I've got a 13" 2006 MacBook here that's in dire need of some TLC. Obviously Apple's site says it can only accommodate 2gb of RAM, and Crucial's site agrees. But RamSeeker says I can get 4gb in there. Any experience?

The MA254LL/A, Core Duo, can only see 2. The next gen, Core 2 Duo, can see 3, the late 2007 can do 6.

OK. Good to know. While I"m at it, my MacBook is a early 2008 one, for which I only see 4gb upgrade kits, which I already have. Do you know of any bigger kits? six or eight would be great!

I'm so confused.

The early 2006 or early 2008? There is no 1.83 Ghz model in the early 2008. MacTracker says the early 2008 can see 6G but 4G PC2 200 pin 5300 sodimms are hard to find. I didn't even know that 4G 5300 were available. NewEgg has them for $70. I found only one other place, Walmart of all places.

The "kits" just refer to 2 chips BTW as you probably know, it's a marketing thing for machines that can utilize interleaving, 2 chips the same size.

Edit - Okay, I see Crucial does have 8G "Kits" but they are $240.

I do believe he means 2008.

He linked to the 2006 in his first post though and said 1.83.

It's not confusing. I have more than one MacBook here. That's why after you answered my question, I said,



This is the other MacBook.

Okay, your other MacBook. I see now.

Still the same, same PC2-5300 667Mhz 200 pin sodimm RAM, and the 2008 can do 6G. Optimally you want two chips of the same size to support interleaving, it gives a 10-20% speed increase supposedly. If you install 8G it will only see 6, at least that's the way the iMacs that could only see 3 worked, 2x4G but they would only see 3.

I'd try two 4G chips first as long as you get them from someone that will let you send them back if it doesn't work, in other words not boot with 2x4G.

BTW, 4G 6400 sodimms are easier to find but from what I have read even though they fit they don't work in the Intel machines unless one of the chips is a 5300 to back the bus speed down.

OK. to clearify, at this point I'm talking about my MacBook, the other one is done and sent back to it's new owner.

So... I've got 4gb in here that I put in when I bought it. Are you saying that I can get two three GB sticks in here? When I look on Crucial and RamSeeker, the largest I see is 4gb (2x2).

Gotcha, I think. There are no 3G sticks, you'll have to try 2x4G and see if it works. Like I said 2x2G used to work in the iMacs that could only see 3G, you just lost the extra gig. That's why I mentioned to make sure they have a good return policy. Like I mentioned above NewEgg has them. OWC too. Walmart and Buy appear to also, but they show two modules, I'd check before buying that it is a single 4G and not 2x2G if you go there.

You could go with a 4G and 2G stick but I don't know if it would interleave (a supposed 10-20% increase in RAM access) as they are two different size chips. Interleaving needs the same sized chips.

If you follow the Apple bread crumb trail at Crucial you won't find 4g 5300, you have to do a manual search. I couldn't even find them now thpugh, saw one the other day. Might call them if you want to go there.

From what I've seen Patriot and Centon make them, OWC just puts their own sticker on.

If you want to look around more, all specs are PC2-5300 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM 667Mhz 1.8v non ECC (instead of non-ECC it may be called unbuffered, unregistered, or non-parity.)

HTH.

Edit - Also remember 4G 6400 800Mhz sodimms are easier to find and will fit but from what I have read they don't work in the Intel machines unless one of the chips is a 5300 to back the bus speed down. It used to be that for example you could use PC133 in a PC100 system and they would work, it would automagically back the speed down to PC100, but the MacBook/Intels appear to be more picky.