Mac Memory Roundup Q1 2005 - In Search of Affordable Upgrades
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 1, 2005 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Mac
Mac mini Memory
The Mac mini comes equipped with only 256MB of memory, so memory upgrades for it are a must. Apple doesn't offer aftermarket memory upgrades for the mini. The pricing listed below is their upgrade pricing at the time of ordering - if you don't buy the upgrade when you order, you're out of luck for support from Apple. Luckily, five other companies are able to fill the void - performance, warranty and compatibility are all the same between these folks, so let's look at pricing.
The Mac mini only has a single 184-pin memory slot, so we're only looking at single stick configurations. The mini will accept both PC2700 (DDR333) and PC3200 (DDR400) DIMMs, but they will only run at PC2700 speeds.
| Mac mini Memory | 512MB DDR333 | 1GB DDR333 |
| Apple Upgrade | $75 | $325 |
| Crucial | $72 | $220 |
| Kingston | $126 | $307 |
| Mushkin | $90 | $190 |
| OCZ | $128 | N/A |
| PDP | $80 | $194 |
Once again, Crucial comes out on top actually being cheaper than Apple's upgrade at $72. For a 1GB module, Mushkin takes the cake here at $190.
Crucial
Crucial CT431638 (512MB) / Crucial CT431637 (1GB)
Kingston
Kingston KTA-G4333/512 (512MB) / Kingston KTA-G4333/1G (1GB)
Mushkin
Mushkin PC2700 512MB / 1GB
OCZ
OCZ didn't have a line specifically for the mini, but their G5 modules worked just fine. The one problem with OCZ's G5 module is that it has a heatspreader, making it a very tight fit in the mini.
PDP
PDP PSA512G4 (512MB) / PDP PSA1GG4 (1GB)
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Reflex - Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - link
Re-read the first page guys, the Mac does NOT use any other speed than what they ship with. You cannot get better performance with lower latency or higher frequency memory, it simply will run it at the same specs as whatever you replaced it with.Shinei - Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - link
From what I gathered from the article, Macs won't even POST if you tinker with the frequency or timings of the RAM... Unless I missed something, in which case, I'm with poster #1.Chuckles - Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - link
Hey Anand,I'm curious as to the effect of changing the latency of the memory on a Mac. Did you test any modules with 2-2-2 ratings and compare them performance wise with higher latency modules?