Apple SODIMM prices... are they CRAZY?! (yes)

Apple store: SODIMM 667Mhz DDR2 - 2x 2Gb sticks... ***£539.99!!!***

play.com: Kingston KTA-MB667/2G 2GB DDR2 SODIMM, 2x 2Gb stick... ***£55.98!!!***

Is this sheer greed, or are people actually PAYING this extortionate price?. Do they not realise that they're ripping us all off?. Had to LOL; VERY VERY LOUDLY INDEED!!! :

Apple's price is 9.6 x that of Kingston, on play.com. I know where I am buying from on Monday...

D___I___S___G___U___S___T___E___D___!___!

Nothing new. That's why everyone here always suggests to by third-party memory.

Eric559 said:

Nothing new. That's why everyone here always suggests to by third-party memory.

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I expected the predictable response, in that you all know this; but I had to say something, even if just to state my opinion. This is outrageous to the extreme of being borderline criminal.

You think this is crazy, go look at the retail prices for simple cables. I went to Office Depot the other day to buy a printer cable, and it was selling for around $50 for a twelve inch cable. I think the 25 foot Ethernet cable was somewhere around $100. I ended up buying them for less than $4 each on Newegg. In fact, the shipping cost more than the items themselves. This is sheer lunacy.

Kash said:

You think this is crazy, go look at the retail prices for simple cables. I went to Office Depot the other day to buy a printer cable, and it was selling for around $50 for a twelve inch cable. I think the 25 foot Ethernet cable was somewhere around $100. I ended up buying them for less than $4 each on Newegg. In fact, the shipping cost more than the items themselves. This is sheer lunacy.

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I agree, completely. Fortunately for us UK residents, places such as "Poundland" are a great resource for USB cables, extensions and the like. No need to guess how much they are...

glosswhite said:

I expected the predictable response, in that you all know this; but I had to say something, even if just to state my opinion. This is outrageous to the extreme of being borderline criminal.

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Its not that big of a deal, because you can get it third-party. Simply don't buy Apple memory.

I don't really understand their reasoning for pricing it so high, but it is their decision to do so.

Went to CC and looked at their DVI to HDMI 16' cables: $150 - Amazon: $30 and I bought the middle of the road price wise.
CC HDMI 1.3 @ 6': $100 - needed 4 more of these - Amazon $24, middle of the road price again
Here's the real kicker one - CC optical cables: $25 - Amazon: as low as $0.01 - bought 5 of the $2.00 cables

But yeah, those are pretty outrageous RAM prices also.

bobtomay said:

Went to CC and looked at their DVI to HDMI 16' cables: $150 - Amazon: $30 and I bought the middle of the road price wise.
CC HDMI 1.3 @ 6': $100 - needed 4 more of these - Amazon $24, middle of the road price again
Here's the real kicker one - CC optical cables: $25 - Amazon: as low as $0.01 - bought 5 of the $2.00 cables

But yeah, those are pretty outrageous RAM prices also.

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Just a tip for those of you looking for any kind of cabling - check out monoprice.com, especially for HDMI cables. They're very well priced and top notch quality. Shipping is extremely quick too.

When I first got my HDTV, I bought all of my cables from them and was very pleased. So much so, that when I switched my home network's backbone to gigabit ethernet, I bought all of my CAT6 ethernet cabling from them. Again, great price, great quality and quick shipping.


I also don't understand why OEMs are so overpriced on their memory. Prior to switching, I noticed that Dell did the same thing.

cwa107 said:

Just a tip for those of you looking for any kind of cabling - check out monoprice.com, especially for HDMI cables. They're very well priced and top notch quality. Shipping is extremely quick too.

When I first got my HDTV, I bought all of my cables from them and was very pleased. So much so, that when I switched my home network's backbone to gigabit ethernet, I bought all of my CAT6 ethernet cabling from them. Again, great price, great quality and quick shipping.


I also don't understand why OEMs are so overpriced on their memory. Prior to switching, I noticed that Dell did the same thing.

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Greed!. What's not to understand?. Simple if you think about it - they depend on naive consumers (plenty about - but don't EXPLOIT them!).

The same thing is here with umart in Australia. They have great prices where places like **** Smith and Apple are outrageous.

cheesybanana said:

Its not that big of a deal, because you can get it third-party. Simply don't buy Apple memory.

