Upgrading my ram on 13 MBP mid 2009

Alexander1234 · Sep 22, 2009

Hey everyone, i am new to the site and i noticed that this forum has some great people on it who know their stuff.

My question was probably asked before but i had a hard time finding a forum on it. I bought the MBP 13, 3 months ago and it runs great, ever since i installed Snow Leopard it has become much slower. I suppose 2 GB of ram is not enough for 64 bit processing.

So i would like to purchase ram at my nearest retailer, unfortunately crucial is in America and i am in canada at it takes far to long to ship.

My MBP requires PC3-8500 204 PIN.
First choice, the most expensive choice : Canada Computers - Memory > Apple Memory : NUIMPACT 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1066Mhz (PC3-8500) Unbuffered ECC 240-Pin Memory for New Apple Mac Pro (NUA-MPRO1066/4GKT).

Second choice: Canada Computers - Memory > Notebook Memory > DDR3 1066 PC3-8500 : Mushkin Notebook 4GB (2x2G) SO-DIMM 204-pin PC3-8500 DDR3-1066MHz (7-7-7-20) (996643).

Third choice: Canada Computers - Memory > Notebook Memory > DDR3 1066 PC3-8500 : OCZ (OCZ3M10664GK) DDR3 PC3-8500 1066 MHz SODIMM 4GB (2x2048MB) Kit.

If someone could let me know which would be the best choice for me. And is there a difference between RAM for PC and RAM for MAC, or is it the same now due to intel chips.

-Thanks so much for your help!!

deathcloud · Sep 22, 2009

It is generally the same. I went the cheap route (as I am a college student) and bought ram that wasn't the top of the line because upgrading to 4gb alone will be sufficient. If you buy expensive ram you see little benefits.
I have heard mushkin and OCZ and they are actually really well known memory companies so with either of those your choice would be fine.

But if I were you I would settle with mushkin.

Alexander1234 · Sep 22, 2009

Hey thanks for the quick response ill try to see if canadacomputers has mushkin in stock, if not ill end up going with whichever brand they have. Im also a college student so price matters. And btw why the **** is apple charging $240 CAD dollars for 4 gigs of ram, is that a ridiculous amount or is the ram worth it.

deathcloud · Sep 22, 2009

That is how they get their moneys worth. The gap between money difference from doing it yourself and paying them to do it gradually gets bigger as you go with more memory. I would do it yourself without a doubt.

CrimsonRequiem · Sep 22, 2009

Alexander1234 said:
Hey thanks for the quick response ill try to see if canadacomputers has mushkin in stock, if not ill end up going with whichever brand they have. Im also a college student so price matters. And btw why the **** is apple charging $240 CAD dollars for 4 gigs of ram, is that a ridiculous amount or is the ram worth it.

Because they can. If there weren't third party RAM that worked with Macs, then the prices would be even worst.

Might want to look at Crucial, they have pretty decent prices and are a highly reputable company when it comes to RAM.

Alexander1234 · Sep 22, 2009

hey guys thanks for the advice i really appreciate it, i just installed the 4gig kit (Mushkin) i was surprised that i didn't screw up the installation.

My only concern is that Iphoto is still acting up when you zoom up on the trackpad it's really really slow. Is anyone experiencing this problem as well? Should i download anything specific to fix this.

P.S. i already installed Ilife support 903...

thanks again!

deathcloud · Sep 23, 2009

Wow that was really fast... u get that in the shop or order online? Cuz you really got that fast haha...

I don't have any idea about ur zoom problem... cant help u there...

sonspot · Sep 23, 2009

hey OP are you in TO, if yes, why are you crying about shipping from the states? have you heard of redflagdeals?, ncix, newegg.ca, directcanada. there are lots of places in canada to get deals on ram, so shameful. think markup, futureshop does it bestbuy does it,. apple is not selling some magical ram, simple markup, like the other member said if the could they would charge even more, they have in the past, its only because of more compatible product why your paying less the $300 for the upgrade from apple.. they like money too..

DarkestRitual · Sep 23, 2009

2GB of RAM is enough for 64 bit processing. Your computer slowing down has nothing to do with processing in 64 bit, as apps that were programmed for 64 bit were still running in 64 bit on leopard. Your machine may be running slow because of your permissions or lack of free disk space. How big is your HDD, how much room do you have left? Generally most people say you NEED to have 15% of your HDD free for optimal performance. I generally recommend 25%.

iPhoto has not been rewritten to run in 64 bit mode, either. It is still running in 32 bits. RAM was always the same, no matter what cpu architecture one used, also.

Now open disk utility, repair your permissions (which I'm assuming you didn't do after installing snow leopard), and make sure you have 15-25% of your HDD free. That should speed up your computer. Your RAM has nothing to do with how fast your machine in, just how many apps you can have open at once without experiencing a slow down.

sonspot · Sep 23, 2009

DarkestRitual said:
2GB of RAM is enough for 64 bit processing. Your computer slowing down has nothing to do with processing in 64 bit, as apps that were programmed for 64 bit were still running in 64 bit on leopard. Your machine may be running slow because of your permissions or lack of free disk space. How big is your HDD, how much room do you have left? Generally most people say you NEED to have 15% of your HDD free for optimal performance. I generally recommend 25%.

iPhoto has not been rewritten to run in 64 bit mode, either. It is still running in 32 bits. RAM was always the same, no matter what cpu architecture one used, also.

Now open disk utility, repair your permissions (which I'm assuming you didn't do after installing snow leopard), and make sure you have 15-25% of your HDD free. That should speed up your computer. Your RAM has nothing to do with how fast your machine in, just how many apps you can have open at once without experiencing a slow down.

your right, i have 2gb myself and everything works just fine, i might jump to 3gb max but only at a great deal,.. too many computer parts setting around..