MacBook Unibody will run 8GB RAM - Confirmed!

[thedirtydeltas]

I wonder if it makes a lot of difference I looked at your specs and only difference from my is the processor was 2.4,my concern is to wether the programs will recognize the memory in such an old machine, and will it actually make it faster. or is that more to do with actual processor speed.I found a deal of both 4 gig chips for $145 so its not exactly expensive but only worth it if it actually works.

[cb7pwn]

i have a 2.4 ghz 4gb ram late 2010 model...is there ANY talk about over heating? thats really my only concern

[alanstarkie2001]

@cb7pwn Not having any problems overheating although to be fair, when I'm using editing software the fan can run quite fast. Normal usage seems OK.

[dddaaannn360]

i have the same MacBook, mine has fresh install and everything, but if i have a lot of tabs open it pinwheels do you think a ram upgrade will help this?

[alanstarkie2001]

@dddaaannn360 Hard to say really and depends which apps are running. I do HD video editing and also a bit of Excel spreadsheet work. I did manage OK before but now, when I use Adobe Premiere when rendering, I can see that much of the extra memory is being utilized. It's a fairly inexpensive upgrade and if you can couple that with a faster 7200rpm or Solid-State drive you are bound to see a big improvement! Next step - remove the optical drive and fit a 2nd HDD.

[bbalkis1]

seagate momentus

[kickassdj]

I just upgraded it to 8gb and it works!!! :)

[rabidclimber]

thanks for an awesome insight here, good works and mega kudos! just wanted to know if you had to upgrade to snow leopard in order to make this work or if your running std "leopard" ?

[alanstarkie2001]

@rabidclimber Good point. I was running Snow Leopard long before doing the upgrade, in fact, when I bought the machine it was probably standard, so I'm not sure whether it will work with earlier versions of the OS. I suspect it will but even if you had to upgrade the OS, Snow Leopard is generally trouble free and had no issues when I upgraded my iBook a few years back - other than the fact it freed up lots of space on my hard drive because it has a smaller footprint.

[rabidclimber]

@alanstarkie2001 great reply, thanks :) gonna get me some 8gb action and test it out and as you say even if it dosent work native on leopard its not expensive to upgrade for sucha massive improvement in performance!

[TheMugfaker]

Hi,

Just wondered if you have upgraded to Lion and if you have had any issues with the Ram because of it?

Cheers.

[alanstarkie2001]

@TheMugfaker I haven't yet upgraded to Lion because I don't really need the added functionality and I'm not sure how compatible my other older apps will be with Lion. I'm taking a 'if it's not broken don't fix it' approach!

[TheMugfaker]

@alanstarkie2001 - Thanks for the reply. I have been using Lion for a month or so now and I am not too enamoured with it. The ram is so cheap I might just risk it!

[alanstarkie2001]

@TheMugfaker If it's the 5,1 Unibody I reckon it will work, even on Lion. I find it useful when using large video files on Adobe Premiere Pro.

[TheMugfaker]

@alanstarkie2001 - It is the 5,1 unibody (although 2.4 not 2.0 as you have shown to work). I use Adobe Premier Pro a lot for editing HD files and 4gb ram works... but it often runs right at its limit. So 8gb would be more efficient. Thanks for your help!

[cammyjeee]

@TheMugfaker Hi did you end up trying 8 gb on your 2.4gh macbook pro? did it work? was it a late 2008 model?

[TheMugfaker]

@cammyjeee - Hi, I haven't gotten round to buying the 8gb ram but from what other say it is worth a try!

[cammyjeee]

@TheMugfaker Guess what.. I found out there was a "silent update" a while back where it actually unofficially changed our machines max to 8 gigs thank god! I ordered some from OWC for 53 bucks. Google 8 gigs late 2008 owc, it will be the first article. Fuckin eh! thumbs this up so others can see

[theshinywolf]

is this a good idea with the last ever macbook? (late 2010 2.4ghz white)

[alanstarkie2001]

@theshinywolf I think that will only do 6gb max but you need to trawl the forums to find out for sure.

[7ashi7ash]

Hello,

everything from your spec matches mine. My computer is the earlier Macbook unibody aluminum too (Not Pro). However my computer is 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. Shouldn't the 2.4GHz macbook also run with 8gb ram as well?Just curious!

[alanstarkie2001]

@7ashi7ash I'm not 100% sure so you need to hunt around the forums but I remember reading that some of the later ones will only take maximum of 6gb.

[henkdegoudvis]

Did you do a firmware update? And you are great that you confirmed this rumor.

[alanstarkie2001]

@henkdegoudvis I don't think I ever did a firmware update on this machine. Call me old fashioned but I don't ever touch firmware unless I have to! Like the saying 'If it aint broke, don't fix it'. The memory is still working fine and I use the laptop every day as well as regular video editing. This confirms that the upgrade works fine long-term.

