macbook memory max?

[Boo Boo]

if i go with the macbook 2.16 can i upgrade to 3 or 4gb memory.

i am looking at the macbook over the pro as the easy upgrade of the hard drive.

 

[secretanchitman]

2GB maximum for the current macbooks...4GB maximum for the current macbook pros.

so you can only put a maximum of 1GB in each of the two slots for a total of 2GB....

 

[Boo Boo]

does osx actually read the full 4gb or does it cap at 3gb?

 

[TheStu]

I thought that when the MacBook went Core 2 it got upped to 3GB RAM max... I guess not. Regardless of that, the chipset caps it at 3.3GB I believe, OS X can address as much RAM as you can feed it (16GB on the Mac Pro)

 

[Nothinman]

does osx actually read the full 4gb or does it cap at 3gb?

From what I remember the kernel itself is 64-bit so it should be fine but most of the userland was still 32-bit so each process will still be limited to either 2G or 3G of VM. I never could find any documentation on Apple's site about how they did the VM split in OS X.

 

[manly]

(Not an endorsement of OWC)

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop...nchmark/Apple_MacBook/

 

[Kaido]

CD 13" MacBooks = 2gb
C2D 13" MacBooks = 3gb

CD 15" MacBook Pros = 2gb
C2D 15" MacBook Pros = 3gb
SR 15" MacBook Pros = 4gb

My wife has a 2.16ghz C2D 13" MacBook with 3gb ram and I have a 2.2ghz SR 15" MacBook Pro with 4gb ram. Both run great!

 

[alfa147x]

w00t the first few freaked me out as i have ram in the mail

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: alfa147x
w00t the first few freaked me out as i have ram in the mail

Theoritically the SR MBP can take up to 8gb ram (2x4gb) but nobody makes 4gb chips

 

[Boo Boo]

my c2d macbook takes 4gb and registers it all

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: Boo Boo
my c2d macbook takes 4gb and registers it all

thats what I thought, i might as well order another 2gb then.... could you please post a screen shot of your "about this mac" ?

 

[Boo Boo]

picture

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

The max the Macbook can support is 3.3 Gigs. Even if it says 4 gbs.

Reference:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=64250

 

[Boo Boo]

it works for me. i dont take their whinny banter with any salt

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Boo Boo
my c2d macbook takes 4gb and registers it all

Registered or usable? I think the Mini does the same thing...registers 4 gigs but only 3 gigs is usable.

 

[Kaido]

Also I wonder if it's a hardware thing or if Leopard will let us use more...

 

[Nothinman]

If OS X doesn't see it then it's likely a hardware thing since I think the kernel's been 64-bit for a release or two already.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

It's a hardware limitation.

 

[Boo Boo]

everything i read 4gb is the max not 3/3.25. just because peple run it as 32bit which cant address it. the os sees and uses the full 4gb. osx is different than windows. if you install win xp 64 on a 945 chipset based core 2 dual you would see that it reads and uses all 4gb. as its not limited by the 32bit architect. it can read all 4gb as osx doesnt differ like windows otherwise the max ram in a mbp would be the same

 

[Nothinman]

if you install win xp 64 on a 945 chipset based core 2 dual you would see that it reads and uses all 4gb. as its not limited by the 32bit architect.

Windows isn't limited by the 32-bit architecture it's limited by the designers of the OS. Other 32-bit OSes like Linux, FreeBSD, etc can use 4G or more on 32-bit systems just fine.

 

[secretanchitman]

oh thanks for clarifying that for me guys! maybe i should add a 2GB stick in my dads macbook...he uses aperture a lot and he constantly gets close to his 2GB limit.

 

[Nothinman]

I could never find any documentation on how the OS X VMM handles memory so if Aperture is a 32-bit process there's chance that adding more memory will have absolutely 0 affect. If his system has a 32-bit kernel and a 2/2G split no process will be able to address more than 2G at once. If it's a 3/1G split then the ceiling will be 3G. And if it's a 64-bit kernel the number could be anywhere between 2G and 4G depending on what Apple decided to do.