Upgrading RAM in 867 PBook ?

Crucial RAM for PB

I'm looking to upgrade my RAM in my 15" PB 867. I know that Crucial makes very good memory but am wondering if it's the best for what I need.


My questions:

1. Is Crucial the way to go?

2. Can I perform the update myself? I know you remove the keyboard to expose the innards, but then what?

3. How many RAM slots are there in the PB? What can I do with the 256 already in there?

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Eyenovation said:

Crucial RAM for PB

I'm looking to upgrade my RAM in my 15" PB 867. I know that Crucial makes very good memory but am wondering if it's the best for what I need.


My questions:

1. Is Crucial the way to go?

2. Can I perform the update myself? I know you remove the keyboard to expose the innards, but then what?

3. How many RAM slots are there in the PB? What can I do with the 256 already in there?

(outdated link removed)

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I have a 1ghz 15" powerbook,
1. I would guess, they make some pretty high quality ram. When i go to upgrade mine to 1GB of ram, I will probably buy mine from Crucial
2. The ram update is really easy. You pull the keyboard off with the little tabs between the esc and F1 keys and the f11 and f12 keys. You may have to loosen the screw between F5 and F6, but it will pull right off. The ram bays are right there under the middle of the keyboard. Just snap the new ram in, put the keyboard back on and turn the machine back on and you should be all set.
3. There are 2 slots in the Powerbooks, im pretty sure you can either leave the 256 in there or upgrade it to a 512 and get 1gb of ram. I have a friend with an 867 powerbook so i will ask him and make sure that i am correct in my answers, but if i recall the 1ghz and 867s are pretty much the same, except for processor speed.

Was looking into this yesterday.

The 867MHz Powerbook can utilize 1GB of RAM. I was looking at prices at memoryx (outdated link removed). I have purchased RAM from them before, and would definitely do it again.

Didn't know it was that easy to get to the ram slots though Really cool.

I have ordered memory from www.4allmemory.com. I have had it in my G4 tower for about 6 months and everything's been great. When they accidentally sent me RAM for the wrong system bus, they were very easy to contact and offered to replace it for free. No hassles!

is 1ghz ram enough to handle anything out there today? This is the hardest decision of my life so far lol...decided which notebook to get...sager,dell, toshiba or a powerbook...im dying

Ripped85 said:

is 1ghz ram enough to handle anything out there today? This is the hardest decision of my life so far lol...decided which notebook to get...sager,dell, toshiba or a powerbook...im dying

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as long as its not major video editing or major photo manipulation, a powerbook is definitely the way to go. A gig of ram is plenty for a notebook. I have 512mb in my powerbook, and it runs better than my desktop which has 1.25GB, and a 1.6 Ghz processor. Most of the things you would be doing with a notebook are not that ram intensive. Major video editing or professional photo manipulation are probably best left to desktops, not saying it cant be done on a powerbook, but the desktop machines are better suited for the intensive applications.

hokiethang said:

as long as its not major video editing or major photo manipulation, a powerbook is definitely the way to go. A gig of ram is plenty for a notebook. I have 512mb in my powerbook, and it runs better than my desktop which has 1.25GB, and a 1.6 Ghz processor. Most of the things you would be doing with a notebook are not that ram intensive. Major video editing or professional photo manipulation are probably best left to desktops, not saying it cant be done on a powerbook, but the desktop machines are better suited for the intensive applications.

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hokie...i must say you are extremely helpful, u tend to answer every question i post on this site lol. As far as gfx stuff...the most i would do is make a layout for photoshop, use flash for my website intro, shake (if i hit lotto) to just mess around with. Also, how is safari, heard its the best net browsing program.

o yea...and play some games...warcraft and whatever else come out for mac that seems to be good...and will it be able to hand first person shooters?

Ripped85 said:

o yea...and play some games...warcraft and whatever else come out for mac that seems to be good...and will it be able to hand first person shooters?

