A Win32 Dev's First MacBook

iTunesIsEvil

This is a cross-post from the G/T Tech forum...

Hey guys, I figure this is as good a place as any to ask:
Would this memory get along ok in a MacBook? I've heard not to "skimp" on ram for Macs. I've always had good luck with OCZ, but what do you guys think?

Also, I'm going to have to use this baby to run Visual Studio 2008 sometimes. Think a VM would be good enough, or should I just use Boot Camp?

Any hints or tips that I should know about with OSX? This will be my second Mac purchase, but the first one that's a machine for me.

eeeeeee, I'm excited. :P

FF

If the memory fits....

But really, What type of MacBook is it? I imagine as long as it's the right type of RAM I don't think there'd be a problem. I've always went with RAM from crucial.com or memoryx.com, but that's just me.

As for running a VM I've heard both good and bad. Parallels has not impressed me, but I have heard VMWare's Fusion is supposed to be really nice. If you're really going to need to take full advantage of the hardware I'd say go with bootcamp. Based on a recent experience I had the VM and Windows don't play very nice together. Though having a virtual machine you can keep a back up of is kind of nice. Especially when Windows decides to update itself without your permission causing itself (and then the VM) to crap all over the place.

iTunesIsEvil

It's going to be the 2.2ghz C2D white one. Apparently the PC 5400 won't go, so Im going to have to go with PC5300 which is cool.

Since I'm going to be using VS at least once a day, it sounds like BootCamp is going to be what Im going to go with.

supabeast

Don’t put RAM in a Mac that is not advertised as being for that particular model of Mac. Sure it works sometimes, but sometimes you get RAM that’s really just close to having the right memory timings, your computer starts crashing over and over, the filesystem gets corrupted beyond repair, and you just end up installing new RAM and reformatting/reinstalling the OS and software.

Your best bet is to go to a RAM manufacturer’s web site and find a listing for the exact modules you need; Kingston does this and provides price comparisons and links to online resellers (including New Egg).

iTunesIsEvil

supabeast wrote: »

Don’t put RAM in a Mac that is not advertised as being for that particular model of Mac. Sure it works sometimes, but sometimes you get RAM that’s really just close to having the right memory timings, your computer starts crashing over and over, the filesystem gets corrupted beyond repair, and you just end up installing new RAM and reformatting/reinstalling the OS and software.

Your best bet is to go to a RAM manufacturer’s web site and find a listing for the exact modules you need; Kingston does this and provides price comparisons and links to online resellers (including New Egg).

I actually looked at memoryx.com like FF suggested, and they seem to have what I need. The site made it sound like it was actually listing the same memory that Apple puts in the MacBook.

FF

I believe that both sites I mentioned did (or still do) offer Apple OEM RAM. I never bothered paying the premium for it though. Crucial branded or Memoryx branded has been rock solid for me.

I guess back in the day RAM was more forgiving? I remember steali---er borrowing RAM from some crappy HP Vectra to put in my B&W G3.

bloodatonement

I'd recommend crucial.com Just put your model and it gives you the the memory that works for your system. I just bought 2GB for my Macbook over Christmas, works like a charm. Pretty good prices too.

vonPoonBurGer

I can state from experience that some parts just don't work in a Mac, even though everything fits physically. Because they control every part in the system, Apple will often not bother to make any effort to get nonstandard parts working. For example, I bought a larger hard drive for my girlfriend's old PowerBook. The model number on it was 402N, or something like that, and the system just wouldn't recognize it. After trawling forums looking for solutions, I discovered that the exact same hard drive (same manufacturer and specs) with a model number of 402J worked just fine. The difference between the two drives was probably something small in the firmware, and the Mac liked one but not the other. Moral of the story, definitely stick to buying stuff that's clearly listed as being compatible with your Mac, unless you like restocking fees.