RAM for new G4 iBook

st3v3_s

Hi,



I've just purchased a brand new 12 inch G4 iBook, but decided against the Apple RAM upgrade with the intention of doing so later on myself.

But having looked at a few online PC component sites (ones I know are somewhat reputable) I seem to only be able to find PC-2700 DDR SO-DIMMs not PC-2100 DDR.

I have found some very affordable prices, in comparison to the Apple upgrade, I should also state I am located in Australia.



Can anyone see an issue, or has anyone seen an issue with using PC-2700 notebook RAM in an iBook ? The RAM is obviously clocked higher, but the clock speed should only be a factor if it was clocked lower than the system bus.

domino

Quote:

Originally posted by st3v3_s

Hi,



I've just purchased a brand new 12 inch G4 iBook, but decided against the Apple RAM upgrade with the intention of doing so later on myself.

But having looked at a few online PC component sites (ones I know are somewhat reputable) I seem to only be able to find PC-2700 DDR SO-DIMMs not PC-2100 DDR.

I have found some very affordable prices, in comparison to the Apple upgrade, I should also state I am located in Australia.



Can anyone see an issue, or has anyone seen an issue with using PC-2700 notebook RAM in an iBook ? The RAM is obviously clocked higher, but the clock speed should only be a factor if it was clocked lower than the system bus.

I remember hearing stories of Apple 'breaking' 3rd party ram a couple of years ago with a software update because the memory wasn't the proper speed / latency (back when they used PC100/PC133 memory). I was never able to get a straight answer whether PC2700 would work in place of PC2100. If you can return it if it doesn't work, try it and see.



I didn't have the time to expirament when I recently maxed out my new 14" iBook. I purchased a Transcend 1GB PC-2100 DDR SODIMM from NewEgg.com for $215 USD - lifetime warranty, works like a champ.



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...208-011&depa=0



Dunno if they ship to Australia or not. If not, try Crucial (www.crucial.com) - they do.

mcq

Newegg doesn't ship internationally.

ptrash

I was in Best Buy yesterday, another one of those electronic chain stores. Usually their salespople are pretty clueless when it comes to Macs, but yesterday I spoke to a young Chinese kid who was really into the details of memory. He thought that I could use any faster speed ram, and that it would just run at the speed it's set up for, or the speed of the other ram, whichever is slower. I.e. ram will run at the weakest link, whether that be speed of the rambus or speed of the other installed ram.



As for the issue about 3rd party ram being made inoperable after an Apple rom upgrade (sorry, thge name of the software that's very low level and rarely updated escapes me-I apologize if rom's the wrong term), I can't speak to it for I-books in the future. I can tell you that there was a workaround for that situation: someone came up with freeware that checked your computer and let you know if doing the update would disable your 3rd party ram. THey also had a similar bit of code that made the ram usable again. I doubt this will happen with the I-books, and I imagine if it were to happen that a work-around would be developed. My suggestion: get the best quakity ram you can afford, from a reputable source. The dangerr with ram is that you buy something "new" that in reality has been returned because it didn't work, i.e. it wasn't the correct item or for some reason it didn't work. Little retailers are frequently running on such tight margins that they can't afford to put the item out of circulation. When this happens you can end up getting damaged merchandise. That's the last thing you want with Ram, and in fact I suspect that's the cause of lots of computer flakiness.

firehc

Quote:

Originally posted by st3v3_s

Hi,



I've just purchased a brand new 12 inch G4 iBook, but decided against the Apple RAM upgrade with the intention of doing so later on myself.

But having looked at a few online PC component sites (ones I know are somewhat reputable) I seem to only be able to find PC-2700 DDR SO-DIMMs not PC-2100 DDR.

I have found some very affordable prices, in comparison to the Apple upgrade, I should also state I am located in Australia.



Can anyone see an issue, or has anyone seen an issue with using PC-2700 notebook RAM in an iBook ? The RAM is obviously clocked higher, but the clock speed should only be a factor if it was clocked lower than the system bus.

pc-2700 is ok i use it on my new ibook G4 1.2G,

the guy said it's backward compatible with pc2100

nguyenhm16

I just bought a 12" PB two weeks ago. Put in a PC-2700 SO-DIMM from Best Buy and it works fine. PC-2700 should be able to keep up with even the most aggressive PC-2100 timings.