Want to upgrade your computer memory?

[Dave2002]

Sometimes upgrading the memory on your computer is easy to do, and can lead to a significant improvement in performance, though one needs to consider carefully how worthwhile this is. Some much older kit won't do well by modern standards even with the maximum possible memory.

Checking my home iMac with 4 Gbytes memory I discover that there's little free memory left. This can be checked using Activity Monitor in Utilities. It probably leads to the not so infrequent slow downs while it swaps data to and from disc.

I found that Crucial do relatively cheap upgrades, and it's apparently not that difficult to do.

For example, for a 24 inch iMac:

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=iMac%202.66GHz%20Intel%20Core%202%20Duo%20%2824-inch%20-%20DDR3%29%20MB418LL/A&pl=Apple&cat=

For many models an upgrade is probably not too difficult:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chHKnnRWoBA

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1423?viewlocale=en_US

though some models from 2011 apparently have some components glued hard in, which makes them difficult/impossible to upgrade.

This process can lead to a new lease of life for some iMacs for a modest cost. I am now thinking that 8 Gbytes is the minimum for good performance on most modern machines, though some older ones won't take that much. It probably still makes sense to bring them up to maximum, unless they are really very lightly loaded.

Similar procedures can be carried out for most PCs, and the Crucial site can give advice on which memory modules to install. I have previously upgraded PCs using memory bought from them.

[Frances_iom]

apart from being an advert for a certain (often accused of overcharging) memory distributor a couple of technical points - OSX being a BSD derivative will also use 'spare' memory (ie that not directly used by loaded programs) as prefetch/cache for disc accesses thus be sure just what you are looking at - the major advantage for maxing out memory is in support of video (eg playing DVDs or downloads + also especially in gaming when large detailed moving images are required) and large image editing.

[Stunsworth]

Fitting memory to most desktop Macs is very easy. The only exception I seem to remember is the new 21.5" iMac.

I recently bought a Mac Mini for the hifi. Apple wanted £240 to ship it with 16 gig of memory. 16 gig of memory from Crucial was £69! Replacing the memory was as simple as twisting a circular panel on the base to remove said panel, then removing the original Simms and fitting the new ones. It took no more than a couple of minutes from beginning to end.

I've never heard of Crucial being accused of overcharging. Most people I know who've updated their machines (Mac or Windows) have used them and been very pleased with their service and price.

[jayne lee wilson]

Fitting memory to most desktop Macs is very easy. The only exception I seem to remember is the new 21.5" iMac.

I recently bought a Mac Mini for the hifi. Apple wanted £240 to ship it with 16 gig of memory. 16 gig of memory from Crucial was £69! Replacing the memory was as simple as twisting a circular panel on the base to remove said panel, then removing the original Simms and fitting the new ones. It took no more than a couple of minutes from beginning to end.

I've never heard of Crucial being accused of overcharging. Most people I know who've updated their machines (Mac or Windows) have used them and been very pleased with their service and price.

A Mac Mini for £240?! Where, how? I can't see a new one for less £499...

[Frances_iom]

the £240 was for the extra memory - people who buy Macs are assumed not to be worried about costs (hence the fuss earlier in year when some hotel chains used the browser id to indentify as from a Mac and thus only offered higher price rooms)

[Stunsworth]

A Mac Mini for £240?! Where, how? I can't see a new one for less £499...

As Frances mentioned, that was the cost of it shipping with 16 gig rather than the standard 4.

[Dave2002]

As Frances mentioned, that was the cost of it shipping with 16 gig rather than the standard 4.

Does an immediate DIY upgrade invalidate any warranties? Apple's own doesn't last long, John Lewis probably offer 2 years, while Apple's protection plan pushes up to 3 years, but is expensive except for students and academics.

[Stunsworth]

Does an immediate DIY upgrade invalidate any warranties?

I don't think so, there are instructions on how to upgrade the memory on Apple's website.

[Frances_iom]

..Apple's own doesn't last long, ....

