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Laptop RAM Upgrades

The MacBook Pros EECS bulk purchased this year came with 4GB of RAM which seems a little skimpy compared to the 8GB that this year's ThinkPads got (it was a compromise between the nicer anti-glare screen or 8GB of RAM for this year's Apple Laptops).

Luckily, there is an 8GB (2x 4GB) upgrade that can be had today for <$50. Similar options are available for some of the older Mac Book Pros and Lenovo ThinkPads that came with 4GB or less. 1) So, we're going to place some orders for memory upgrades for Apple and Lenovo laptops purchased recently enough to benefit from it.

Is your primary laptop “suffering” from “only” 4GB of RAM or something else less than 8GB? Want to upgrade?

  1. Check how much RAM your laptop has. If < 8GB, you can continue. If ≥ 8GB, exit 2).
  2. Find your laptop type from the list below.
    • If your laptop type isn't listed, add it to the list and continue
    • If you're really really not sure, add your serial number and laptop maker to the section “I have no idea”.
    • You can also check Apple Serial Numbers though.
  3. Add your name under the laptop type along with your serial number (so we can double check to make sure we get the right RAM)

Have multiple (old) laptops? Hrrm.

We probably can't justify buying memory for everyone's collection of old laptops, but this is a rare opportunity to see what people are using (or keeping around “just in case”) so Jon would like to do an opt-in census. 3) If you have multiple laptops, then:

  1. List the ones recent enough to be worth upgrading.
  2. If you feel like indulging Jon's curiosity, list your other laptops in the section “Old Laptops” and the following info
    • Model/Type
    • Serial Number (probably the most straightforward way to uniqify things)
    • Actively used?

The List

Mac Book Pros

  • 2011 EECS MacBook Pro - 2GHz Core i7, A1286, MC721LL/A, shipped w/ 4GB RAM - RAM Options
    • jkuroda, C02FX0QQDF8Y
    • api, C02FX0PTDF8Y
    • yuzhu, C02FX0N5DF8Y
    • culler, offline
    • gautamk, C02FX0N0DF8Y
  • 2010 EECS MacBook Pro - 2.53GHz Core i5, A1286, MC372LL/A, shipped with 4GB of RAM - RAM Options
    • Your name Your serial#
    • gpang, W802320XAGY
    • rxin, W8701356W0G
    • charles, W80231YZAGY
    • culler, W802321QAGY
    • tdas, W802321TAGY
    • krioukov, W80231YEAGY
  • 2009 EECS MacBook Pro - 2.4GHz, MB470LL/A, shipped with 2GB RAM -RAM Options - Max of 4GB RAM. They take the 2GB DDR3 SO-DIMMS from the Mac Book Pros listed above.
    • jkuroda, W89260DH642
    • sameerag, W8926509642
  • 2008 EECS MacBook Pro - 2.4GhZ Core 2 Duo, shipped with 2GB RAM - RAM Options - Max of 4GB RAM - These don't take the DDR3 RAM used by the Mac Book Pros listed above (this model uses DDR2), but the RAM upgrade is pretty cheap.
    • Does anyone actually have one of these still?
    • culler, W8825730YJX
  • Anything earlier than this is probably not worth upgrading.

ThinkPads

  • 2011 EECS Lenovo T510 - RAM Options
    • ganesha, 4313CTO
  • 2011 EECS Lenovo T420S - Core i7-2620M - RAM Options
    • These should already come with 8GB RAM
  • 2010 EECS Lenovo T410 -Core i7-620M, shipped with 4GB RAM - RAM Options
    • awang, 2522WJD
  • 2009 EECS Lenovo T400 - 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo, shipped with 4GB RAM - RAM Options
  • 2009 EECS Lenovo R410 - 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, shipped with 2GB RAM - RAM Options
    • Did anyone ever actually order one of these?
  • 2009 EECS Lenovo W500 - 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo, shipped with 4GB RAM - RAM Options
    • Did anyone ever actually order one of these?
  • 2009 EECS Lenovo X301 - 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo, shipped with 4GB RAM - RAM Optoins
    • jkuroda, L3AFL6C
  • Anything earlier than this is likely not worth upgrading.
  • 2008 Trustworthy X61 Tablet 2GB RAM - RAM Options
    • tjhunter, probably not worth it updating it :)

I have no idea

  • 2008, some kinda Apple Mac Book Pro, unibody, has a removable battery.
    • Bob Ross, WED942233X78
  • Mac 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
    • Sean McMahon, W893458X642

Older Laptops

Anything older than the ones above is probably not worth upgrading, but hey, who knows. Got old(er) laptops you just keep around? List them below if you want.

  • name/login, laptop type, serial#, actively used?
  • Jon, Lenovo X61, LV-A2633, no
1)
There are other more extravagant options for some MacBook Pros, but they're much more expensive. But, if you get your advisor to say 'Yes' to paying 4x as much per-GB of RAM … more power to you … or you could wait to see if the price on those other options drops.
2)
Unless you get your advisor to go for the crazy expensive options
3)
The network database is woefully out of date sometimes
space/shopping/ram-upgrade.txt · Last modified: 2012/04/04 21:25 by awang