Macbook Pro 13' late 2011 ram upgrade

Question

Level 1

0 points

Macbook Pro 13' late 2011 ram upgrade

I'm planning on upgrading my macs ram to 16gb, But im not sure which type of ram to get. My current ram is what apple shipped my mac with and I belive it is ddr3 1333mhz (im not sure if its pc3 10600 or not) 4gb ram. The thing im not sure about is if my mac will support ddr3 1600mhz pc3 12800 type ram, and if it does then would I get any benifit compared to ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600 type ram?

Here are the 2 types im loking at:

ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600: http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT102464BF1339

ddr3 1600mhz pc3 12800: http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT102464BF160B

Also, according to mactracker my mac only supports ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600 type ram

But in the memory upgrade support on apple site it says to get ddr3 1600mhz pc3 12800 type ram.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1270?viewlocale=en_US#link1

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on May 20, 2013 7:55 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Link10101 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 20, 2013 8:09 AM in response to Link10101

Sorry I read apple's article wrong. Apple says to get ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600 type ram for my mac, but I was wondering if ddr3 1600mhz pc3 12800 would:

a) work in my mac

b) if it will work in my mac, what the advantages would be for me to install ddr3 1600mhz pc3 12800 in MY MAC over ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600 type ram.

Reply

Answer 2

May 20, 2013 8:12 AM in response to Link10101

Your Mac requires 1333mHz and most likely will not boot with 1600mHz RAM.

Reply

Answer 3

ds store

Level 7

30,725 points

May 20, 2013 8:12 AM in response to Link10101

They are over recommending the faster RAM, but your bus only handles the slower speed, it's so the memory will maximize to the bus speed.

The slower RAM can be slower than the bus, resulting in issues and performance problems.

Reply

Answer 4

Link10101 Author

Level 1

0 points

May 20, 2013 8:51 AM in response to ds store

So your saying that if I got the ddr3 1600mhz pc3 12800, it woudl basicly be just like getting the ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600 because my mac cannot handle the higer speeds of the 1600mhz pc3 12800?

Reply

Answer 5

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

May 20, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Link10101

Correct. However, there's a small possibility that your computer doesn't start. Macs are special about RAM, and it's possible that OS X refuses to start. I have seen recently the case of an user that started getting kernel panics after installing RAM of a bigger speed than the one his computer supports, so it's better to follow Apple's advices and purchase 1333 MHz RAM for the computer

Reply

Answer 6

mosn

Level 1

0 points

Jul 4, 2013 11:48 AM in response to Link10101

Mac Book Pro late 2011 Core i5 here, Just upgraded my ram to 16 GB and it dose work like a charm.

The ram I used Elixir DDR3 1600Mhz. Wired thing is My mac should only support bus 1333 (according to apple and intel) but now that I have this installed, in "Arout this mac" section I see 16GB 1600 Mhz memory.

Maybe this is my lucky day but just wanted to update you guy.

Reply

Answer 7

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Jul 4, 2013 11:51 AM in response to Link10101

I use these:

Cost me $75 on Amazon a year ago.

Reply

Answer 8

Link10101 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 6, 2013 3:03 PM in response to mosn

Thanks Man.

I appreseate the info, but I already got and installed my ddr3 1333mhz pc3 10600 ram so its too late to get the 1600mhz type ram :/ But my 1333mhz ram works perfectly, so its all good 😀 (even though the 1600mhz might of been a bit faster)

Reply

Answer 9

Courcoul

Level 6

18,558 points

Jul 6, 2013 6:35 PM in response to Link10101

Link10101 wrote:

(even though the 1600mhz might of been a bit faster)

Nope. The North Bridge chip that controls memory access for the CPU sets the RAM speed and that's 1333GHz on our boards. Faster SO-DIMMs just get clocked down and may even cause sync issues if they can't tolerate the clockdown. So be happy for the extra coins not spent on the unneeded faster RAM.

Cheers.

Reply

Answer 10

Jan 19, 2015 8:04 AM in response to Link10101

I very curious of your upgrade. Because I have a Macbook Pro 13" late 2011 and it says (when I got to "about this MAC") it has 4GB ram; but when I go to: MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) - Technical Specifications It says: 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB.

So my question is: Is it possible to upgrade my Macbook to 16GB ram, and the computer recognize it?

Please, anyone that has the proof answer, hit me up at: odiemanquik2002@yahoo.com

Reply

Answer 11

epeagles

Level 1

4 points

Dec 26, 2015 2:09 PM in response to Link10101

I am looking to upgrade my RAM from 4gb (2x2) to 8 gb (4x4). Is 8 the maximum on the Macbook Pro 13" late 2011? Also, the geek squad tech said i need a low voltage ram. I noticed 1.35V on some RAM and 1.5V on others. Do i really need to avoid the 1.5V chip?

Reply

Answer 12

Dec 26, 2015 2:13 PM in response to epeagles

Go tocrucial.com to determine what ram is compatible with your computer.

Reply