PowerBook memory price DROPPED!!!

ransomed · July 6, 2005 5:04PM

Maybe I'm the last to hear about this, but memory for powerbooks has really dropped in price! Used to be about $800 to purchase two 1GB sticks for my 17" 1.5 Ghz PB... Now it's like $300. Does anyone know why? Check crucial.com for reference. Seems a little too good to be true.

BTW Apple still has an $800 price tag on 2GB for a PB

wingnut · July 6, 2005 5:11PM

DDR is getting really really cheap these days. Plus, you can buy 1GB soDIMMs from other online retailers for ~$100.

Here's newegg.com's list

nutty · July 7, 2005 10:45AM

well depending on the new mac formating of hardware current RAM may not work on the new notebooks

wingnut · July 7, 2005 4:52PM

Yeah, my buddy was having serious issues with his PB, and when he took it to a Apple repair place, they told him to pull the 1GB 3rd party soDIMM out. I don't know if he's still having problems, but he was a bit upset, since he's running Tiger on 256mb. I've never had any issues with RAM on my systems, so this is a bit disturbing to me.

\

ransomed · July 8, 2005 9:19AM

Now you're making me have second thoughts, man...

wingnut · July 8, 2005 5:17PM

Well, he's installing Gentoo linux on the PB along with OSX, and he's going to see what happens. He doesn't completely buy the fact that his RAM is causing the problems, especially since he had no issues until he installed Tiger. People are having various success with Tiger, so who knows?

xool · July 8, 2005 5:37PM

Maybe its time I add that extra GB to my G5?

mmmpie · July 8, 2005 8:11PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wingnut

Yeah, my buddy was having serious issues with his PB, and when he took it to a Apple repair place, they told him to pull the 1GB 3rd party soDIMM out. I don't know if he's still having problems, but he was a bit upset, since he's running Tiger on 256mb. I've never had any issues with RAM on my systems, so this is a bit disturbing to me. \

Memory compatibility is an issue for all systems, not just Macs.

I just bought a cheap 512mb DDR sodimm for my HP laptop, dropped it in, and wahoo, no go. It just wasnt recognised.

Pulled the 512 out of my acer laptop, put the new dimm in there, and no problems, the acer loves it.

Put the acers dimm in the HP, and also no problems.

You just have to live with it. How many times do people have to say, "You get what you pay for".

If you are worried about memory compatibility then get it from a vendor who makes an effort. Kingston are excellent, and Apple obviously test in their own machines.

webmail · July 11, 2005 7:49PM

That memory generic vs. "name brand" is a scam. don't believe it because somebody who has interest in selling you higher priced ram tells you that.

Why don't you search the internet for "generic ram compared" or other things. You'll see that generic ram is usually made in the same factories as expensive name "brand" ram.

It's the same stuff. It is more common to have a bad generic ram module simply because they do less testing. So if somebody at the apple store tells you your 1gb model is bad order another 1gb of the exact same "generic" brand and odds are you will be fine.

Don't belive that $500 more for kensington on a ram module means anythign, it just means it went through the "name foil" stamping machine at the same plant as the ram you saved $500 on....

wingnut · July 11, 2005 9:33PM

Almost all memory is made in the same places. I think the real difference is "bin splitting," where a bigger name company will get the better samples from a batch. I still have doubts that his memory is bad. Hmm, maybe he'll trade his 1GB for my 512mb.

figital · July 12, 2005 1:43AM

Hey, i was looking at memory upgrades for my powerbook g4 1.5ghz on Crucial.com Boy, are they down! My powerbook 17" memory used to be over $800 for two 1GB dimms. It's down to less than $400 for 2. Check it out, i already gobbled up the 2GB for my powerbook. Enjoy

edit: srry for the post i didnt notice the one on this exact topic below..

figital · July 12, 2005 1:52AM

I double posted this because i was soo excited b4 i noticed RANSOMED posted it already, srry but im really excited as now i have 2GB instead of 1 in my 17"PB and the fact that i payed unbder $400. WOOO HOOO!!! About compatibilty, my sister saved about $500 purchasing her RAm from crucial.com instead of Apple for her 12"PB and shes had it for 6months now and nooo problems, where do the cheap ram theories hold up there? Also, on my custom built Windoze gaming and productivity PC i have 2GB of crucial ram in an ASUS mobo, once again, nooo problems for the last year and a half sooo get it cheap. You get what you pay for, good ram and good prices.

omega · July 12, 2005 2:19AM

Do you need a towel, Figital?

sunilraman · July 12, 2005 6:26AM

in my country*, kingston pc2700 for powerbook/ibook 512mb goes for about RM$550 . a bit rich for my blood

Apacer.com memory, i was a bit suspicious at first, but i am happy to report 1 month so far of stellar performance. 512mb pc2700 sodimm was RM$ 235. more than 1/2 cheaper than kingston..!

