if i buy a new 2011 MBP can i still upgrade the ram to 8gb later?

sorry for the complete noob question, i know with the 2010 model which i was originally going to get people told me to get the 4gb ram model and to just go to crucial.com and buy an 8gb kit and upgrade it myself

it would have cost only $100 or so to go the crucial route as compared to i think $400 before from apple.com? correct me if i'm wrong.. but now with the new models i see it's only $200 to upgrade to 8gb ram and save myself the hassle (although the installation videos on utube made it look pretty easy). should i pay the 200 and have apple do it for me or should i (if i could) go the crucial route? thanks guys, my birthday is next week and this is kind of my present to myself

Ram is a piece of cake to install. Save the $100. Worst case scenario, you can take the MBP to an Apple Store or an AASP and have them install it if you're not comfortable. There's not reason at all that you 'have' to get the 8GB at the time of purchase.

thanks ! i will definitely take your advice, i think what i meant to include in that question was does the new models restrict u from opening it up and installing extra ram?

oh another important question i had... does that void the warranty? opening up your MBP and installing RAM? god i hope not

The upside to letting Apple do it is its covered under their waranty and you don't have to
open it back up and install the original ram before taking it in for repair should that happen the downside it is 100.00 dollars higher and you could have put that towards something else but you have to mess with two warranties one from Apple and one from
the ram mfg should a failure happen. Although I personally have had great luck with Crucial. If you are going to purchase Apple Care I would let them do it IMHO.

oh i just researched and found out it does not.. as an Apple user yourself, did u get a "one to one" membership? paying $349 for a 3 yr protection plan sounds good enough to me, is the one to one worth it for an extra 99?

osxx said:

The upside to letting Apple do it is its covered under their waranty and you don't have to
open it back up and install the original ram before taking it in for repair should that happen the downside it is 100.00 dollars higher and you could have put that towards something else but you have to mess with two warranties one from Apple and one from
the ram mfg should a failure happen. Although I personally have had great luck with Crucial. If you are going to purchase Apple Care I would let them do it IMHO.

Click to expand...

Except you're talking a 5-10 minute job. Kudos if you make enough that spending an extra $100 to save 5 minutes of time is worth it, but I don't make $1200/hour. I'll save the $100.

Here's the manual for the 2011 MBP. Pages 43-47 (I think) detail RAM installation. There's simply nothing to it. Just make sure that any static is discharged.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MacBook_Pro_15inch_Early2011.pdf

Make sure the ram you are getting is 1333MHz as the new 2011 MBP use this most sites
currently show a listing for 1067 MHz last years ram not only would that be a downgrade not sure it would even fit.

osxx said:

Make sure the ram you are getting is 1333MHz as the new 2011 MBP use this most sites
currently show a listing for 1067 MHz last years ram not only would that be a downgrade not sure it would even fit.

Click to expand...

Good call. I know that OWC (macsales.com) and crucial.com both direct you to the 1333MHz modules when you use their Memory Finder.

If it were possible I'd order a computer with no ram and install it all...unfortunately there's this picky detail where they can't install the OS without RAM.