Apple’s RAM Upgrade Pricing Finally Reasonable?
We’re beginning to see companies announce their memory upgrade kits for the MacBook and MacBook Pro models.
In this example, the cost is $139. Apple wants $150 when you order a system, so it appears that they’re finally only charging a slight premium. This isn’t bad considering you have the convenience of not installing it yourself. It’s certainly better than the borderline highway robbery of 6+ months ago when it was $400.
They lowered it to $200 with the last notebook refresh, and then to $150 with the new laptop announcements last week.
Of course, I’m sure there will be lower prices coming along, and if you buy from a third party, then you also have the two 1GB modules from the laptop you can perhaps use elsewhere, or sell to help fund the purchase. Still, for a lot of people I think it’s just easier to order it configured from Apple and not have any of the other hassles.
Earlier this year I would never recommend anyone get their memory configured from Apple, but now I think it’s a reasonable alternative to third party memory.
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No you aren’t getting it. Apple gives you 2gigs with the Macbook and for an additional $150 you get another 2gig. So, you are paying Apple $150 that extra 2gig. Ramjet is charging $139 for the full 4gig. Would you rather pay $139 for 6gig or $150 for 4?
Chad,
I noted that. The difference is that you don’t get to keep the 1GB chips Apple removes. But unless you’ve got a use for them (or a buyer who has a use for them) they’re not much use.
Nice blog post. I noticed that too. I wasn’t sure if I saw it right.
I’d definitely buy RAM from Apple now. It really was ridiculous how much they were charging before.
This is a much more sane consumer policy. What they did before was just wrong, and just confused newbies, while Apple veterans knew better and just bought from third parties.
What you have to remember is that Apple uses only premium RAM providers (Samsung, Micron, Hynex) which cannot be said for Ramjet. Of course there are places that also use reputable providers like crucial.com but this can’t be said for just any ‘ole RAM provider (kingston for example).
This of course does not excuse the huge markup for days gone by but even the $200 pricing wasn’t bad considering that Apple RAM is also covered under warranty (I know, I know…RAM issues are rare, but still…piece of mind is worth something when RAM failures that do occur often fry the logic board).
Well they have to keep up with microsoft somehow. Microsoft is the king of under 1000$ market and 2G ram can go for around 40-100$ depending of the manufacturer.
Anyway, good news!
You know, I’m so conditioned to Apple having incredibly inflated RAM prices that I instinctively skipped upgrading the memory when I ordered my MacBook. Dang. Ah well, guess I can do it myself and sell the memory on eBay even though I assume the competition will be fierce enough that it won’t get a great price.
No…I don’t consider $150 for a 2GB stick reasonable…since this is essentially what you are paying for.
Devin,
No, you are NOT paying for a 2GB stick. You’re paying for two of them. You’re net gain may be 2GB but that doesn’t change the fact that when you buy a 4GB upgrade kit it includes two 2GB sticks.
Ramjet charges $11 less than Apple, and lets you keep your existing 1GB sticks to make earrings (or whatever) out of. For $11 and the two sticks I have no use for, Apple installs it for me and I have no warranty issues. I consider that a fair deal.
If you have a machine with empty RAM slots for the extra 1GB sticks, and you have no issue installing it yourself, and your time is not worth $11, then go for it.
White MacBook RAM upgrade (15 Nov) is:
4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM – 2x2GB [Add $203.00]
I can get 2GB MICRON DDR2 667MHZ 200 PIN DIMM FOR APPLE MACBOOK for $28 each from 18004memory. So, the difference is ~$150.
Am I missing something?