Apple RAM vs. Other

Howdy,

Just a quick question. I'm incredibly happy with my iMac but like most, you can pretty much never have enough RAM.

I have two questions:

1) Why is Apple RAM so expensive? Seems leaps and bounds more expensive than others on the market.

2) Is there a reason to buy Apple RAM rather than other third party ones.

Ok, I guess I lied, because I have one more question:

3) If you would rather buy third party RAM, where would you buy it? Meaning most trusted, best quality.


Thank you all!

MacPastor said:

1) Why is Apple RAM so expensive?

Click to expand...

If you're talking about ram that is purchased during the configuration step when buying a new computer...Apple may be including some sort of "installation charge" on top of the cost of the ram. But...as we almost always recommend...ram (in almost all cases with newer Mac's) is VERY easy to install, and less expensive from other retailers.

So financially speaking...no need to purchase Apple ram. If convenience is more important...then buying Apple ram & getting a new Macintosh totally configured the way the new owner would like it...then buying Apple ram makes sense.

MacPastor said:

2) Is there a reason to buy Apple RAM rather than other third party ones.

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Other than convenience...not really. Although sometimes ram upgrades (at more modest ram upgrade levels)...sometimes the Apple "upcharge" isn't always that bad vs. 3rd party retailers ram prices.

MacPastor said:

Ok, I guess I lied, because I have one more question:

Click to expand...

Ooy...the "MacPaster" lied!! Go whip yourself!

MacPastor said:

3) If you would rather buy third party RAM, where would you buy it? Meaning most trusted, best quality.

Click to expand...

These two guys are great places to purchase ram from:

Crucial.com
OWC

HTH,

- Nick

Pigoo3 said:

Howdy,

Just a quick question. I'm incredibly happy with my iMac but like most, you can pretty much never have enough RAM.

I have two questions:

1) Why is Apple RAM so expensive? Seems leaps and bounds more expensive than others on the market.

2) Is there a reason to buy Apple RAM rather than other third party ones.

Ok, I guess I lied, because I have one more question:

3) If you would rather buy third party RAM, where would you buy it? Meaning most trusted, best quality.


Thank you all!

Click to expand...

Apple RAM will always work, however, I find it to be a scam. I have 8Gb of G-Skill 1333 in my 2011 Macbook Pro and it runs just fine, as a matter of fast the ram is faster than Apple's and gave me ~150 more GB points.

pigoo3 said:

If you're talking about ram that is purchased during the configuration step when buying a new computer...Apple may be including some sort of "installation charge" on top of the cost of the ram. But...as we almost always recommend...ram (in almost all cases with newer Mac's) is VERY easy to install, and less expensive from other retailers.

So financially speaking...no need to purchase Apple ram. If convenience is more important...then buying Apple ram & getting a new Macintosh totally configured the way the new owner would like it...then buying Apple ram makes sense.

Click to expand...

No, I think he means the "Apple Ram" you find at Amazon and Newegg. That stuff is just marketing, same exact stuff almost, just a small Apple Cert.

Technically speaking, Apple doesn't make RAM. There's the stuff they use pre-installed when you order it that way and as Sonicjet pointed out, there's stuff other sellers market as "Apple RAM".

Go to crucial.com and install the crucial system scanner. It will tell you exactly what type of RAM your Mac uses and how much it can max out at.

Thank you all for your responses. To clarify a bit, let me show you what I'm talking about. At the Apple.com store, 8GB of RAM from them is $400.00.

Memory - Apple Store (U.S.)

Now I could be wrong, but doesn't that sound a bit high? I'm still new to the MAC world, so maybe this is normal, but I guess it just seemed high.

It is high. I buy from Crucial

Awesome.

So this begs the question...why the DRASTIC price difference? I mean, I can get 16gigs of memory from crucial for less than the price of 4gigs from Apple.

Seems very unrealistic unless there is something THAT much better about the RAM that Apple sells.

MacPastor said:

Awesome.

So this begs the question...why the DRASTIC price difference?

Click to expand...

Because we live in a capitalist society and Apple is free to charge whatever they want. And as long as people keep buying it at that price, Apple will keep selling it.

schweb said:

Because we live in a capitalist society and Apple is free to charge whatever they want. And as long as people keep buying it at that price, Apple will keep selling it.

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LOL...well, that pretty much sums it up doesn't it!!


OK, well then how about a technical question. I believe that I have read that my iMac can upgrade RAM without having to upgrade in the same multiples.

So what I mean is that I currently have 4GB on my system now. If I were to buy 8GB and upgrade, I would have 12 rather than 16.

Can I expect any problems with this? Should I just go for the 16 total? Overkill?

MacPastor said:

Awesome.

So this begs the question...why the DRASTIC price difference? I mean, I can get 16gigs of memory from crucial for less than the price of 4gigs from Apple.

Seems very unrealistic unless there is something THAT much better about the RAM that Apple sells.

Click to expand...

Have you ever gone to an automobile dealer's parts store? I can remember having to buy a rear tail light assembly for my Ford Mustang. Cost from dealer was $125.00. Same assembly from a NAPA store or from an internet parts store was just about half of that.

The fact is that Apple uses and sells the same memory modules that you and I can buy from Crucial and OWC. Some folks may feel more comfortable about buying extra memory from Apple and have them install it. That's fine as long as one is willing to pay extra.

I upgraded my iMac to 12 and there are no problems what so ever. Whether or not 16GB would be overkill depends on what you intend to do with the machine. It is likely you would never need 16 - and if you start with 12 you can always go to 16 later if you need it.

chscag said:

Have you ever gone to an automobile dealer's parts store? I can remember having to buy a rear tail light assembly for my Ford Mustang. Cost from dealer was $125.00. Same assembly from a NAPA store or from an internet parts store was just about half of that.

Click to expand...

I was going to post a similar "auto parts" analogy. Rear brake pads for my wife's car from the dealer ($90 bucks)...same thing from Autozone $15-$20 bucks. Guess which I purchased???

- Nick