Macbook memory upgrade

A helpful app to have is Mactracker, it'll let you know everything about any Mac ever made

But to answer your question, yes, it will take up to 8GB. 2x4GB DDR3-1066 is all you need. And RAM is RAM, don't waste your money on "Apple specific" RAM. It'll either work, or it won't (good RAM, or dead RAM).

Some of the older Macbooks could only handle 2GB max (and the same goes for the early Macbook Pros) as it has to do with the chipset being used. Even on my MBP Early 2008, the maximum supported is 4, but only 3 will be used regardless of the OS. Even if I put 6 in there, it will still only see 3 (which mine will support up to 6GB).

 

 

However, the Macbook Unis take 8GB so you are all good there.

 

 

BTW as the previous poster has stated, MacTracker is an awesome app (use it at work a lot), but Everymac.com is another great place to go.

I just upgraded my RAM on a Macbook 2010 edition which comes with 2GB of RAM and is specified at maximum 4GB.

I upgraded to 8GB using Kingston memory (check the Mac site for memory specs - the kind of DIMM modules and speed should match).

It's like a miracle: My Macbook starts applications in lightning speed and i have currently around 25 pages opened in Safari, VLC running, mail opened, Openoffice with 2 docs opened, etc. etc. and my Activity monitor shows 5.62GB of memory used with 0 swap space in use.

BUT, your milage may vary. You have an older edition and it might not support that amount of memory. The dealer where I bought the memory agreed to take it back if it doesn't work, and even offered to install it or another kind if needed (I didn't bring my Macbook with me when I bought the memory).

With the 2010 version it took me a very small philips screwdriver and 5 minutes time to replace the memory. My Macbook comes with 2 memory slots and I installed 2x 4GB memory. Kingston or Samsung should be good choices for memory.

This was the best investment I ever made in a PC/notebook upgrade.

So, go to a friendly and knowledgable dealer and have the memory installed there. Just for reference, my memory cost me 65 Euro (in Germany), but in the USA it should be around $65 (for the 2x4GB Kingston kit).

Just to make sure your Macbook recognizes and uses all the memory, open the Activity monitor under Applications/Utilities and check the System memory tag. Connect to the Internet and open Safari, then open around 30 pages with content. That should get you to some 5GB of memory use. If not, open more pages. You should see the memory statistics filling up your memory and there should be 0 swap space in use. You will also notice that the Macbook responds really fast to opening applications or switching tags in Safari (this should be instantly).

Good luck!

One more thing: Use System Profiler to check your memory:

Here the output on my Macbook after the RAM upgrade:


Memory Slots:

ECC: Disabled

BANK 0/DIMM0:

Size: 4 GB
Type: DDR3
Speed: 1067 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0198
Part Number: 0x393955353432382D3034372E4130304C4620
Serial Number: 0x...

BANK 1/DIMM0:

Size: 4 GB
Type: DDR3
Speed: 1067 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0198
Part Number: 0x393955353432382D3034312E4130314C4620
Serial Number: 0x...

Somewhat related question; what max speed of RAM do the latest MacBooks (2011+) support? Is it really 1066, or is Apple just throwing in lower speed RAM for the sake of interoperability?