The EU took Apple to court and forced it to amend to 2 years and to publicise the fact - Apple (what else do you expect from this rip off company) did it in such a way it was hauled back to court and fined again - you should find that in EU it is a 2 year warrenty

[Word]

The EU took Apple to court and forced it to amend to 2 years and to publicise the fact - Apple (what else do you expect from this rip off company) did it in such a way it was hauled back to court and fined again - you should find that in EU it is a 2 year warrenty

In answer to "what else do you expect from this rip off company" I'd have to say greater honesty and accuracy than can be expected from most.

Apple have provided the EU two-year statutory warranty for as long as it has been required (unsurprisingly, and no doubt in common with all other major electronics companies).
The fact that they have been sued twice is because of the cases being brought separately in different European countries, most recently Italy, alleging that Apple's on-line warranty information is confusing and implies that European consumers only have one year cover unless they purchase Apple Care.
Personally, I think the warranty differences are quite clear (as set out here [apple.com]) and I've never felt the need to get Apple Care (which, I think, can be purchased at any time during the first year of ownership so is a decision that can be taken once you're familiar with what you've bought) but the courts in question didn't agree so Apple have been fined a few hundred thousand Euros and told to change the wording around the Apple Care option in their on-line store for the country in question.

[Frances_iom]

I bought for a friend an IPad2 on which was clearly printed 1 year warrenty - it was from PC-World who it seems make more money from selling their extended warrenties than from the sale and which they plugged very very hard) - I raised it with them at the time and finally some sub-manager did the homework and said yes it should be 2 years - it was this attitude and the reply back to the court that brought back another fine - I will however give Apple some due that after PC-World prevaricated over repair (it was returned having obviusly failed on the 29th day post purchase) the local Apple shop swopped it overnight.

[Dave2002]

Since initiating this thread I've had more experience and experiences. I did fit 4 Gbytes of memory to an older version iMac - one of the models which in fact will only go up to 3 Gbytes because of the computer architecture. That does seem to have given it a new lease of life - thanks Crucial! It took several attempts to fit the memory - firstly because the old memory was pretty solidly fixed in - and secondly because pushing the new memory in was also hard, Perhaps I should have used contact cleaner in the process, which might have helped. I'm not sure if WD 40 or similar is recommended for these situations. In the end brute force and a pair of fine nose pliers on the memory boards won the day. I also not sure if the new boards are clipped in "properly" but it doesn't really matter as long as they don't fall out. The machine would otherwise be past its sell by date anyway, and it's still quite "nice" and more usable with the extra memory capacity.

Running Activity Monitor on Mac OS X gives some helpful clues to as to whether a memory upgrade would be useful. This clearly depends on the user's pattern of use. Some people (myself, and most others I know) tend to have so many windows and applications open simultaneously that this really can present problems. Look for the Green segment in the pie chart for System Memory - it should be at least an eighth of the whole pie (rough rule of thumb ..) - if it becomes vanishingly small, then memory swapping will set in, and everything will grind to a halt.

I assumed last year that 8Gbytes of main memory would probably be enough for most purposes, and computer purchases over the last year or so have reflected that, but I have noticed that even 8Gbytes is not always sufficient to ensure completely trouble free operation. With my Macbook Pro it gets hot sometimes - very easy to detect if actually used as a laptop. Applications such as Flash don't help. Sometimes this would appear to be due to lack of sufficient memory, thus forcing the OS to do a lot of memory swaps. When this happened recently I looked at the total quantity of page ins and page outs, and it was clear that this exceeded the 8Gbytes physical memory size. This isn't a guaranteed indicator though, as it would also depend on the length of time over which measurements are taken. I'm guessing that powering the machine completely off will reset the measurement. Users of desk top kit might not notice such issues, unless the fans kick in and make a noise.

I definitely would recommend trying a memory upgrade on an iMac which may be showing signs of stress due to lack of memory - though I can't guarantee that it will work and I'm not going to accept responsibility for any problems in fitting it. Out of guarantee machines which might otherwise be replaced or go for scrap can certainly be given a worthwhile lease of life - and Crucial memory seems to do the job - I don't think they are the only firm doing extra memory though.