RAM: Crucial Vs Apple

Hi there, I'm considering upgrading my RAM on my Intel iMac (2.0 GHz).. and I'm just wandering what the difference is between Official Apple RAM from the online store and Crucial Memory... Crucial is considerably cheaper, so does this mean a difference in performance and reliability?

I'm also thinking of removing the RAM that came with the machine and filling the slots with two 2GB cards - will my iMac still run if using entirely Crucial made RAM?

Would love to know what you think if you have any comments or views.

Cheers, Owen

ojdude said:

Hi there, I'm considering upgrading my RAM on my Intel iMac (2.0 GHz).. and I'm just wandering what the difference is between Official Apple RAM from the online store and Crucial Memory... Crucial is considerably cheaper, so does this mean a difference in performance and reliability?

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Apple re-brands third-party manufactured RAM like Samsung and Hynix. Crucial is Micron memory which is top shelf memory. No, there is no difference in performance.

I'm also thinking of removing the RAM that came with the machine and filling the slots with two 2GB cards - will my iMac still run if using entirely Crucial made RAM?

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That's exactly what I did.

Would love to know what you think if you have any comments or views.

Cheers, Owen

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I highly recommend Crucial for memory upgrades.

There was a day way back when when Apple computers had to have specific memory, but lately that isn't the case, with my eMac 1.25 and Mini Core Duo, it didn't matter which company it came from, just works, so in the eMac it's Kingston Value and in the Mini it's Buffalo it all works, although I do tend to lean towards Corsair or Cruicial for the higher performance systems I have (not Mac based sorry) but either of those two alone would work in a later Mac too.

I will totally agree with the above. And would like to say I replaced the shipped ram in my imac with 2 x 1GB kingston brand ram. And I haven't had one day issues with it. I'd highly recommend this brand of ram.

But for cost, I'd be looking for well known good quality brands. While the performance when compared to the budget options are not really noticeable, the reliability just might be. In my opinion the few extra $$ spent is well worth it.

Thanks for all the answers! Looks like a cheaper option will be great...

Just leads me to one question though, how come Apple memory from their online store is so expensive? Is it purely a marketing move to make people trust them more and shell out more cash, and just because they can? Certainly worked on me anyway.

Im interested in the Kingston option, I have a Kingston USB Flash Drive, thats taken such a heavy beating over the last 3 years and still works a charm while other flash cards have broken after months!

If anyone is still reading, perhaps you'd like to share your thoughts on what memory you prefer/use/endorse?

Thanks again, Owen

ojdude said:

Thanks for all the answers! Looks like a cheaper option will be great...

Just leads me to one question though, how come Apple memory from their online store is so expensive? Is it purely a marketing move to make people trust them more and shell out more cash, and just because they can? Certainly worked on me anyway.

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Most of the OEMs are like that (not just Apple). It's kind of like buying car parts from your dealer instead of an auto parts store. The parts are mostly the same, but there's a higher markup.

Im interested in the Kingston option, I have a Kingston USB Flash Drive, thats taken such a heavy beating over the last 3 years and still works a charm while other flash cards have broken after months!

If anyone is still reading, perhaps you'd like to share your thoughts on what memory you prefer/use/endorse?

Click to expand...

Crucial is the retail division of Micron, which is one of the largest memory manufacturers out there and an OEM-supplier to most of the major computer manufacturers. As such, they're probably not going anywhere and will likely be around to honor any lifetime warranties, which is more than can be said of a lot of the other smaller outfits that sell someone else's rebranded memory. Their customer service is outstanding and the memory is guaranteed to be compatible if you use the 'memory configurator' on their website.

I run a PC-repair business out of my home and have been buying Crucial memory almost from the beginning. And after thousands of modules, I have yet to have a problem.

Earlier Apple took Samsung RAM, which cost a lot more than RAM with the same specs from a different manufacturer. To find the correct RAM for your iMac you should use the memory advisor tool on http://www.crucial.com.

This is not really an either/or question as well. At my local Apple Store, they recommended Crucial! I was looking for a memory upgrade, but wasn't willing to pay their prices, which are just WAY out of line with the market. They endorsed Crucial as "very good memory". So, it is more of an "Apple memory" or "Apple recommended memory".

Prax said:

Earlier Apple took Samsung RAM, which cost a lot more than RAM with the same specs from a different manufacturer. To find the correct RAM for your iMac you should use the memory advisor tool on http://www.crucial.com.

