Memory/Applecare

I have 4GB of memory in my iMac and am thinking of adding more.Here in Ireland, 4GB of Apple memory is €225or just over $300 at today's rate which makes the prices of about $28 in Crucial Memory very attractive .Even 4GB at about €40 or $55 here is attractive by comparison. However I can't seem to get a definitive answer from the Apple agent where I bought as to where I would stand with my Applecare plan if I install non Apple memory.Will it invalidate it completely or would it be a case of if anything acts up with the memory I will be on my own? I would like to stick with Apple products but the price difference is hard to ignore.has anyone experience of this end of things? Thank you.

Apple would have to give you a definitive answer BUT I believe that memory is a user modifiable option and changing it would NOT invalidate your Applecare. However, if you damaged the logic board with a static discharge while changing the memory, they might refuse that repair. In my case I have replaced the optical drive with another hard drive and confirmed with Apple that parts I have NOT changed are still covered by my Applecare agreement.

Bob Stan is correct. Memory is user serviceable. If you ever need Apple Care they may require you to put the original memory back in - but as long as you don't damage anything during the process - it won't affect Apple Care.

Thank you Bob and Brian.I am currently using the iMac as it came, 4GB with 2GB in each of two slots.If I were to add say 8GB, with 4 GB in each remaining slot, would that affect the 4GB presently in place.I don't know how the "work load"is spread out between pieces of memory..does the memory usage start at one slot and move across as needed or are the slots used in unison? Does that make sense?

It would give you a total of 12 GB, which is what I have in my iMac. I believe it uses the memory in pairs so as long as each bank has the same size there is no adverse impact on performance. It doesn't matter in your case which bank has the 2GB chips and which has the 4 GB chips.