Crucial or OWC?

Which company is better for memory? Crucial or OWC? Looking for more memory for my iMac. Thr same memory from OCW is about $15 more than Crucial.

iMac 24", 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB memory, 23" Dell 2nd monitor, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Aug 26, 2011 7:43 AM

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Posted on Aug 26, 2011 9:01 AM

Well Warrior, I hope this off the road discussion gives you an easy choice: both are very good.

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Aug 26, 2011 8:50 AM in response to christouran

Well, I don't know that Crucial's is less expensive than OWC, but I've read a few posts here of their inept service. Yes, price is important, but you get what you pay for: if there is a problem with the product and their customer service doesn't know how to "speak Mac" (only Windows), I'd rather not deal with them and pay a couple of bucks more.

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Aug 26, 2011 7:56 AM in response to WarriorAnt

Lots of threads on this issue.

These two are both very good, reliable qualified Brands. Buy whichever you want, perhaps the cheaper Crucial.

Make sure that you have the exact spec for your iMac. They should absolutely be the same specs as required. Use System profiler to see what model you have and the memory spec. Then use the configurator on the Brand's site.

Adding memory in the iMac is very easy, look in the manual.

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Aug 26, 2011 9:00 AM in response to babowa

There were some complaints a long time ago about an issue in their SSD's (the problem being not technical but that most were installed in PC's and they had trouble explaining how to do a firmware update in Mac). Never in the memory department.

I have several Brands memory but swear by Crucial, I have several SSD's and am very satisfied with the Crucial.

But true: OWC's service is exemplary also.

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Jan 10, 2014 6:24 AM in response to jefflawrencenyc

So you bought the wrong RAM for your Mac, tried to force them into slots they didn't fit into, and it's Crucial's fault?


It is possible you ordered the correct RAM and Crucial sent you the wrong ones. But as soon as it became apparent they did not easily fit in the slots, you should have stopped.

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Jan 10, 2014 11:36 AM in response to jefflawrencenyc

jefflawrencenyc wrote:


If you want to keep your Imac and not destroy it stay away from Crucial. The sticks are too big, and easily cause damage. I have 6 sticks of memory, 5 ruined, and messed up memory slots. Thanks crucial, you should be out of business.

Then you got the wrong sticks, all 204pin DDR chips (the ones used by an iMac) are the same size. After the first one would not fit, why try 4 more?

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Jan 10, 2014 12:16 PM in response to Csound1

They were the correct ones, and crucial verified that, when placed in I got 24GB (2 new 8GB plus original) but then had random shutdowns, so I figured the RAM might be bad, and exchanged them for two new ones, when installed got beeping sounds, it's so complicated. Botton line, the apple memory fits like a glove, and I hear so does OWC, but crucial doesn't, why not?

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Jan 10, 2014 12:23 PM in response to jefflawrencenyc

but crucial doesn't, why not?

Good question. Something was clearly wrong with that order, but I have no idea what. I've ordered RAM from Crucial many times over the years and have never had an issue with a single one. I tend to order from OWC more often now, but that's simply because they're almost always cheaper for the same thing.

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Crucial or OWC?

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