On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 21:34, Richard Kay wrote: > My only complaint [aside from the absence of the G5], really, is the > poverty of RAM on most of these models. 256MB doesnât really cut it, > and Apple clearly makes a dime or two at retail by selling customers > another DIMM.
My solution there is not to buy RAM from Apple. While there have been times when Macs needed unusual RAM, I can't think of any that needed RAM that was unique to Apple. These days they tend to take standard SDRAM and DDR SDRAM, so IMHO there's little reason to buy it from Apple. Unfortunately, due perhaps to their desire to sell RAM upgrades, Apple don't seem to provide a list of certified memory modules for their systems. As a result, if you want to be utterly 100% certain of zero problems (except DOA RAM, which happens to _everybody_ occasionally), you'd need to buy from Apple. I've never heard of a problem with buying _quality_ non-Apple RAM for macs, though - Hynix/Hyundai, Micron, Crucial, etc. Two of my G4s at work have all Apple RAM, the other 4 a mix of Apple-standard modules and later Hyundai upgrades; they seem equally stable. It looks to me like Apple is currently selling PC3200 512MB modules for more than $337 (8x512MB increases the price of a G5 by $2702, 4x512MB by ~$1331 depending on exact model). Quality PC3200 512MB modules from elsewhere are going for about $159. 1GB modules seem to be about $1100 each from Apple; $580 for quality PC3200 elsewhere. Guess which I suggest ;-) Of course, I seem to have turned into a drooling moron lately, so feel free to ignore me ;-) Craig Ringer
