Ram?

Ram? (New Question, Read Last Post)

(I live in Canada, might help you out on the prices seeming big etc) I noticed a lot of people saying that if possible to get the 512Mb of memory for the Ibook. But the price Apple charges for 256Mb is to much 130$. I went to Crucial Canada and I found a chip thats 512 MB that is 157$ after Canadian Tax. So thats double the memory for only 27$ more.
(Here's the website showing that 512MB card CLICK HERE

But is it smart to just get the Ibook with the built in 256MB of memory and then buy this 512MB memory card from Crucial giving me a total of 768MB. Will this void the warranty if I add memory myself? Is that the reason they charge more for when customizing memory? (JUST read that the 130$ on the Canadian Crucial Website is actually in US currency)

I doubt it voids the warranty as they show how in the docs.

I've been messing with computers for years, and I've found as long as you get memory from a repatable source, you should not have problems.

I got a ibook G4 about a month ago with the 256mb on board, the bought a stick of 512mb Kingston "Value Ram". I've had no problems since.

I barely know anything about quality ram. Could you check that website link I posted and let me know if that ram would screw it up or is it good?

Sorry...

Yes Crucial is good, very good RAM. And that is a decent price. You will never go wrong with Crucial.

Okay good, Ill consider doing that. I checked Apple's website for directions but I can't seem to find it. I wonder if they've added that model yet? I could probably use the directions from an other model couldn't I since the newer ones look the same.

Directions are in your manual.

Take the keyboard off...
2 tabs at the top (between the "esc" & "F1" & between "F11" & "F12"
rotate towards you pivoting at the bottom lifting from the top

Take out the Airport Extreem box

Ram is below that

Put it all together again.

When putting the keyboard back in, seat the bottom edge first by sliding left & right slightly until it "seats", then rotate the top down.

Be certain that the RAM is completely in place, it will take some force.

Great, thanks for the help Colday.

And watch out cause the keyboard is flimsy.

And NO, it won't harm your warranty, as airport extreme and RAM are considered User-servicable parts by Apple, which means it's ok

Apple just like to earn a bit more on the accessories, so that's why their RAM is a bit more expensive than say crucial's...

So if I screwed my computer up somehow by changing the ram it wouldn't void the warranty and they'd still fix it?

I got a stick of 512mb ram from Summit Direct(canadian) for $134+tax. its working great in my ibook g4.

My mom's a bit freaked out about the fact that I would be changing the ram. I have two questions.

1. If I happened to screw up in putting ram it and it somehow screwed the ibook up Apple would not fix it right? Since I think it read "We will not fix damages made by non Apple Specialists. Is it even possible to severely screw your computer up changing ram?

2. How much experience do you consider needed to try this? I doesn't look to hard but I could be missing something.

Thanks

I haven't changed the Ram in an iBook but I have in other various laptops, it is easy, I think you would have to try really hard to mess something up.

How easy?

That is tough to answer. *I* think is is very easy (as do others). How adept are you in mechanical/electronic work? Can you look at something and be able to figure how it should come apart?

If you are squeamish (and it sounds like you are), then you might want to have someone else (Apple repair) do it for you. Our moms are not always great at judging our abilities!

The keyboard is flimsy and is tethered by a thin ribbon cable. The Airport Extreme card is held in place by a funny wire clip. Again, the memory does take some force (a bit more than you might feel comfortable exerting), but does clip right in.

All in all it is your choice.

Steve

Yeah, if you don't feel comfortable doing it, don't do it.

I would just describe the process once more:

You lift up the keyboard (easy) slowly(!!!) so the ribbon cable is tugged off.
You lay the keyboard on the handrest and then remove the airport card. The card is held down by a metal clip of some sort that pops out... (easy-average)

You then unscrew the plate the airport card sits on using a teeny tiny + screwdriver (a bit fiddily as the screws are so small)
Then you place in the ram (there's only one place it could go, and only one way, so it can't be put in the wrong way) and then push it down until it snaps in. (easy-peasy)

Then you screw the plate back on (still fiddily),
replace the airport card (a bit tricky to get that metal bracket back in, but not hard)
and replace the keyboard (still easy)


So that's 3 easies, 2 fiddilies, 1 average and 1 tricky..

I'd say just try it and if you can't get it in just don't do anything else, but take it somewhere instead...

I don't think there is anything you can damage whilst putting in ram...

You might rip out the keyboard's cable, but you would have to be really careless to do that...

You can't really damage the RAM holder in any way, nor the aiport card.


IMPORTANT:
You need to discharge yourself before you touch the insides of your computer, or else an electrostatic charge could damage the electronics.
This sounds more dangerous than it actually is, don't worry...

You know sometimes when you touch a metal object, you get a 'shock'? Well that's static electricity. Your iBook does not like this. So touch a metal object before you touch the RAM or the insides of your 'book...

So the worst I could do is pull out the cable attached to the keyboard. Can you give me more details on this cable? If I bring it up easily they will just disconnect and Ill have to reattach it when Im done? Or what?

I'm so so when it comes to changing things. I'm more worried that I'll break the ibook somehow but from what you've said it sounds pretty hard to break it.

That was a great post!

A static shock can fry your iBook. Do you get a lot of shocks around the house? If yes, then make sure you discharge yourself first (do this anyway).

The ribbon cable is flimsy, but unless you are a real clod I doubt you could pull it out. Follow the instructions... Rotate the keyboard up & over laying it flat on the palm rest. No worries, mate.

I forgot about those small screws. Do have a small "jewelers" screw driver (phillips [+]).

Smoke test it!

Oh okay so if I pull it up gently the cable will just stay attached and Ill have no worries. I get it now. Im pretty sure we have a small screwdriver around here somewhere. Thanks

Does anyone know if it's cheaper to order memory seperate from Apple then actually customizing the memory before purchasing? Or is it still the same price?