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Level 1

60 points

1600MHz RAM on a Late 2011 MacBook Pro?

While the 2011 MBP ships with 1333MHz RAM, some say that 1600MHz may not be supported in.

Others say that it is backwards compatible (going down to 1333MHz when installed).

But even some have suggested (and tried in a Mac mini; see last post) that the system profiler reports the full 1600MHz being accessible by the chipset.

Apple officially said that my MBP only supports up to 8GB, but this has been proven to be untrue. So could Apple be wrong about this? The i7 chipset might support 1600MHz.

If so, will 1600MHz increase performance?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Dec 12, 2012 9:04 AM

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phil1402

Level 1

14 points

Posted on Mar 29, 2017 3:47 AM

Just seen this on macsales.com:

It’s in that line that we’ got some great info for those of you who bought a MacBook Pro last year. In an interesting development, it seems that although Apple sold and marketed the 2011 MacBook Pros as using 1333MHz memory, they are, in fact, capable of utilizing 1600MHz memory, just like the current crop of MacBook Pros.

Lloyd Chambers of Mac Performance Guide did some in-depth testing and found that a 2011 MacBook Pro with 1600MHz memory saw a 2% average performance boost over the same configuration with 1333MHz memory.

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50 replies

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Mar 20, 2015 3:13 PM in response to frahman

The RAM specifications for a mid 2009 MBP are: 204-pin PC3-8500 (1066 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM.

That is what I recommend that you install into your MBP. I have seen a few exceptions for certain MBP models where faster RAM will work, but never for any 2009 models. In my experience, along with many of my colleagues on these forums, OWC and Crucial are the best sources of Mac compatible RAM.

Macs have a reputation for being very selective when it comes to RAM. If none are available locally, order it online and have it shipped in. It may cost you more, but your MBP will operate as expected and you will not have to go through the inconvenience of returning it.

Ciao.

Sep 28, 2016 7:40 AM in response to Rudolfensis

Hey Rudolfensis,

I realise this is an old thread but I was considering a RAM upgrade, I have a 13 inch i7 late 2011 model macbook pro. Should 1600 DDR3 RAM be compatible with my gear from your experience?

Sep 28, 2016 7:42 AM in response to nebulloyd

Go to the OWC or Crucial sites. They have the specs for which RAM will work with your computer.

Oct 24, 2016 8:21 PM in response to nebulloyd

I can confirm that the OWC 1600 DDR3L memory kit works just fine. Any nonsense about the memory down clocking is just misinformation. The machine gets about 14% faster memory on Geekbench and about 3 % on overall system performance. It will also run a tiny bit cooler. Given that I would not have bought 1600 mhz memory just for the fun of it. I only bought because I had a stick of the 1333 go bad.

Apr 8, 2017 11:13 PM in response to ltgseb

I won't buy it unless my 1600 mhz memory fails but https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Description=2133%20DDR3%20SO-DIM M&Submit=ENE

1600MHz RAM on a Late 2011 MacBook Pro?