Tag: RAM

Categories
Apple

8GB Memory Kit For 15″ MacBook Pro

I’ve bitched before about Apple’s 15″ MacBook Pro not having the matte screen option and not supporting 8GB RAM despite the 17″ supporting both features. According to Apple Insider there is now an 8GB kit is available for the 15″ (all but the 2.4GHz model). It costs an insane $1,200 while you can likely spec out a similar kit for about $600 elsewhere. Like I said earlier, the laptop’s NVIDIA chipset supports 8GB, no reason why Apple shouldn’t support it. Unsupported configurations suck as small changes later on could cause trouble. Apple has distributed firmware updates that tighten the specs on RAM before.

Still no matte display. Specs still list RAM cap as 4GB via 2x2GB. I’ll wait for the next revision. Given Snow Leopard approaching I presume they will want all models supporting at least 8GB soon enough so they can promote it’s supercomputing abilities.

Categories
Apple Hardware

Crucial RAM

I upgraded my Mac Mini with some more RAM. I purchased a Crucial 1GB PC2700 DIMM. Surprisingly it didn’t have Micron chips, but Samsung. The label was obviously Crucial. I found it strange that they are using their competitors chips on their retail products.

I don’t really mind, since I consider them both to be of equal quality, but I did buy Crucial specifically because of the quality. With many of the other generic brands you have no idea what chips will actually be found on the stick. Bad RAM is a drag, so if I upgrade, I do my best to make sure I do it right and get the good stuff. IMHO Crucial/Micron, Samsung, and Hynix are all good choices. Will a generic brand use these chips? Absolutely. Guarantees when ordering online that one of these chips are used? Nope.

On a sidenote, typically OEM Crucial RAM is cheaper (and just as good), but with the 10% off, it was cheaper to buy from Crucial directly and get free shipping than to buy OEM from someone like NewEgg and pay for shipping.

Categories
Software

Hibernation Fix

It’s about time we see a fix (KB909095) to one of the most annoying issues I’ve encountered inWindows XP SP2. I first mentioned this bug back in November. They had one of those patches you could call up and request (because it wasn’t fully tested), but it didn’t work to well for me. I’m hoping this will serve me much better.

Categories
Accettura Media Hardware Programming

No pain no gain, lots of little stuff

I’ve coded quite a bit the past few days on an old project I’ve had sitting in the vault for some time. I really want to get this thing done soon. In the process I’ve gotten to write things that I’ve never really done before. Nothing quite as fun as a problem you’ve never approached before. Lots of code, little time… so much I want to get done, and I want it done yesterday ;-). I really want to push this thing into production quality soon (because that’s when things really become fun).

Oh yea… my foot hurts. Here’s a tip for anyone doing yard work this spring (well summer soon). When using a shovel, don’t settle for an old pair of sneakers, use boots. Stepping down on the top of the shovel to dig it into the somewhat hard ground today, I hit a large-ish rock, shifting the shovel, and causing my foot to hit it about the inner part of my foot, right under arch as well as slightly up the side, not bad, but no fun. Now I’ve got some minor swelling, and has me limping slightly around the house.

I’m starting to get that addict-like urge to do some upgrading around here… thinking about another stick of RAM for my Thinkpad (T43), to max it out, and a 1GB upgrade for my Mac Mini.

Categories
Apple Hardware

Memory Frustration

Ok, so first my Hard Drive goes (my good one). So I order another. Thankfully CDW doesn’t process the order, so when I get back from vacation I need to place the order again (note that sarcasm). So I move my mail and such over to my mac mini, which has so far been my secondary system. I use it for fun. My laptop does the mundane email and other associated BS. My mac mini is like that garaged car you take out on days when you want to enjoy the nice weather and open roads. CDW was initially telling me it would ship by 7/8 or more likely 7/13. Ok, so I should have it by Friday. Wrong. Now were looking at least 7/22.

Now my mac mini is only running 256MB of RAM. For a few days I would have made it work, and then go back to it as a secondary system, less apps running means I can get away with it a bit. Now I need to get this thing going for a longer haul. Best Buy has 512MB for $29! Unfortunately they don’t even sell a 1GB stick for less than $200. Yea, that’s right. So my best bet is Crucial. Still I feel ripped off. $29 for 512MB, or $105 for 1GB. How the heck does that work out? Only having one RAM slot makes the system fit so well on my desktop, but it sucks when it comes to purchasing RAM.

Sigh… so if you’ve noticed I’m not doing much lately, it’s because my computers suck. My Thinkpad is down and out, and my mac mini is struggling to perform and just frustrating me. I think I’ve got to bite the bullet and just cough up $100 so my mini performs better, and wait for a good HD to ship.

I hate this stuff.