[henkdegoudvis]

@alanstarkie2001 Thanks for your quick reply. I really appreciate it. I will now order myself some 4gb modules from crucial. Thanks!

[claatu]

Hi Thanks for this video. Save time to lots of people.

2questions please:

1) I know you recommend to stick with Crucial which I would do as well, but do you think Kingston are okay? ( KTA-MB1066K2/8G - 8 GB ).

2): I really love the Seagate 750-7200 rpm 8mb cache, (we'll laugh on these specs in the future...) when compared to the 1TB Western Digital (the fat 2.5" one) but this one has 4mb chace+5200 rpm.

But do u think Seagate 7200 would overheat? Heard bad reviews about going broken.Thanx

[alanstarkie2001]

@claatu All I can say is that I'm using Crucial right now and everything is fine. They do say better the devil you know. On the hard drive front, I've been using a Western-Digital 500GB 7200 RPM for at least a year. I can edit AVCHD HD 1080p using Adobe Premiere CS5 without problems. I noticed an immediate improvement just by fitting a 7200 HDD. Good luck.

[A135S4656]

This is the same with the unibody white MacBook, they say it only takes 4 GB at most but it takes 8 GB of ram. I can't wait until I upgrade my unibody white MacBook.

[jjchockey]

will it work with the late 2008 2.4ghz aluminum

[alanstarkie2001]

@jjchockey sorry - I missed this. Go to 'about this Mac' - more info. If it says Model Identifier 5,1 it should work. I've just read that someone did this with a 5,1 2,4ghz machine and all was working well. Another good upgrade btw is a 7200rpm drive. I noticed immediate improvements before doing the ram and I do a lot of video editing. Let me know how you get on :)

[rad3ks]

@alanstarkie2001 All right, but what about heat ? Can you put here your temperatures ? Great vid. I'm preparing for Lion so thanks in advance for answers.

[alanstarkie2001]

@rad3ks I'm running the latest version Office and I currently have a 55 page spreadsheet open (yes, I'm actually doing spreadsheets at the moment) plus Firefox and a couple of other things - at the moment the CPU is 59 degrees. Obviously, when rendering video the temp goes up but I haven't noticed any difference in the way the Macbook works. I suspect it actually runs cooler but didn't do any before/after comparisons :)

[JordanKVW]

This is the same exact model I have. I just bought 2x4GB, hopefully they will work.

[kizzck]

Oh nice need to get some now.

[ducipal1st]

The same sodim DDR3 2x4gb i have bought from crucial. It almost damaged my laptop. Lots of BSOD and sometimes the system will not respond at all. Formated the hdd a few times....till i realised that the Crucial stuff was faulty once. I sent them back and i am going to get refund. I will get the once i have now 2x2 gb samsung, but 2x4gb samsung. I will not get any Crucial ever.

[alanstarkie2001]

@ducipal1st You need to make sure your Macbook can take 8GB. As far as I know, it will work with 2GHz 5,1 Unibody but NOT the later models - they max out at 6GB. I used Crucial because others who have done this successfully have used Crucial and usually they are reliable.

[TheMugfaker]

Hi, how is the 8gb ram working for you after a few weeks? Any instability?

[alanstarkie2001]

@TheMugfaker Hi, no instability at all. Things work as normal. The other day I was rendering a project on Adobe After Effects. I noticed the status bar telling me throughout the render that 81% of 8GB was being used, so that task was probably enhanced by the extra RAM. This is a fairly cheap upgrade for this great little laptop which I prefer to use for video editing even though I have an iMac.

[TheMugfaker]

@alanstarkie2001 - Thanks for the reply. I do a lot of video editing too with Premiere Pro Cs5 and although 4gb ram does the job, i would feel happier paying a bit to have the extra capability.

Thanks for the video!

[alanstarkie2001]

My next upgrade will be a second 7200rpm Hybrid hard drive, so that I've got an internal scratch disc for video editing.

[Cade57]

Would love to afford a mac book :-(

[alanstarkie2001]

@Cade57 I don't want to turn this into a Mac v PC debate but when I bought this MacBook, I could have easily spent a few hundred more for a Sony Vaio. So although they are expensive, they are not the most expensive by any means!

[ToppervisionEnt]

You know I had the same problem running Microsoft Office, same part, the spreadsheets. On a Core Duo with 2 gig RAM. I can't imagine why that program is so thirsty. Glad you were able to make a laptop so strong.

[alanstarkie2001]

@ToppervisionEnt I don't get it - I can run Final Cut and edit HD with other applications running without any problems but when I'm doing my weekly spreadsheet work I get the memory messages and crashing all the time. Perhaps spreadsheets are amazingly memory intensive!

[ToppervisionEnt]

@alanstarkie2001 Exactly my thoughts. I'm running a flight simulator in high resolution plus the FRAPS capture and Vegas plus usually at least 2 internet windows opwn with no issues. Open a spreadsheet by itself and it tanks? Huh?

[7649460]

good stuff