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The powerbook should be able to handle all of it. I tend to answer questions quicker than the others because i dont really work during the day until the end of august. School starts the 25th so my availability goes way down. The powerbook is quite nice with photoshop, plays UT2k3 and Americas Army very smoothly, and Studio MX is very nice for website production. Safari is still a masterpiece in progress, right now there are some bugs to be worked out, but it is a very nice browser. Thats what i am using right now to make this post.

hokiethang said:

The powerbook should be able to handle all of it. I tend to answer questions quicker than the others because i dont really work during the day until the end of august. School starts the 25th so my availability goes way down. The powerbook is quite nice with photoshop, plays UT2k3 and Americas Army very smoothly, and Studio MX is very nice for website production. Safari is still a masterpiece in progress, right now there are some bugs to be worked out, but it is a very nice browser. Thats what i am using right now to make this post.

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Got ya, I think i'm gonna wait a week or so because i heard that apple is upgrading the powerbooks with something, so maybe the price will drop or something.

Ripped85 said:

Got ya, I think i'm gonna wait a week or so because i heard that apple is upgrading the powerbooks with something, so maybe the price will drop or something.

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Apple has been planning to upgrade powerbooks for 6 months or more. They are past due their life cycle, but there really is no telling whether they will come out this week, next week, or next year. There have been some reports of problems with the new 7457(i think) chips which are supposedly cooler chips and can run speeds of 1.25 - 1.44 in a laptop type case. I was going to wait, but i broke in about 4 months, and bought one anyway. Im glad i did since 4 months after my purchase they still havent released the new ones. Plus i like the titanium, it just feels cooler than having an aluminum notebook.

My recommendations for ANY computer is to max out the RAM to as much as the motherboard will accept. If it can support multi-GB than at LEAST 1 GB.

Emrys said:

My recommendations for ANY computer is to max out the RAM to as much as the motherboard will accept. If it can support multi-GB than at LEAST 1 GB.

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thanks hokie..am i better off buying the PB with the 1GB ram or can i buy it seperate from somewhere else and install it myself?

Ripped85 said:

thanks hokie..am i better off buying the PB with the 1GB ram or can i buy it seperate from somewhere else and install it myself?

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i love how threads usually go in a loop.. :-D

Its probably cheaper to buy the single dimm 512 with the powerbook and then ordering the other 512 from somewhere else. It is fairly easy to install the ram yourself, all the instructions are in the manual or can be found earlier in this thread. Some of the ram providers listed across the forums/this thread, have the ram for under $100, where apple wants $200 for the same ram.

hokiethang said:

i love how threads usually go in a loop.. :-D

Its probably cheaper to buy the single dimm 512 with the powerbook and then ordering the other 512 from somewhere else. It is fairly easy to install the ram yourself, all the instructions are in the manual or can be found earlier in this thread. Some of the ram providers listed across the forums/this thread, have the ram for under $100, where apple wants $200 for the same ram.

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=D i just wanted you to repeat yourself ^_^

Ok now I have a question.. I have 512 in my PowerBook G4 667 with a 133 bus.. now currently there are two 256 inside, now can I upgrade one to 512? Or do they both have to be the same.. so 128 and 128, or 256 and 256, or 512 and 512? Or can I do a 256 and 512?

Murlyn said:

Ok now I have a question.. I have 512 in my PowerBook G4 667 with a 133 bus.. now currently there are two 256 inside, now can I upgrade one to 512? Or do they both have to be the same.. so 128 and 128, or 256 and 256, or 512 and 512? Or can I do a 256 and 512?

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You shouldnt have to do pairs. As long as it is SD-RAM, you dont have to do them in pairs. Im not sure, you may want to check with apple, as they may have some wierd thing they did. But in regular sdram it doesnt have to be in pairs.

hokiethang said:

You shouldnt have to do pairs. As long as it is SD-RAM, you dont have to do them in pairs. Im not sure, you may want to check with apple, as they may have some wierd thing they did. But in regular sdram it doesnt have to be in pairs.

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No, it doesn't have to be in pairs. You can use 512 and 256 if you want!