New iMac 21.5"

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Hi Guys,

I have recent recently bought an iMac 21.5" and hoping I will be able to get some help here. Currently the machine has 8GB of ram which is turning out to be a little to small for what I use the machine for. The machine is always almost on 7.9GB memory used. I would like to upgrade the memory. I have spoken to my local Apple distributor and they have given me a quote to upgrade the memory. It seems quite reasonable except they require me to purchase the memory for them and they will just install it. I am looking at purchase the following memory:

Patriot Ddr3 1600 8gb So Dimm Laptop Memory | Buy Online in South Africa | TAKEALOT.com

Anyone know if this will work or not? I am looking at purchasing two of them to give me 16GB of ram.

Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance
Robo
 

chscag

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We always advise anyone who is buying a new 21.5" iMac to make sure they order it with the maximum amount of memory they can afford. Adding memory to a 2012 or 2013 21.5" iMac is a very difficult procedure and should only be done by a qualified Apple technician. My advice is to purchase the memory from Apple and avoid buying third party memory. Besides, it appears they want you to purchase the memory from them anyway.

Also, I'm not sure the memory you linked to will work.
 

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The machine is always almost on 7.9GB memory used.

Maybe you can explain this further. Maybe the simple answer is...don't open so many apps at the same time...or maybe you don't fully understand the difference between "Free", "Active", "Inactive", and "Wired" ram.

Maybe you can also tell us what OS the computer is running...since this can sometimes impact how situations are understood/questions are answered.

- Nick
 
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I am currently running OS X 10.9.2

I live in South Africa and unfortunately we don't have the luxury here to spec the Mac before we buy it. It came in two configurations and that was it. I was told by the Apple resellers in South Africa that they do not sell "Apple" ram but instead you need to supply it and they will install it.

Memory information from Activity Monitor:

Physical Memory: 8.00GB
Memory Used: 7.92GB
Virtual Memory: 15.69GB
Swap Used: 16.5MB

App Memory: 3.59GB
File Cache: 444.5MB
Wired Memory: 1.09GB
Compressed: 2.81GB

Sorry, I am new to Mac so still understanding how everything works. Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.
 

chscag

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OK, no problem. Below are the specs for the memory modules your iMac needs:

Memory Slots 2 - 204-pin PC3-12800 (1600 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM (Non user-accessible)

As long as you purchase 2 modules meeting the above specification, they will work. However, one important note: Your iMac only has 2 module slots which means that the current memory must be removed and replaced by 2 x 8 GB modules to total 16 GB. And, that is going to be around $200.00 not including shipping and any local tax.

Here is an example of cost from OWC (A US company which will ship to South Africa)

LINK

We highly recommend purchasing the modules from either OWC or another reputable company.
 

pigoo3

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I am currently running OS X 10.9.2

Sorry, I am new to Mac so still understanding how everything works. Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.

Generally speaking...8gig of ram for most users really should be more than enough. So if you're not doing anything unusual or special...8gig of ram should be fine...and more ram may not be the solution.

Firstly...what sort of problems are you experiencing? If none...you may be "chasing your tail" trying to solve a problem that does not exist.;)

Maybe you can tell us what exactly you usually do on your computer...and what apps you generally have open at the same time.

Also...Mac OS 10.9 handles ram/memory differently than previous Mac OS versions...so those ram numbers you are seeing...may not be "telling the story" you think they are.

Finally...here are some article's discussing Mavericks & ram. They may be a bit technical...but maybe they will help::)

OS X 10.9 Mavericks: The Ars Technica Review | Ars Technica
http://www.cnet.com/news/memory-compression-brings-ram-doubler-to-os-x-mavericks/
http://www.cnet.com/news/activity-monitor-in-os-x-mavericks-brings-significant-changes/

- Nick
 

chscag

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Great advice from Nick! If you don't have to upgrade your memory that will save you the expensive of the memory plus the labor to install it.
 
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Thanks Nick,

I am a software developer so at the moment I have some text editors running, apache, mysql, iTunes in the background for some music, couple of terminal windows.

I don't think it seems like I have a huge amount open. But the system seems to take a while to swop windows and at times gets a bit "sticky"

Because the memory appeared to be fully utilised I assumed that it would be swopping memory all the time.
 

pigoo3

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I am a software developer so at the moment I have some text editors running, apache, mysql, iTunes in the background for some music, couple of terminal windows.

I don't think it seems like I have a huge amount open. But the system seems to take a while to swop windows and at times gets a bit "sticky"

Because the memory appeared to be fully utilised I assumed that it would be swopping memory all the time.

Ok...thanks for the info. Sounds like you're a knowledgeable computer person.:) When you said that you were "new to Mac"...I wasn't sure how much you knew about computers in general.

- Nick
 

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