Memory upgrade for Macbook Pro early 2011

Question

Level 1

8 points

Memory upgrade for Macbook Pro early 2011

Hello guys, I bought a Macbook Pro 13" early 2011 ten months ago with 4GB Ram. I am thinking of upgrading it to 8GB before installing Mountain Lion. I have heard people complain that Macs are not as fast and give random kernel panics with ordinary rams. I have a friend who got his Ram upgraded from a local Apple Authorised Reseller here and it was extremely expensive. Here, in my country Corsair and Kingston Rams are available easily and they are much cheaper than the ones which Apple sells. I have seen on Amazon, that Corsair makes specific rams for Macbooks. Those are not available here. Is is safe to upgrade to any ordinary Ram? Kingston's 2x4GB would cost me around $49 here while my friend got them upgraded for around $130.

Any help would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jul 28, 2012 4:28 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Shootist007

Level 6

16,709 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:36 AM in response to sheikhumar

Go to Crucial.com, Use their Memory Finder and buy the correct RAM for your system.

8GBs is under $50 from Crucial.

Reply

Answer 2

sheikhumar Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:42 AM in response to Shootist007

The problem is I am not in the US 🙂

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 28, 2012 4:42 AM in response to sheikhumar

Where do you live? Crucial has a UK online store and OWC ships internationally. Those are two of the 'respected' names in the Mac community. I have 16GB of Corsair RAM and it works just fine on my late 2011 15" MBP.

Go to the Crucial site - http://www.crucial.com/uk/ - and select the System Scanner tab. It will give you the exact specs of the RAM that you need. If you can find Corsair or Kingston that meets those specs, I'm sure that it will be fine. Your MBP uses 204-pin PC-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM. It can be upgraded to either 8GB or 16GB. And I'd defintely recommend at least 8GB for Mountain Lion.

Good luck,

Clinton

Reply

Answer 4

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:46 AM in response to sheikhumar

The Kingston RAM, if spec'd for your computer, will work just fine.

Reply

Answer 5

sheikhumar Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:51 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Which Corsair memory do you have, the normal one or the Mac specific one? The Ram available to me from Corsair is DDR3 Laptop Memory CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9 while Kingston has the ValueSelect models available here in Pakistan. I have just read some reviews on Amazon for the Corsair one and it has got some very positive reviews for Macs. Should I go ahead and buy it? It only costs $24 over here.

Reply

Answer 6

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:52 AM in response to sheikhumar

sheikhumar wrote:

Kingston has the ValueSelect models available here in Pakistan.

Stay away from that. There have been problems with Value RAM in MacBook Pro's.

Reply

Answer 7

Shootist007

Level 6

16,709 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:54 AM in response to sheikhumar

DO NOT BUY VALUE RAM. There is a reason it is called Value RAM. Mac computer do not like Value RAM.

Reply

Answer 8

sheikhumar Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:57 AM in response to wjosten

So the Corsair one is fine? More than 100 people have said the one I mentioned works fine on a Macbook Pro. http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-DDR3-Laptop-Memory-CMSO4GX3M1A1333C9/dp/B002YU83YO

Reply

Answer 9

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Jul 28, 2012 4:57 AM in response to sheikhumar

OK, you have our advice...you asked for it...but, it's your money...do what you want.

Reply

Answer 10

Jul 28, 2012 5:10 AM in response to sheikhumar

I'd get the Corsair - that's what I have and I, too, relied on the Amazon reviews to guide me. As others have said, stay away from the Kingston VALUE RAM.

Good luck,

CLinton

Reply