Q: What is the max. amount of Ram and type I can Install in my MacBook Pro?

Check with     eshop.macsales.com.

Best.

According to Apple that model of MacBook Pro can handle up to 4GB of RAM. Other users have reported being able to use up to 6GB.

Best of luck.

The maximun amount of RAM for a late 2008 4.1 MBP is 6 Gb.  Specifications are: 200-pin PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM.

Ciao.

First to stwolf.

Early 2008 is MacBookPro 4,1 (6 GB) and Late 2008 is MacBookPro 5,1 (8 GB) seems to be the trend.

My question is related to yours, about the FSB on a MacBookPro 17" Early 2008 (and Late)

and the recommended RAM speed.

FSB stands for ( FrontSideBus, the speed in (MHz) between CPU and RAM).

The MacBookPro started in 2006 with an FSB of 667 MHz.

In 2007 the FSB increased to 800 MHz, but nearly all the documentation I have found

still only recommends Memory with a speed of 667MHz.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1270#link8

I have a MacBookPro 17" 4,1 MB166*A and planning to upgrade to 6MB of RAM.

(2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 45 nm Penryn CPU)

The documentation tells me to get DDR2 SDRAM SO-DIMM 200 pin PC2-5300 (667 MHz).

Why not DDR2 SDRAM SO-DIMM 200 pin PC2-6400 (800 MHz)? The same as the FSB.

I have found:

Crucial DDR2 SO-DIMM PC6400 2GB CL6 Non-ECC, 1.8V, 256Mx64, 200pin CT25664AC800  800 MHz

Crucial DDR2 SO-DIMM PC6400 4GB CL6 Non-ECC, 1.8V, 512Mx64, 200pin CT51264AC800

Other World Computing 2.0GB Upgrade (2048MB Module) PC2-5300  667 MHz

Other World Computing 4.0GB Upgrade (4096MB Module) PC2-5300

from   eshop.macsales.com   which recommends 667 MHz for Early 2008 MacBookPro 4,1

Regards (soon) new (second hand) MacBookPro user

mikkmac, greetings;  You write "In 2007 the FSB increased to 800 MHz,".  Since Apple documentation in the support files says that all 2007 MBPs (mid or late) used '2GB (two SO-DIMMs) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)', please provide you source for the 800 MHz chips.

If one deviates from the Apple specifications for RAM, one does so at their own risk.  It may or may not work, and if it does work, is there any guarantee that there will be any advantage gained.  I discourage anyone from doing so.

Ciao.

You might find that this will answer your question:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4132

Ciao.

I found an answer to my own question :-)

(Deeper into FSB and clarifying earlier post (English is not my native language)).

I wrote: "nearly all the documentation I have found still only recommends Memory with a speed of 667MHz"

Apologies I will have to get rather technical  :-)

at:  http://www.randomprocess.ca/2007/07/30/intel-santa-rosa-does-not-support-ddr2-80 0/

This source states: "So, the moral of the story? Intel’s Santa Rosa platform, despite supporting a 800MHz FSB doesn’t support anything faster than DDR2-667 and it doesn’t matter, because the Core architecture does a good job squeezing (nearly) all the performance it needs out of it."

______________________________

at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_side_bus

This source states: "Core 2 Duo     133 MHz-333 MHz     4     64-bit     4256 MB/s-10656 MB/s"

My info: the early 2008 MacBookPro 4,1 can use 6 GB of memory but you will use one 2 and one 4 GB memory chip and you will not drive the two memory chips in parallel thereby reducing the speed by 50 % to 5328 MB/s.

The maximum of 800MHz at the FSB provides 6400 MB/s of bandwidth between the northbridge (memory controller) and the CPU. This seems to be impossible with an IDE CD-Rom.

______________________________

My info: 6 GB in Macbook pro and which models support this, from several sources.

at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

at: http://tidbits.com/article/9839

This source states:"After the model name are two numbers, separated by a comma, as in "3,1". If the first number is 3, 4, or 5, the Mac should be able to handle 6 GB of RAM."

_________________________________

My info: A little extra info regarding SSD which communicates through the southbridge chip.

If you replace your hardisk with an SSD you could get 3 Gbit/s but the Mac is reduced to 1.5 Gbit/s (approximately 150 MB/s) not 300-500 MB/s that modern SSD's can provide.

You should not replace the cd-rom (which have an ide parallel cable on pre unibody Macpro's/before 2009) at Ultra ata 100 with only 100MB/s read and approximately 90 MB/s write.

-----

at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2803704?start=15&tstart=0

This source states: "The  continous speed from an SSD isn't that important, 100MB/s vs 200MB/s vs 300MB/s isn't really that huge of a deal. I would know as i have, myself got my SSD that i formerly had in a SATA II compatible laptop doing 275MB/s read/writes vs an older macbook4.1 that is SATA I and is probably only doing around 100-150MB/s, and i can't tell any difference between the two machines."

This source states: "removing the chipset limitation of 1.5Gbit to 3Gbit"

This source states: "it's such a simple fix, so i don't really understand why they don't. Every other laptop (windows PC) that has had ICH8-M has had SATA-II enabled, so i find it strange that apple will not fix this.  SSD's are popular since some time now so it makes no sense that they wouldn't."

This source states: "Though i suspect that because the superdrive is connected via PATA/IDE and not SATA, that is the problem, the laptops i had with ICH8-M has had a SATA-connector to the DVD-drive too, so that might be a cause why SATA-II isn't enabled (?)"

_________________

I hope I am not being to technical, but I have tried to write down what I have found to be (likely) the truth regarding the Macbook pro and how to get the most out of the hardware.

That is my understanding.

Early 2008 February 26, Model number(s) MB133*/A, MB134*/A, or MB166*/A        Model Identifier(s)  MacBookPro4,1

Late  2008 October 14,   Model number(s) MB766*/A                                             Model Identifier(s)  MacBookPro5,1

and  Early 2008 6 GB

Engst, Adam (October 31, 2008). "6 GB of RAM in a MacBook or MacBook Pro". TidBITS. Retrieved April 25, 2010.

and  Late   2008 8 GB  EFI firmware update and Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.6 and above) required.

  "“Secret” Firmware lets Late ’08 MacBooks use 8GB.". OWC. March 3, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.

at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro

good luck to you ( and me :-) )

Edit: layout

Message was edited by: mikkmac

Does one have to upgrade org fw to step up from 1+1 to 2+4gb?