Thinking about upgrading the memory (RAM) in your macbook/pro? Not sure what the maximum memory allowance is?
Telford Computer Doctor Ltd has put this list together to help you out, as we know how difficult it is to find information from Apple!
MacBook
• All pre-unibody MacBooks have two RAM slots for SO-DIMMs (DDR2-SDRAM, PC2-5300, 667 MHz, 200 pins*). Apple default configs are paired. These are the maximum RAM upgrades for all MacBooks:
MacBook with Core Duo (Mid 2006): 2GB **
MacBook with Core 2 Duo and Calistoga chipset (Late 2006, Mid 2007): 3GB / 4GB ***
MacBook with Core 2 Duo and Crestline chipset (Late 2007, Early 2008, Late 2008 white): 4GB / 6GB ****
To find out which C2D MacBook you have you can check the FSB clock or the GPU: If you have a 667 MHz FSB and a GMA 950 you have a Calistoga C2D MB. If you have a 800 MHz FSB and a GMA X3100 you have a Crestline C2D MacBook. Do not confuse FSB speed with memory speed! 800 MHz FSB MBs still use 667 MHz RAM. Check your FSB speed in Sys Profiler.
• Unibody MacBooks have two SO-DIMM slots for PC3-8500 DDR3 RAM, 204 pins, 1066 MHz.
MacBook Unibody with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Late 2008): 4GB / 6GB *****
• White MacBooks have two SO-DIMM slots for various types of SO-DIMMs:
MacBook white with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Early 2009 white): 4GB / 6GB ***** (PC2-5300 DDR2, 667 MHz, 200 pins*)
MacBook white with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Mid 2009): 4GB / 6GB ***** (PC2-6400 DDR2, 800 MHz, 200 pins)
MacBook white with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Late 2009): 8GB (PC3-8500 DDR3, 204 pins, 1066 MHz)
MacBook Pro
• All pre-unibody MacBook Pros have two RAM slots for SO-DIMMs (DDR2-SDRAM, PC2-5300, 667 MHz, 200 pins *). Apple default configs are paired. These are the maximum RAM upgrades for all MacBook Pros:
MacBook Pro with Core Duo (Early 2006, Mid 2006 17″): 2GB **
MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo and Calistoga chipset (Late 2006): 3GB / 4GB ***
MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo and Crestline chipset (Mid 2007, Late 2007, Early 2008, Late 2008 17″): 4GB / 6GB****
To find out which C2D MacBook Pro you have you can check the FSB clock: If you have a 667 MHz FSB you have a Calistoga C2D MBP. If you have a 800 MHz FSB you have a Crestline C2D MacBook Pro. Do not confuse FSB speed with memory speed! 800 MHz FSB MBPs still use 667 MHz RAM. Check your FSB speed in Sys Profiler.
• Unibody MacBook Pro have two SO-DIMM slots for PC3-8500 DDR3 RAM, 204 pins, 1066 MHz.
MacBook Pro 15″ Unibody with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Late 2008): 4GB / 6GB *****
MacBook Pro 15″ Unibody with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Early 2009 bump, 2.66/2.93 GHz): 8GB
MacBook Pro 17″ Unibody with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Early 2009): 8GB
MacBook Pro 13″/15″/17″ Unibody with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and 9400M G chipset (Mid 2009): 8GB
MacBook Pro 13″ Unibody with Core 2 Duo “Penryn” and Nvidia 320M (MPC89) chipset (Early 2010): 8GB
MacBook Pro 15″/17″ Unibody with Core i5/i7 “Arrandale” and Nvidia 320M (MPC89) chipset (Early 2010): 8GB
*) You can also use 800 MHz PC2-6400 DIMMs if you like. They will work, apparently unless you have a Penryn MB(P). However they will in any case run at the memory bus clock speed of 667 MHz. There will be no performance advantage.
**) The Calistoga chipset supports addressing of up to 3GB, but Apple limited the CD MacBook (Pro) to 2GB in firmware.
***) Although you can install 2x2GB RAM in the Calistoga MacBook (Pro) for a total of 4GB, the chipset has an addressing limitation of 3GB. This is not something software, the OS or firmware could change – it is an inherent limitation of this Intel Calistoga chipset. If you install 4GB in an Calistoga MacBook (Pro) the system will recognize the total amount of RAM, but you actually won’t be able to use the last GB. Unless 2x2GB is cheaper (or more easily available) than an unmatched 3GB, there is no reason to install more than 3 GB in a Calistoga MB(P).
****) Although Apple’s official limit is 4 GB, it has been reported that the Crestline MB(P) can support up to 6 GB of RAM (one 2GB and one 4GB SO-DIMM). Of course that means you lose dual-channel memory access, but you will be able to fully address and use all of those 6 GBs.
*****) Both the unibody MB and MBP are specified by Apple to support up to 4 GB of RAM. The MB and MBP however have already been shown to accept, recognize, and use 6 GB of RAM (one 2 GB and one 4 GB SO-DIMM). It will boot and run with 8 GB (two 4 GB SO-DIMMs) too, but as of right now, it is not stable. It has been rumored that a future firmware update could change this.
A final word on matched DIMM pairs. It is true that memory bandwidth is increased by installing matched memory modules. In actual benchmarks this is something that is most noticed in GPU-dependent tasks (like 3D games) on systems with integrated graphics (like the MacBook). The reason for this is that the GPU has to use RAM as video memory (rather than using dedicated VRAM over a dedicated bus) which means memory bandwidth can become a limitation. Therefore, if you are interested in getting the maximum possible frame rate, you would probably want to install memory in matched pairs. However, this doesn’t mean that less matched memory is better than more unmatched memory! If your system is paging out to disk because not enough memory is available (this is something you can find out by looking at Activity Monitor’s “System Memory” tab) this will cause a huge performance decrease. This effect is orders of magnitude larger than the slight performance reduction due to unmatched memory pairs. Therefore: If you’re paging out with 2 GB of matched memory, DO NOT hesitate to upgrade to an unmatched 3 GB! Of course going to 4 GB would be even better (if your MB supports it).
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