# How much RAM for my MacBook?



## hond0 (Sep 25, 2008)

hi,
i recently bought a macbook off of craigslist and upgraded the RAM to what i thought would be an OK 4gigs.

After tooling around the internet and passing by Crucials website they state my macbook can only handle 2gigs.

here's my specs;

 Model Name:	MacBook
  Model Identifier:	MacBook2,1
  Processor Name:	Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed:	2.16 GHz
  Number Of Processors:	1
  Total Number Of Cores:	2
  L2 Cache:	4 MB
  Memory:	4 GB
  Bus Speed:	667 MHz
  Boot ROM Version:	MB21.00A5.B07
  SMC Version:	1.17f0
  Serial Number:	W8718V72YA3
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State:	Enabled

the macbook see's all 4gig but my question is;

Is it able to use all 4gig?

any solid input would be great.  

thanks,

hondo


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## SGilbert (Sep 25, 2008)

Mactracker says the 2.16 GHz MB can use 3gig max RAM.  You're only wasting 1 gig.


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## hond0 (Sep 25, 2008)

thx, sgilbert.  i'll double check.  i didn't find the variation on crucial until i entered the model #.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Sep 26, 2008)

Also, be aware that even though your MacBook will only "see" 3GB of RAM (er, 3.32-some-odd GB of RAM) in total, since you installed two identical sticks of 2GB RAM, you're getting a "dual channel" speed boost from the RAM... meaning your RAM is working a tad faster (on the order of ~5-10%) than if you had installed non-matched sticks, such as a 1GB and a 2GB.


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## fryke (Sep 26, 2008)

Or more importantly: Graphics will be a tad faster, because the graphics "card" is actually onboard graphics using main memory.


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## hond0 (Sep 26, 2008)

thanks to all for the info... you've put my mind at ease.  i posted on another site which led me to a testing website that laid out the clock speeds with various processors and varied ram configurations i.e. 3 vs. 4 gig.  and obviously 4 was faster.
special thanks to eldiablo for explaining why its faster. here's the link i got from sinclair. http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/MacBook/Testing/Memory_Benchmarks
again, thanks to all.


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## Kees Buijs (Sep 29, 2008)

fryke said:


> Or more importantly: Graphics will be a tad faster, because the graphics "card" is actually onboard graphics using main memory.



Also - i am not 100% sure - will the memory for you onboard vga-card be taken from the not-available 4gb, so you waste even less memory, s making vga-memory e.g. 512mb will not decrease the avaiable memory for the OS, while with 3gb of memory you would loose some memory to the vga-card.


Good luck, Kees


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## fryke (Sep 30, 2008)

How do you take anything from the "not available" pile? Try _this_ bread. It's so far out, it's not even here...


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