Memory Upgrade

[waitomo]

I have a 13" Macbook which I bought in October of 2007. I want to upgrade the memory, but I'm not sure what to buy or what my machine can handle (the internets can be very confusing). Can't seem to find a place that spells it out and this forum has been helpful to me in the past.

It currently has:

2.16 Intel Core 2 Duo, 1 GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM.

I'm running Snow Leopard and the HD is 120G, with about 67G free.

I think I found the right memory from Kingston, but like I said it's a bit confusing to me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Collin Bl]

Look here for starters to see what u can do with your machine;
Apple MacBook Specs (All MacBook Technical Specs) @ EveryMac.com

 

[waitomo]

Thanks so much! Very helpful. I bookmarked that site pronto.

Before I buy, do you have any opinion about 2G vs. 3G? Will it be appreciably faster with 3? My most used programs are MS Word, Photoshop CS, Toast, and the aforementioned internets.

What prompted this was Firefox completely hogging my memory. I'm going to try Chrome.

 

[Collin Bl]

do you have any opinion about 2G vs. 3G?

Guess you mean 2 GB RAM versus 3 GB RAM - everything i have seen says more is better, but like most things it comes back to what is available and what you can afford and how you use your Mac. If you are like me and have a number of apps running at the same time, especially including those heavy hitters you mentioned then go for 3 GB.

 

[waitomo]

Thanks. I think I'll go with 3.

And I noticed you're in Napier. I spent six weeks in NZ back in 1994. Unfortunately, the one place my friend and I didn't explore was the East Coast of the North Island. I'm a ways off, in New York, but one day I'll get back to your neck of the woods. Can you send me some green mussels in the meantime?

Thanks again!

 

[scathe]

When upgrading your ram, keep in mind one thing - the computer only has 2 memory slots.

You said you currently have 1Gb of ram and I presume it's split into a pair of 512Mb memory sticks installed in 2 memory slots. So, when you want to upgrade your memory, you have to replace these, since you can't just add on another 1Gb stick and have 2Gb in total - the computer only has 2 slots available.

I'm not so sure about using 3Gb of ram, I would prefer using either 2x1Gb or 2x2Gb ... but then ddr2 might not support dual channel (can any1 confirm this?) so using 2+1Gb might work for you

Hopefully I am making some sense to you

 

[waitomo]

No worries, Scathe. You are making sense and thanks for the note.

I read about that issue and it doesn't seem to be a problem having 1 Gb in one slot, and 2Gb in the other. I could have gone 2x2, but I'm trying to save some $$$. Plus I think tripling the memory will be enough to get me through to my next Macbook. And by that time, maybe 8Gb will be standard!;D

 

[scathe]

I completely agree that tripling memory will be enough, no doubt there My point was just to be aware of the fact that you need to replace your current modules with new ones; along with some rambling on the side

It's just I prefer to have pairs of identical memory ... you can only imagine compatibility issues with memory I recently had to upgrade in a server
(crucial.com is a great resource for ram compatibility btw)

Anyway, enjoy your memory upgrade, you should see a considerable boost in performance! 1 gig is next to nothing these days, you still have a decent laptop though