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thanks for the advice!

Crucial is Top Drawer

Our MacPro came with two 512kb RAM chips and I added six CRUCIAL RAM chips.

Installing was simple and operation has been flawless. The only concern I've had is that the Crucial RAM does not have the large heat sinks like the Apple chips have. This RAM runs very hot and I'm sure that adding heat sinks would reduce temperatures and probably prolong the life of these components. I haven't wanted to spend the extra money for heat sinks yet.

When I recently took our MacPro to the Apple Store Genius Bar, one of the Genius' commented that Crucial RAM is a good choice.

I'll be swapping out the original RAM as Crucial prices continue to decline.

Crucial is very high quality, I completely agree with all comments. When building PCs back in the day, for gaming and benching, Crucial and/or Corsair were my 1st choices.

There is only one caveat that I would add, the memory you'd want should always be Fully Buffered ECC for a Mac Pro or any other Mac that's going to do mission critical work (I mean acting as a 24/7 server for example). Crucial memory and other large companies supply this, but others may not.

This is not necessary for a MacBook being used to surf the web or play WoW.

I put in 4GB of Crucial memory in my iMac... runs great. I've only ordered memory for the office and home from Crucial as well, never had a bad chip yet. Their tools make it darn near fool proof when ordering the right memory too.

i've got my RAM now from Crucial.. slipped in fine and works great - no problems at all..

thanks for advice ;-)

How do you upgrade the RAM in a Mini?

I thought they were sealed. I think I read that someone had managed to open one but not without a great deal of difficulty. I assume it also invalidates the warranty?


Different question - is upgrading the RAM on an iMac similar to doing so on a PC - or more like on a laptop please?

Nighthawk4 said:

How do you upgrade the RAM in a Mini?

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http://www.methodshop.com/2006/07/mac-mini-ram-upgrade-tutorial.shtml

I thought they were sealed. I think I read that someone had managed to open one but not without a great deal of difficulty. I assume it also invalidates the warranty?

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I don't believe so, providing that you don't damage anything as the direct result of the upgrade.

Different question - is upgrading the RAM on an iMac similar to doing so on a PC - or more like on a laptop please?

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I would describe it more like upgrading the memory on a laptop. You open a door and pop the memory in. Very simple.

just some advice do not use crucial in the new aluminum macbooks and macbook pros. It caused me many problems and nothing would fix it until i removed it and replaced it with the stock 2GB sticks. If your buying a new aluminum Macbook go with the apple brand ram you wont be sorry.

kenneth said:

just some advice do not use crucial in the new aluminum macbooks and macbook pros. It caused me many problems and nothing would fix it until i removed it and replaced it with the stock 2GB sticks. If your buying a new aluminum Macbook go with the apple brand ram you wont be sorry.

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What kinds of problems - and did you contact Crucial? Their customer service is excellent. I've bought literally hundreds of memory modules from Crucial and have never had a problem that they didn't immediately take care of at no cost to me (even when it was my own mistake in buying the wrong modules).

Well it worked fine for a few hours and then it would lock up and the mouse pointer would disappear. force quit would not work and the only thing I could do is hold the power button the turn it off and then turn it back on. At first this was only happening randomly and then it just got worse fast. I woke up today at 5 am and by 7 am it had froze up 6 or 7 times and was completely unusable. It didnt matter what apps or what i was doing it would just lock up and freeze and nothing would work. I called apple support because Im still within the 30 days free tech support and we went through the normal troubleshooting IE: reset cookies,cache,history, reset safari, reinstall safari, and then attempted a clean reinstall of OS X. It would get to 26 min remaining and then the install of OS X would lock up and freeze. I took the crucial ram out and reinstalled OS X with no problem and it has been going good for a couple hours now. I searched and found out that it is a common problem with the new aluminum MacBooks not playing well with memory from many many manufactures. the new macbooks will also not allow you to put your phone into DFU mode which is a real PITA.

Before you write it off, give Crucial's customer service a ring. If the problem is widespread, they can likely trade out your modules with something more suitable. Understand that Crucial is the retail arm of Micron, which is one of the worlds largest memory manufacturers. They are an OEM supplier to many computer manufacturers. I'd be shocked if they couldn't make it right in some way.

I will give it a chance for sure. If i can get the apple memory for the same price im going to go that route. I went with crucial for a reason and thats quality i KNOW they stand by there products.