Apple RAM expensive!

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I like apple, and I have one. I was considering getting a dual G5, and wondered how much 8 gigs would run me. Then I found out. About 4500 dollars. THAT IS OBSCENE! You know what 8 1 gig sticks will cost a PC user? Between 2000-2500! And you can put PC ram in a mac (atleast in the G4. Probably G5). They are getting around 100% profit for that ram. Its horrid! So if you want a mac with that much ram, buy it with as little as possible and buy some PC stuff. Save yourself two thousand dollars.



I would double check that the G5 does not need some tweaked for of DDR400 ram, but I think PC stuff will work. I looked at Crucial and Mushkin for my price references.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by neowert

    I like apple, and I have one. I was considering getting a dual G5, and wondered how much 8 gigs would run me. Then I found out. About 4500 dollars. THAT IS OBSCENE! You know what 8 1 gig sticks will cost a PC user? Between 2000-2500! And you can put PC ram in a mac (atleast in the G4. Probably G5). They are getting around 100% profit for that ram. Its horrid! So if you want a mac with that much ram, buy it with as little as possible and buy some PC stuff. Save yourself two thousand dollars.



    I would double check that the G5 does not need some tweaked for of DDR400 ram, but I think PC stuff will work. I looked at Crucial and Mushkin for my price references.




    go look at an hp workstation or sun workstation or server that can take that much RAM. look how much they charge for their RAM. This is not an apple only issue, and is certainly not a new issue, its been going on for decades.



    we used to get all our servers from HP (netservers). They charged an arm and a leg and a half a kidney for their server-certified-ram which was nothing more than micron registered ecc ram. exactly the same sticks for triple or more of the retail price.



    the smart man does as you say and finds equivelant RAM on the open market. but i have certainly learned to buy the quality stuff, cheap ram (i.e. double-sided low density modules) can lead to problems.



    cheers y'all
  • Reply 2 of 14
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Yeah, it's fairly well known on these boards that it's the case. Go buy memory elsewhere. Standard DDR400 should work fine.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    The joke in your case is that Apple's RAM prices are actually much more reasonable than they used to be. But you're still much better off buying from a third party.
  • Reply 4 of 14
    banchobancho Posts: 1,517member
    Pretty much every manufacturer overcharges for memory. I would never pay any of them for a RAM upgrade.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    Fortunatly for me, when I got my apple I got the minimum amount of ram they would sell. I would upgrade it, but I dont feel like it. I just wonder why apple doesnt drop their RAMprice to something reasonable. The major reason people buy PCs instead of macs is the price. It is probably why a poor shareware/ open source programmer like myself will be forced to go pc, even though I would rather have a mac. I think I will look into their other component prices. Is it possible to buy a stripped mac? No hd, ram, videocard?
  • Reply 6 of 14
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    I bought 2 1GB RAM sticks from Newegg for my 20" iMac G5 this week. Cost me $330 for 2x1GB and the ioreg command confirms the RAM buss is running at 128 bit.



    The same amount of RAM would've cost me $1,200 through Apple.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by neowert

    Is it possible to buy a stripped mac? No hd, ram, videocard?



    I am pretty sure you can't. I would be nice if they offered a lower end desktop model, something around iMac specifications but sans monitor. Something cheap but had upgradable video would be nice.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by neowert

    Is it possible to buy a stripped mac? No hd, ram, videocard?



    No. Apple will not let you configure a machine that can't boot up with full functionality in place.



    For one thing, it would be a tech support nightmare. For another, they place a lot of emphasis on the "out of box" experience. If you think that's misplaced, look at all the photo galleries of Macs being unpacked, set up, and booted.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    Hello!

    I'm going to buy my firts mac in a few days, it will be iMac G5 1,8GHz 17-inch. And I am wondering about that RAM... They recommend me(ofcourse) atleast 512mb, but I would like to buy more RAM from third party. And because this is my first mac, I don't know what kind of RAM I would buy for this machine. 512mb or 1gb would be just fine. So what kind of it should be???



    sorry my very poor english, I try hard
  • Reply 10 of 14
    guarthoguartho Posts: 1,208member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Salli85

    Hello!

    I'm going to buy my firts mac in a few days, it will be iMac G5 1,8GHz 17-inch. And I am wondering about that RAM... They recommend me(ofcourse) atleast 512mb, but I would like to buy more RAM from third party. And because this is my first mac, I don't know what kind of RAM I would buy for this machine. 512mb or 1gb would be just fine. So what kind of it should be???



    sorry my very poor english, I try hard




    For a good quality at a fair price and assured compatibility, go to crucial.com. Right on the front page you can select your manufacturer from a pull-down menu. Then you can select model, etc on the pages that come up. It'll take you straight to a list of compatible memory and then you just have to decide how much you want.



    2 things to remember with the iMac:

    -There are 2 slots for memory and at least one will have one in it. So you have to plan on removing that one, or just buying one new one.



    -If you install matched pairs you'll get better memory performance. This is not required so you don't have to worry about damaging anything if you've got a 256 and decide to just by one 768.



    Gotta run, in class, about to take a test.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    Thank you very much. I live in Finland, so I try to find right kind of memory from here. Wuhuu I'm going tomorrow to buy my very first Mac... I am sooooo excited!
  • Reply 12 of 14
    pbg4 dudepbg4 dude Posts: 1,611member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Salli85

    Thank you very much. I live in Finland, so I try to find right kind of memory from here. Wuhuu I'm going tomorrow to buy my very first Mac... I am sooooo excited!



    The iMac takes PC3200 (DDR 400 200MHz) unbuffered, non-ECC 184 pin DIMM, in case you were wondering what the RAM specs were.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    Today I ordered my first Mac. I chose iMac 17-in 1.8GHz and I took extra 512mb Kingston RAM. I have to wait 2-3WEEKS before I can get my beautiful... Only thing I am afraid is that I wonder how my gaming will work with that video card... Soon I see...
  • Reply 14 of 14
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Check your Private Messages, neowert.
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