I don't really understand their reasoning for pricing it so high, but it is their decision to do so.

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Well, the extreme amount of high quality resources that go into creating an Apple sticker for their memory sticks far outweighs the actual cost of Ram.

I mean, They're so shiny, I can see my ugly mug in them. They must be the reason why titanium production has increased by over 25% in the past ten years.

wait a month or two, and they will lower the price...

If you ever have an issue with your machine they will take out 3rd party RAM. They give you your machine back with your RAM in a bag for you to put back in when its fixed. I admit i tried the cheap stuff and had lots of issues with 3 reputable companies. Kernel panics, Leopard failing to install, App crashes. Once I put in my Apple RAM its been all good. Ill pay more to not have to deal with it anymore.....

fyrman22 said:

If you ever have an issue with your machine they will take out 3rd party RAM. They give you your machine back with your RAM in a bag for you to put back in when its fixed. I admit i tried the cheap stuff and had lots of issues with 3 reputable companies. Kernel panics, Leopard failing to install, App crashes. Once I put in my Apple RAM its been all good. Ill pay more to not have to deal with it anymore.....

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I'd hardly call Kingston "the cheap stuff". Major on 3rd, possibly... but Kingston are a highly respected and reputable source. Apple use "Hynix" (Samsung) - hardly a VERY VERY well known brand. I think you will find that it was more likely your machine at fault, if THREE brands failed for you. Apple's source of memory isn't "magic" my friend.

Ironically, "Hynix" - the brand Apple install, is CHEAPER to buy than Kingston, on the whole - work that out!!

markxs said:

wait a month or two, and they will lower the price...

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No, no they won't - this is Apple!.

I had kingston it was GARBAGE. Returned it twice then Centon and PNY. I havent had a single issue since getting the apple ram.

Crucial! I have used it, its great and top class, if that price from Apple is correct they best keep it.

I use 4 gigs of crucial in my macbook, never had a problem, cost me about £90 including shipping and vat.

glosswhite said:

I'd hardly call Kingston "the cheap stuff". Major on 3rd, possibly... but Kingston are a highly respected and reputable source. Apple use "Hynix" (Samsung) - hardly a VERY VERY well known brand. I think you will find that it was more likely your machine at fault, if THREE brands failed for you. Apple's source of memory isn't "magic" my friend.

Ironically, "Hynix" - the brand Apple install, is CHEAPER to buy than Kingston, on the whole - work that out!!

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Actually, hynix is the type of RAM chips made by Samsung that various manufacturers use to make their sticks of RAM. So Apple isn't buying RAM directly from a company named Hynix, they're buying RAM that uses hynix chips. You'll find many brands using these chips. However, with the high volume of solid state memory Apple uses, I wouldn't be surprised if it were getting its RAM directly from Samsung.

Kash said:

Actually, hynix is the type of RAM chips made by Samsung that various manufacturers use to make their sticks of RAM. So Apple isn't buying RAM directly from a company named Hynix, they're buying RAM that uses hynix chips. You'll find many brands using these chips. However, with the high volume of solid state memory Apple uses, I wouldn't be surprised if it were getting its RAM directly from Samsung.

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...but if you take the memory out of a current Mac Mini, the label CLEARLY says "Hynix"...




I see what you are saying, but I am pretty sure that there *IS* a Hynix branded stick - the evidence is in front of you.

fyrman22 said:

I had kingston it was GARBAGE. Returned it twice then Centon and PNY. I havent had a single issue since getting the apple ram.

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Okay - *you* had issues with Kingston. This does not demote their products to "garbage" status, based upon the feedback from ONE consumer. Think carefully... MILLIONS of computers use this highly reputable company for their RAM, and it has a reputation to be proud of. PNY I am sure are okay, but hardly top-tier.

chrisiw said:

Crucial! I have used it, its great and top class, if that price from Apple is correct they best keep it.

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I agree wholeheartedly re: Crucial; they are ALWAYS my first port of call. However on this occasion, Kingston SODIMMs (not ValueRam!) are £25ish per 2Gb stick whereas the equivalent Crucial part is £45ish per 2Gb. Crucial are 99% of the time, THE cheapest I can find. Go figure...

I have 4GB of Mushkin RAM. So far so good. I've also heard good things about Crucial, while I got mixed reviews about Kingston.