Comments on: Does your Mac need more memory? How to know if you need a RAM upgrade

By: MemTest for Mac OS X Tests your RAM

MemTest for Mac OS X Tests your RAM — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:33:27 +0000

[...] you have recently upgraded your Mac RAM, or if you are experiencing strange system crashes, it’s a good idea to test your memory [...]

By: DLT

DLT — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:38:49 +0000

Will I lose my email if I install new memory? I know to back everything up before installing new memory, but how do I back up email?

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:34:39 +0000

ARS does not upgrade RAM after purchase. If not self-installing, see an Apple-Authorized Service Provider.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:24:22 +0000

I love this explanation – made things perfectly clear to me! I HATE the beachball!!

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:57:46 +0000

You called it!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:19:27 +0000

I just upgraded my mac mini from 2 gigs to 8. Very easy and now works fine.I use it with a 27 inch Monitor and do a lot of raw photos….needed it and love it. Crucial was great 8 gigs 49.00.

By: all you need to know about memory and cpu performance | Kaush's Journal

all you need to know about memory and cpu performance | Kaush's Journal — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:56:35 +0000

[...] Some awesome tips from Mac OS X on when to go for a memory upgrade: [...]

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:55:16 +0000

you get a performance increase if all of the sticks are identical, so you’d be better off replacing it all to get the maximum amount supported by the machine. I use macsales.com – you can navigate to select the specific mac you have and it’ll show you how much it can use and links to buy compatible stuff.

They also have a rebate program right now where they’ll give you money for your current ram. It’s not a huge rebate amount, but it’ll offset the purchase price some.

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:52:32 +0000

Just be sure that when you go to install the RAM, shutdown the computer. I installed ram into my wife’s mac and thought was shut down, but the battery died and it had stored it’s state to disk. So, when I opened it up it resumed and was acting a little funny. I restarted and got a sibling link error (i.e. hard drive error). Ended up having to wipe the disk, reinstall Lion, restore from time machine backup.

As moobile says, nothing is stored in your ram. So, just make sure it’s shut down before you install as to not cause any hard drive errors.

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:49:01 +0000

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Mac-Pro-Memory

I use OWC brand ram in my mac laptops – they also sell other brands, but have had no problems and are very affordable.

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:46:57 +0000

What’s the Model ID? (about this mac > more info > system report > hardware overview). Will look 5,1 or 5,2, etc.

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:45:22 +0000

The Macbook Pros 5,1 (about this mac > more info > system report > hardware overview) could only use 6gb of ram under the original firmware version. An update came out a while back and it turns out that one thing it fixed is for the system to be able to address 8gb of RAM. Go to macsales.com and check out their ram upgrades – they list which MBP models accept which amount of ram and they link to this firmware update if you don’t have it. Just installed 8gb of ram in my late 2008 MBP this evening.

Unibody MBP’s from 5,1 (late ’08) to 7,1 (2010) can use 8GB of ram. 2011 MBP’s can use up to 16GB of ram and at the new 1333mhz speed.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:45:04 +0000

NO, I spent a lot of time researching this when I wanted to upgrade my HDD and my Memory…but your memory and HDD will not be covered under warrenty with apple obviously and if anything gets damaged when you upgrade it won’t be covered.

I upgraded all this and I had a problem with my CD driver later down the road and they sorted it for me.

By: chip

chip — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:41:52 +0000

What does [...] mean? I keep seeing this used.
And as far as ram, Apple filled all four slots in my computer with 2 GB sticks. Now in order to upgrade to 16 gigs, I have to throw away 8 gigs of ram. How lame is that? Apple said the machine would run faster doing it that way. What do they care, it’s not their money. Any solutions other than from Apple will be appreciated as they simply don’t want to bother with their “little” mistake.

By: When should I add more ram to my Mac | Your Blog

When should I add more ram to my Mac | Your Blog — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 01:53:14 +0000

[...] Would adding more RAM to your Mac increase its performance, or would It be a waste of money. Head over to OSxDaily to find out. They have a great article on how to tell if your Mac needs RAM or not. You can read it here [...]