good and bad reviews....can someone tell me which of the three is the most reliable and will not screw up my system....thanks....
I've had my Kingmax for over a week and no problems whatsoever. My system is a 12" rev D SD PB and I bought the RAM from Newegg. (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-155-111&depa=0)
thanks danm for thr info.......i amm nnow looking at buying a Corsair Ram for my 12" PB cos the sales pple were really helpful and offered me a good price on the 1Gb ram. but haven't seen much reports on the compatibility of the corsair ram on the PBs...anyone would like to share experiences?
I got the cheap kingmax newegg memory, and it fucked up my computer.
I sent it back, took about a week to get a replacement(but since I was out of town for most of that time, it felt like less) and so far the replacement works perfectly.
superditka
2005-03-11, 09:56
Hello... I'm not a big tech guy so I apologize in advance if I sound like moron by asking this but...
I'm a brand new apple convert and I just bought the upgraded 12" PB (my first mac) about 1.5 months ago. I would like to upgrade my memory and it sounds like people are having success with this www.newegg.com place BUT... how the heck do I know which memory will work with my PB? I think I want to go with the 1GB but I went to the site and I have no clue about which memory will work and which won't.
HELP!
Well Wrao had problems with it, but my Kingmax 1GB is still causing no problems and certainly increases system performance. Follow the link in my previous post, it's the one you want and it's about $30.00 cheaper now than when I purchased mine a month ago!
hello guys ....thanks for all the help u guys have been giving...really appreciate all the help....Well i finally upgraded my new PB 12" too and to my surpirse when the technician opened my PB to insert the new CRUCIAL piece.....we found that apple uses the same brand too.....its Micron....our questions are all answered...apple uses micron cos my new PB came with 2 pieces of 256 and the piece i took out was a micron one.....
Well Wrao had problems with it, but my Kingmax 1GB is still causing no problems and certainly increases system performance. Follow the link in my previous post, it's the one you want and it's about $30.00 cheaper now than when I purchased mine a month ago!
That's the gamble with cheap RAM. It's not inherently worse than more pricey RAM, it's just more likely to be bogus. The Second DIMM I got from NewEgg works fine, until I unplug my computer, then all the same symptoms occur. Fancy that eh? Well I'll return it again, and get another replacement, hopefully 3rd time is the charm. At least NewEgg has a great replacement service.
That's the gamble with cheap RAM. It's not inherently worse than more pricey RAM, it's just more likely to be bogus. The Second DIMM I got from NewEgg works fine, until I unplug my computer, then all the same symptoms occur. Fancy that eh? Well I'll return it again, and get another replacement, hopefully 3rd time is the charm. At least NewEgg has a great replacement service.
Yep - that sucks, but at least you're dealing with Newegg so the swaps shouldn't be too bad.
Kind of makes me shy away from getting that stick - seems like the latest fad at MacNN is some Samsung ram from eWiz... reports slowly coming in on that.
Decisions, decisions - since RAM prices are dropping I'm thinking of jumping in soon.
Based on Anandtech's Mac memory article, and PDP's memory module configurator, I think I may end up jumping in on this one:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-220-111&DEPA=0
Since their configurator recommends this on the PB's - somehow I think PDP just slapped on a special sticker for their article, since the configurator lists no similar part nos.
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