Upgrading memory

[Uncle heFTy]

Good morning,

THis feels like the daftest question of all time, but why is the size of memory (I call it RAM from the old days) limited on a MacBook Pro? Ours is 8gB and while we can upgrade the hard drive, the basic speed of processing remains fairly static, so we can store more but it won't process any faster. I know memory sticks are available up to 16gB, why can't I use these?

Uncle H

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,


Have a look at this articale, regarding the MBP but think it would depend on your year if manufacture.
http://www.gizmag.com/macbook-pro-2011-models-support-16gb-of-ram/18135/

 

[CmHall9]

I want to upgrade from 2GB to 4GB. Do I need two 2GB memory cards or will one 4GB memory card work just fine with the other slot empty?

I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch, Mid 2009
Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

Personally I would use 2 X 2GB so both slots are equals this give the best performance. Apple say for a Mid 2009 your maximum upgrade is 8GB.

 

[Kaveman]

Also much of that extra RAM can sit there unused, unless you have an 64bit App that makes good use of all that RAM its wasted money. I have 24Gig in my iMac and I haven't seen it go over half used.
4 - 8 is the ideal number for general use.

 

[CmHall9]

Hi,

Personally I would use 2 X 2GB so both slots are equals this give the best performance. Apple say for a Mid 2009 your maximum upgrade is 8GB.

I'm getting the same suggestion on another Apple forum. I also agree.
I wanted to be sure because I'm window shopping on EggHead.com and the memory I'm looking at is a single 4GB card.

 

[CmHall9]

Also much of that extra RAM can sit there unused, unless you have an 64bit App that makes good use of all that RAM its wasted money. I have 24Gig in my iMac and I haven't seen it go over half used.
4 - 8 is the ideal number for general use.

My MacBook Pro would be maxed out at 8GB. I can still do everything I want with the current 2GB and OS X Mavericks I just installed yesterday. But it is a little slow now so I'm looking at jumping up to 4GB.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

I wanted to be sure because I'm window shopping on EggHead.com and the memory I'm looking at is a single 4GB card.

I stick with what I said, use both slots.
PC3-8500 DDR3 1066 MHz type RAM

 

[CmHall9]

Hi,

I stick with what I said, use both slots.
PC3-8500 DDR3 1066 MHz type RAM

Cool. Thank you.

 

[oldscribe]

Hi,

You most welcome, let us know how you proceed.