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Macbook Ram Upgrade 101

04.27.07 - 11:54am

I seemed to have forgotten that I have a blog, time to get back into the groove.. again. To kick things off lets have a little spurt of hardware articles. In this article I’m going to go over the quick and easy procedure of replacing/upgrading the ram modules in the Apple Macbook. I have the black Core Duo Macbook but I believe the chassis in the Core 2 Duo Macbooks is identical as the processors were socket drop-ins for the Core Duo. For those of you that like to get your hands just a little dirty in regards to computer hardware then this should be a walk in the park. The rest of you might find this interesting, I’d highly suggest purchasing Apple products, or any PC product in general, with the minimum ram configuration and then perform the upgrades yourself later. You could easily save yourself a couple hundred dollars, money that could be spent on better processors or video cards.

Tools

For a laptop the Macbook easily has one of the easiest RAM replacement mechanisms, I don’t believe it can get any simpler besides a slot on the case itself. To perform this minor surgery you’ll be needing a small coin (I used a dime), a small screwdriver used on watches/glasses, your upgrade RAM modules, and of course a Macbook. I’d say give yourself a good 10 minutes to get the job done correctly, so whenever you feel the urge to take a break from furiously blogging or watching YouTube videos, plop down at your favorite workbench and get to work.

Step 1

Unplug all peripheral connections to your Macbook, this includes the power connector, USB, Firewire, Sound, ethernet, and mini-DVI connectors. You want absolutely nothing getting in the way between you and your Macbook.

Step 2

Flip your Macbook over and inspect the bottom for any scratches, mine has a few gouges in it from roughing it out in the wild. Take your small coin and insert it into the small groove and rotate it to release the battery lock. The battery should pop out slightly, if it doesn’t then just flip over the Macbook and pull it out.

Step 3

Around the edge of the battery enclosure there is a thin aluminum strip with three screws equally spaced along the wall, these are the screws you need to remove. Be very careful here, if you strip one of these guys then you’ll be in a world of hurt. If your screwdriver is too big then find a smaller one, don’t force anything. That being said, don’t be worried to apply a little pressure, I had to really bear down on one of the screws to get the threads to move then it was smooth sailing.

Step 4

Now that the screws are released, they won’t completely come out but safely hang loose, you can pull out the protective aluminum strip. Two little levers should then be exposed, pull these levers from right to left and you should hear a click and the modules will pop up. Remove the old modules and then get your new modules ready. Notice the groove in the modules by the contacts, you need to match these up otherwise you’ll damage the modules, there is a nice picture in the battery enclosure that shows you the proper orientation.

Step 5

Inserting the new modules will take a bit of force, I put the Macbook facing up in my lap, held the Macbook with one hand, and inserted the module with the other hand. Once the module was seated within the slot I then pressed down with my thumb, it’ll take a decent amount of force but you’ll see the module drop an additional 2-3 millimeters as it slides into it’s final resting place. Repeat this process for the other module, they should look just like the old modules did when you removed the aluminum strip.

Step 6

Replace the aluminum strip, starting with the left-side as it has a tab that slides into the wall of the enclosure. You may need to poke the padding that sits near the memory slots to get everything to fit back together, once again don’t force anything. Once everything is flush then begin to screw the strip down, I didn’t torque them down as I didn’t want to risk stripping the screws, just make sure they are flush and snug.

Step 7

Replace the battery and utilize that small coin of yours to lock the battery in place. Reconnect all the peripherals and then power on your Macbook. Everything should boot up just fine, to double check just open up the Activity Monitor in OS X and enjoy your new-found freedom.

Step 8

Repeat Steps 1 through 7 till you can do it in your sleep, never know when such a skill could come in handy.

Advice/Tips

Memory speeds/timings aren’t all that crucial on the Intel platform as the memory prefetchers are very efficient. I myself have some PC2-5300 modules that are surely running 5-5-5-15 timings, it makes little sense to opt for faster or tighter modules. I’d highly suggest getting a 2 GB kit and maxing out the Macbook, with DDR2 prices so low right now you can easily do this for $130 or so. Above all things make sure the Macbook is completely powered down when you do this, it would be a shame to toast your Macbook’s motherboard because you left the power connector on.

Category: Articles, Hardware