MacBook Air Memory upgrade

No. That computer's RAM is soldered to the motherboard and not upgradable.

(55500)

REALLY???

Good lord. If that had been explained to me when I bought the machine (or indicated somehow on the Apple site...), I would have bought the 4 gb model. I've never heard of such a thing. Apple wanted $100+ to add 2 gb and on the secondary market I knew I could buy the chips for $40, so I said no thanks.

Are you absolutely sure? How disappointing if so.

Yep, it's not possible to upgrade the RAM anymore. 😟 The people at Best Buy told me they could upgrade the RAM for me too at their store if I wanted them to, but after doing some research I learned you really have to get the RAM upgrade when you initially order your computer.

Message was edited by: Flowerling

"The people at Best Buy told me they could upgrade the RAM for me too at their store if I wanted them to..."

It's hard to believe that they'd offer to do that, as it would likely void your warranty. The memory devices are surface-mounted QFP which need to be aligned within a couple-ten thousandths of a inch, and uses silver solder paste and IR reflow to secure them.

RAM on the MBA has NEVER been user-upgradeable.

It wouldn't have taken much research, e.g. a quick trip to this forum, to learn that.

@dbs Well, I now feel properly chastised for failing to research a question that would never have occurred to most people, I truly believe. I've upgraded the RAM on many computers, including laptops. It's not exactly an exotic thing.

Thanks for the snarky scolding.

zenpicker wrote:
Are you absolutely sure? How disappointing if so.

If you purchased within 14 days, I think you can return it for a 4g model.

@Tony Thanks, but I'm out of that window, unfortunately. Guess I'll have to live with the limitation.

Sorry if you feel abused.

The MacBook Air series has been around for nearly three years. In that time (a) RAM has never been user-upgradeable and (b) many Mac forums have had many, many threads talking (complaining) about being limited to 2GB of RAM and asking about possible upgrade alternatives (ie that there are none).

You tried to blame your lack of pre-purchase research on the sales people; I simply commented that sometimes people need to take responsibility for their own purchase decisions.

I did the research and quickly found that they were built in the specific models. I wanted to buy local but since I wanted a 4G model, had to buy direct from Apple (which is never a bad experience). In that, unless you do a lot of heavy computing, 2G should be enough for just about anyone using their MBA for normal use. If you plan on using something like Aperture, or Final Cut Pro...another story.

Hoping you're within that 14 day window, if not.

I had the exact same experience. Sorry, I too didn't do the research first, but for a 2-3 year purchase, it's not a big deal. Just disappointing because I always heard how "well thought out" Mac is supposed to be. . .uh, soldered memory on a $1300 laptop. . .really?

On the other hand. . .I love this device and it works perfectly for what I am doing. Now that I am into the Mac ecosystem, I will know better for the next Mac purchase.

I bought the 2GB RAM also. From what I've been told, the DDR3 RAM is a little faster than the older generation DDR2 RAM. It will be more than enough for what I do. Besides, I didn't want to wait to have it built and delivered...
Sly

DrSagacity wrote:
uh, soldered memory on a $1300 laptop. . .really?

No offense, but what does the price have to do with it? This is a device that, at it's thickest, is less than 3/4 of an inch. To pack a logicboard with gpu chipset, RAM, FlashRAM mass storage and a decent sized battery in there, how on earth were they supposed to squeeze in regular SODIMM slots as well? Seriously, just looking at and holding the thing, I would have been astonished it it HAD included user serviceable RAM slots since I would not have been able to figure out where they could be or how they'd crammed them in there.

You are paying for a light and sleek laptop, not a standard chassis full featured one.

It is a new way of thinking, with purely solid state devices like the MBA and tablets and such, but these devices really do ring in the era when an upgrade does indeed mean a replacement.

If Dell can make the upgraded memory possible. . .so can Apple. Like I said, not a big deal since it's a 3 year purchase. I suspect most people can understand the frustration of buying a premium laptop that can't be upgraded.

If I were advising someone else, I would say, don't buy from Best Buy. Get the other model from Apple online.