# considering upgrading macbook to 6GB RAM



## processor93 (Aug 9, 2009)

i've heard that it's now confirmed that you can swap out a 2GB DIMM for a 4GB and give a black macbook a total of 6GB of RAM.

i heard this while working on a job next to someone where we were both on our laptops and having slowness issues to to the client's HUGE photoshop and illustrator files. i was afraid to run anything else while working on these files. my 250GB HD had about 38GB free.

my questions are:

1. would increasing the RAM make these programs run faster, and allow me to leave other apps open? for example i hate to reboot parallels/windowsXP all the time but that uses as much memory as photoshop.

2. how easy is it to swap the memory yourself? are there online tutorials on doing this?

3. are mac-compatible DIMMs as compatible and reliable as the ones you'd get from apple?

i appreciate any input on this, thanks.


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## Scoops98 (Aug 10, 2009)

1. Yes, more memory will make a BIG difference.  I have 4 GB and it's not enough when I use Photoshop.  You can also set you scratch disk as an external disk, to improving performance.

2. Easy to install the new RAM.  Take the battery cover and battery of and there you go.

3. Yes. RAM from Apple is a waste of money.  They overcharge.  Order from Crucial.com.  I currently have RAM from OWC.  Most retailers sell RAM that is guaranteed to run in you computer.  Just make sure it's the right type.

4. 4 GB RAM modules are still really expensive.  Maybe look at getting 2 x 2 GB and get the 4 GB module later when the prices drop.


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## ora (Aug 10, 2009)

Scoops98 said:


> 4. 4 GB RAM modules are still really expensive.  Maybe look at getting 2 x 2 GB and get the 4 GB module later when the prices drop.



I agree, a 4gb board is ~5x the price of 2x2gb boards. I have 2x2gb in my macbook and it runs very well, I'd go for that then upgrade when the price comes down, doing that will probably still be cheaper than buying 4gb now.


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## processor93 (Aug 10, 2009)

thanks for the info.

i thought the black macbook only had 2 RAM slots? i already have 4GB RAM in 2 x 2GB chips; to get to 6GB i need to replace one of those 2GB chips with a single 4GB. right?


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## ora (Aug 10, 2009)

processor93 said:


> thanks for the info.
> 
> i thought the black macbook only had 2 RAM slots? i already have 4GB RAM in 2 x 2GB chips; to get to 6GB i need to replace one of those 2GB chips with a single 4GB. right?



Yep. If you already have 2x2gb (4 in total) you would have to throw away one of those boards. Not worth it yet. In 6 months i suspect 4gb boards will be affordable and 8gb boards will be the super expensive ones.


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## processor93 (Sep 16, 2010)

...it's a year later and i still haven't upgraded due to money factors. starting to work on HD video so thinking of more RAM again.

my new question may seem silly, but...will 6GB (instead of the 4GB i have) also increase performance when booting from *windows*? i ditched parallels for bootcamp (which increased speed), but now i'm also editing and *rendering video* on that side as well as the mac side. it takes a huuuge amount of time to render HD out of a decent video editor. 

*would the speed increase be significant* enough to be worth the $120 or so?


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## DeltaMac (Sep 16, 2010)

AFAIK, WinXP will not use over 4GB RAM.
You can't even consider a 64-bit version of WinXP, as there's no Boot Camp drivers for that


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