Apple Intelligence is now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac!

⏺ Join the discussion

⏺ Press release 

⏺ Learn more

⏺ Watch the video

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: tsukuyomi_the_kid
tsukuyomi_the_kid Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Mid-2010 MacBook has 8gb ram only showing 4gb

I have a Mid-2010 “plastic” MacBook (running Sierra 10.12.6) I was given recently, decided to poke around aka see what could be upgraded (ram,hdd,etc) and to clean out the fan, I was surprised when I found out that it actually has two 8gb 1066MHz Apple OEM ram populating both dimms, however in both about this Mac and system report it says there are two 2gb sticks populating both slots, I’ve attached photos of what MacOS is showing along with the ram itself. also, after doing some info digging it seems these models can supposedly support up to 16gb total which I found quite interesting as it only has a core 2 duo for instance my Late-2008 unibody MacBook with the same cpu and clock speed can only support up to 4gb.

MacBook

Posted on Jun 5, 2022 9:26 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: y_p_w
y_p_w
User level: Level 6
17,684 points

Posted on Jun 9, 2022 10:33 PM

Those don't look like OEM. Apple OEM memory is either unlabeled except for the manufacturer's (always a major OEM like Samsung or Micron) label, and/or it has a label with the Apple logo on it. I think that's typically for retail purchase, as I've never seen an Apple label on a factory-installed memory module.


That's clearly Samsung though. Take a closer look though. It's labelled as 4GB total for the set, but then as 2x2GB. So each one is 2GB and the report is correct.

View in context

Similar questions

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: y_p_w
y_p_w
User level: Level 6
17,684 points

Jun 9, 2022 10:33 PM in response to tsukuyomi_the_kid

Those don't look like OEM. Apple OEM memory is either unlabeled except for the manufacturer's (always a major OEM like Samsung or Micron) label, and/or it has a label with the Apple logo on it. I think that's typically for retail purchase, as I've never seen an Apple label on a factory-installed memory module.


That's clearly Samsung though. Take a closer look though. It's labelled as 4GB total for the set, but then as 2x2GB. So each one is 2GB and the report is correct.

Reply
User profile for user: y_p_w
y_p_w
User level: Level 6
17,684 points

Jun 10, 2022 10:07 AM in response to tsukuyomi_the_kid

tsukuyomi_the_kid wrote:
Thank you, I don’t know how I mis-read that


It's kind of odd. I've seen some labels that mention specifically that it's a kit with the total memory, but that label is kind of hard to read. I don't think that it's Apple OEM, but that shouldn't matter as Apple devices don't really need anything other than industry standard. Replacement kits are really cheap if you're just looking to play around with it.

Reply

Mid-2010 MacBook has 8gb ram only showing 4gb

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up