Adding memory to a MacBook Pro

I can never leave well enough alone. If 2 GB of RAM in my MacBook Pro is good, 4 GB of RAM would be better, right? Well, as a matter of fact, yes. So I set out to expand the memory of my new Macintosh, and have a few tidbits to share.

Can your MacBook Pro be expanded?

As I understand it, there have been a total of two “releases” of Intel-based MacBook Pro. The first came out late in 2006 and was in distribution until approximately June of 2007. That version used a version of the Intel chipset that, for reasons that remain unclear to me, could only address 3 GB of RAM. Note that you could *install* 4 GB, but that the machine itself wouldn’t actually use the memory above the 3 GB boundary due to mapping conflicts. I believe this first version of the MacBook Pro came with 1 GB of RAM standard.

Apple quietly updated the MacBook Pro during the June time frame of 2007. The new models use the Intel “Santa Rosa” chipset, and can now support up to 4 GB of RAM. These newer MacBook Pros come standard with 2 GB of RAM, with of the two slots in the machine filled (I.E.: two 1 GB SODIMM chips).

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Pictures of the new Baby…

I’ve had my MacBook Pro for a week now, thought it would be a good time to share some pictures.  Here she is:

 

This picture was taken the very first time I powered the machine on, after it had completed its initial setup.  The machine came pre-installed with OSX 10.4.10: the last version of OSX before Leopard.  I got a "free" upgrade to Leopard (just had to pay shipping and handling), and it arrived here yesterday.  Here’s how the Mac looks now with Leopard installed…

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