Help with Memory Purchase

C

chayo234

Registered
Hello everyone

Recently, i've been doing a lot of photo-editing/multi-tasking on my G4 1.5ghtz 512mb powerbook and decided to upgrade my memory. I've been doing some research but there has been tons of discrepancies across my choices of memory. I've searched on ebay and there seems to be extremely cheap memory cards from Optival, Omni, and other anonymous companies. Then I looked up on pricewatch.com and saw other generic cards going for much more. Another place was crucial.com, this place seemed a bit more pricier than the other locations. Now my question is, what brand do you reccomend for the best bang for the buck in memory? Also, I have 2x 256mb DDR PC2700 Ram on my laptop already, should i go for 2x 512 or just switch out one of the 256 for a 1gig? the prices were somewhat similiar and it seemed I got a bit more ram by just adding 1 gig. Thanks for all the answers!
 
I just upgraded the RAM in my eMac and I was in the same situation that you are. I found that you shouldn't get memory from eBay most of the time, because you could find a piece of memory there to your exact specs, but find out later that it actually only works in PC's.(this happened to me- I was PO'd) For me, I think that www.macmall.com has the best deals. They have warranties most of the time, are affordable, and are pretty much guarunteed to work in Macs.(Just check the compatibility sign by the title of the product) I have found that as long as you buy it through a major reseller like this, it really doesn't matter what company it came from first. It's just memory, plain and simple. As for getting a one 1gig piece or two 512's, your best bet is probably going to be getting the 1gig piece. It would equal out to be just about identical pricewise, plus you can keep that older piece.
 
Thanks for the reply

What about the Mhz speed of the Ram? How important is that? Is it worth the extra $40 to get a 333Mhz speed from 266Mhz? Now that I see it from Macmall.com, it seems that there actually is a price gap from 1gig - 2x 512mb ram. So I may end up going with the 2x 512mbs and selling my 2x 256mb Ram on ebay or someplace.
 
Go ahead and do whatever you think will benefit you most, but make sure that your laptop can handle that extra Mhz. Your owner's manual will tell you what kind of RAM your Mac can handle. If your laptop can handle that extra Mhz, and you've got the money, go for it. I have read in other forums that Mhz speed in RAM can make large peformance differences in some cases. Please note however: Your computer will always cap it's RAM speed at the peak of the slowest piece of RAM it has. So, if you bought a 1gig 333(a freakin awesome chip I might add), but you still had a 256MB 266, your Mhz would top out at 266. Good luck on your purchase.
 
How do you find out what Mhz your current Ram has? It doesn't say anything in the system profile and when I opened it up, it didn't say anything about it on it either.
 
well, currently I don't have the manual with me, but if it is in there, i will check it once i get back to my dorm. thanks

and one last question, i just went to tigerdirect.com and looked at the ridiculous good prices they had for ram, but they neither mentioned it was for mac/pc. so your saying that even though the specs are exactly same, it doesn't always work for the mac?
 
chayo234 said:
well, currently I don't have the manual with me, but if it is in there, i will check it once i get back to my dorm. thanks

and one last question, i just went to tigerdirect.com and looked at the ridiculous good prices they had for ram, but they neither mentioned it was for mac/pc. so your saying that even though the specs are exactly same, it doesn't always work for the mac?
Click to expand...

Yes, and thats what is so annoying about it. You could have the EXACT same specs as your manual says your supposed to, but still end up having a piece of RAM that doesn't work in your machine. Make sure that the company that your buying it from says specifically that it works in a Mac.
 
on macmall.com , it doesn't say it works for the 1.5Ghz 15'' Powerbook, it just goes up to the 1.25Ghz, is it still compatiable with the 1.5Ghz?
 
Sorry, but I really need to know your current RAM specs before I can help you any more.
 
It should work, but if any question, there is a tech support number at macmall you can call with that type of question. Most memory suppliers, if they want to actually sell any, will have phone support if you need it.
All 15" powerbooks for the last year or two (the aluminum PBs) all use the same memory - PC 2700
 
DeltaMac said:
It should work, but if any question, there is a tech support number at macmall you can call with that type of question. Most memory suppliers, if they want to actually sell any, will have phone support if you need it.
All 15" powerbooks for the last year or two (the aluminum PBs) all use the same memory - PC 2700
Click to expand...

There you go- thanks Delta ;)
 
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