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| RAM - Random Access Memory |
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| RAM or Random Access Memory or just plain old Memory
No,
no, no! When the guy at the genius bar tells you that you need more
RAM, he's not talking about your sex life or getting fresh. No need to
kick him where it counts. Just read the simple explanation below to
find out exactly what he means.
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RAM, Random Access Memory or just Memory all pertain to the same thing. It is a component inside of your Mac and looks like the picture above. When you get your Mac from Apple, you turn it on, answer some questions and magically, all these wonderful programs appear. All the programs or applications on your Mac live on the hard drive. When you turn on your computer, the hard drive loads all the programs into your RAM chips (microchips) where they work their magic. A RAM chip is much faster than the hard drive at sending information to the brain of your computer or CPU. This is the job of your RAM chips. You can never have enough, so upgrading your RAM to a larger amount is a good thing.
Understanding the Measurements of RAM
Purchasing RAM is a little more difficult than borrowing a cup of sugar from the neighbors. However; Once you understand these simple rules, it will be a piece of cake! Here are the rules:
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- RAM chips are measured differently than a cup of sugar. Remember when you were learning your times tables in the third grade? There was a simple rhyming song that went something like this: One plus one is two, two plus two is four, four plus four is eight, eight plus eight is sixteen, sixteen and sixteen is thirty two, thirty two and thirty two is sixty four, sixty four and sixty four is one hundred twenty eight and on and on. See the pattern? RAM is measured in MB (mega bytes) or GB (giga bytes). More on what this is later. You can't get a single RAM chip as 3 GB of RAM. It has to be to the power of two as in the example above. 4 GB or 8 GB or 16 GB and so on, however; you could have a total of 3 GB of RAM in a combination of 1 GB plus 2 GB.
- Every computer has a maximum amount of RAM it can hold. It's easy to find out what that maximum number is. Just click on the Crucial System Scanner above. After the Crucial Web page loads, go up to the blue tool bar at the top of the page and click on Mac Memory. Don't download The Crucial Mac Scanner. Instead, go to: Step 1. Click on Select a Product line and pull down to the name of your computer. Step 2. Then click on Find It. Step 3. Select a model. If you are not sure, go to the Blue Apple in the upper left hand corner of your Mac and pull down to About this Mac. It will give you this information. Once you have selected the model of your Mac, click on Find It again. The maximum amount of RAM will be listed in the information box toward the middle of the page. If you want to purchase RAM, just click on it and add it to your basket.
- Some Mac's need RAM installed in pairs and some can be installed in single amounts. Meaning that in some Mac's you have to have 2 X 4 GB RAM chips. You can not combine a 1 GB chip and a 2 GB chip. In other Mac's you can. Again, the Crucial System Scanner above is your best friend for this type of information.
- You can install RAM yourself. You need to ground yourself first with a ESD wrist strap. I recommend you purchase one from crucial when you buy RAM for $2.99. It will be listed during check out. Make sure you get one. The static from your hands can blow holes through the RAM chip if you don't. To learn how to install RAM yourself, click here: How to Install RAM.
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