MacBook – Apple-Certified RAM

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I'm planning to upgrade my RAM in my MacBook Pro (Late 2008) from the base 2GB to 4GB. I'm planning to buy RAM from Kingston.

There's two types of Kingston 1066 2GB RAM here. (Laptop-sized RAM)

  • Normal RAM
  • Apple-certified RAM?

Can I just buy the normal RAM, or do I have to buy the Apple-certified RAM? Is this not like how the hard drives work with the MacBooks – You can use any as long as it's 2.5" and it fits into the hard drive bay?

Best Answer

There's one important thing, and only one important thing, about Apple-certified RAM.

If you:

  • Buy RAM that isn't Apple-certified
  • Install it (or have it installed by a non-Apple tech) in a Mac
  • Later have a (non-RAM-related) problem with that Mac and send it to Apple for servicing without taking out the added RAM

Then you may get a little love note in the box when it comes back:

During the testing process, it was determined that a part Apple has not approved for use with your product resulted in your product's failure. When the part was removed, your product successfully passed all Apple diagnostic and reliability tests…

Continued use of this part (or parts) may cause another failure or damage to your Apple product, which Apple will not cover in a subsequent repair.

The part (or parts) that did not pass Apple's diagnostic tests for your product is identified below:

      __X__ RAM Memory
      _____ Other

And yes, I'm speaking from my own personal experience (part one, part two).

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