US RAM prices are good, UK not so good, out here in Asia, okay if you trust certain brands... i think my Apacer uses Infineon chips so that should be cool. i'll update if anything f*ks up, its lifetime warranty anyway. Apacer, a taiwan brand, is fairly decently represented in Asia Pacific.

my rich older brother

could afford the RM $950 for the Kingston 1gb pc2700 for his powerbook 12" 1.33ghz

*country is malaysia, currency is fixed USD$1.00 = RM$3.80

mmmpie · July 13, 2005 9:19PM

Quote:

Originally posted by webmail

That memory generic vs. "name brand" is a scam. don't believe it because somebody who has interest in selling you higher priced ram tells you that.

Its not a scam. Its business. People pay for reputation, and the brand names have a reputation for making memory that works. If you have time to stuff about with machines that dont work properly, or crash, then no problem. When you are using them for work you should just pony up the extra cash for reliability. As soon as you loose a few hours work to a crash you have just wiped out the cost benefit of that cheap memory.

Memory isnt just about the chips, the design and manufacture of the board is very important. Every DIMM also has a configuration ROM, incorrectly matching the ROM and the RAM on the stick can cause errors. Memory testing machines are expensive, cheaper manufacturers may not have as many, and may do less testing of actual production batches. The name brands also test for compatibility with specific machines ( check out Kingston site, it is great ), which cheap manufacturers wont do. The complexity of memory design, and interaction with the motherboard is such that a 'good' design may not work in any given machine.

xool · July 13, 2005 10:26PM

When price differences are significant, historically I've gone for generic memory, especially when I was a "starving student". However, if the price difference is about $20, I easily go with name brand memory. At that point you're basically paying a bit more for reduced likelihood of problems on delivery.

I've purchased memory from a number of vendors and never had problems, but all my RAM in recent years has come from Crucial.

ransomed · July 15, 2005 10:49AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Figital

I double posted this because i was soo excited b4 i noticed RANSOMED posted it already, srry but im really excited as now i have 2GB instead of 1 in my 17"PB and the fact that i payed unbder $400. WOOO HOOO!!! About compatibilty, my sister saved about $500 purchasing her RAm from crucial.com instead of Apple for her 12"PB and shes had it for 6months now and nooo problems, where do the cheap ram theories hold up there? Also, on my custom built Windoze gaming and productivity PC i have 2GB of crucial ram in an ASUS mobo, once again, nooo problems for the last year and a half sooo get it cheap. You get what you pay for, good ram and good prices.

So it sounds like everybody agrees crucial is pretty reliable and my 17" 1.5 Ghz PB will be pretty happy, huh?

Hey Figital! How's running now? Do you run Photoshop or Illustrator on your PB? How about Final Cut? Just want to find out if the uptgrade will be worth it for me.

figital · July 15, 2005 1:42PM

I run the entire Adobe Creative Suite 2 on my powerbook plus Painter IX, and Final Cut Express HD. I use the Creative Suite almost exclusively for all my work and Painter IX to doodle and Final Cut Express HD to edit home movies. The 2GB of memory is the best money i've spent into my powerbook besides my 6x8 Intuos3 wacom tablet. The channge from 1Gb to 2Gb for me is extremely noticeable. I designated over 1.5GB of memory to photoshop becasue it the program i use most and i usually always use it alone except for with bridge open and it blazes now. It opens super quickly and processes filters and actions MUCH faster. If you can, get the 2GB of memory for your pwerbook you wont regret it.

ransomed · July 15, 2005 2:49PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Figital

I designated over 1.5GB of memory to photoshop becasue it the program i use most and i usually always use it alone except for with bridge open and it blazes now.

Thanks for the review! I'll definitely get it as soon as I get the chance.

octane · July 20, 2005 9:52PM

Why are the prices on newegg's site so much better than Crucials? Which chips are correct spec for powerbooks?

sunilraman · July 20, 2005 10:15PM

Quote:

Originally posted by octane

Why are the prices on newegg's site so much better than Crucials? Which chips are correct spec for powerbooks?

that's the thing that crucial is charging more $$$ for.

i did a search on newegg and found pc2700 sodimm 1gb

ranges from $100 for a patriot to $173 for corsair fully branded

of those ram chips, the only thing i know with any certainty is that the corsair valueselect for $147 should work with powerbooks because of (a) anandtech reports and (b) one or two appleinsider reports

get this now. Apple Asia (Malaysia country hq) advise dealers against using the Kingston 1gb which is specifically made for Powerbooks because they have noticed issues like kernel panics after some time.

then there is Apacer brand pc2700

http://www.computerhq.com/Apacer_1GB...id-535289.html

the Apacer pc2700 sodimm 512mb has been in my iBook g4 for 1.5 months or so now, and is doing swell. i could get a 1gb piece for about usd $110 in my country, i bought the 512mb for us$65 or so.

Apacer memory for notebooks uses Infineon chips. I think some of those chips are manufactured in Malaysia, where i'm living right now, that's why its cheap here...

it's a bit of a morass out there, because of whether something is fully-JEDEC compliant and whether RAM will work flawlessly in your apple for years and years to come.

at the end of the day, that's what crucial.com is offering, extra cash for peace of mind.

IMHO the ebay dealers that specialise in Mac memory offer a good blend of guaranteed compatibility and value for money. admitedly i have not had personal experience with them though, such as 'omni technologies'...

good luck peoples....

PowerBook memory price DROPPED!!!

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