The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    any way of making macbook air have 4GB ram?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by aamadi, Jul 30, 2009.

  1. aamadi

    aamadi Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    109
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I heard that the ram on the macbook air is glued to the motherboard. Does anyone know of a way to upgrade it to 4gb, because 2gb might become too constraining? If not, do you think they might come out with a 4gb version soon?
     
    aamadi, Jul 30, 2009
    #1
  2. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    352
    Messages:
    3,799
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    perhaps they will use 4gb after the back to school promotion.. you could unsolder the current 2gb and stick in a 4gb one if you know about computer hardware a bit.
     
    Luke1708, Jul 30, 2009
    #2
  3. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

    Reputations:
    996
    Messages:
    3,727
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    106
    you dont want to mess with soldering on that type of a board, you either are gong to be VERY good at it, or have very expensive soldering tools... or your motherboard will be toast.

    Basically you cannot change the ram since its made as part of the board, and not in standard ram slots.
     
    doh123, Jul 30, 2009
    #3
  4. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

    Reputations:
    4,745
    Messages:
    8,513
    Likes Received:
    3,823
    Trophy Points:
    431
    You wil be better of selling it while 2gb is still an acceptable memory size, and getting a 4gb version.
     
    Tinderbox (UK), Jul 31, 2009
    #4
  5. Khris

    Khris Yes I am better than you!

    Reputations:
    655
    Messages:
    2,608
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    *IF* Apple releases a 4GB version.

    MB Air is stuck at 2GB right now no matter how you look at it.
     
    Khris, Jul 31, 2009
    #5
  6. blabus

    blabus Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    67
    Messages:
    359
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yep, and that sucks, as that's essentially the single deal-breaker for me. Can't run OS X and Windows side by side with 2GB of RAM. (at least not well :)).
     
    blabus, Aug 1, 2009
    #6
  7. owais

    owais Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    15
    Messages:
    902
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I do it easily on my macbook pro 15" with 2gb ram...
    i have like 400mb ram to spare while watching a film in mac, safari open, itunes open, papralells on with msn running in it and downloading in utorrent in paralells.
    thats for windows xp btw.
     
    owais, Aug 2, 2009
    #7
  8. lixuelai

    lixuelai Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    463
    Messages:
    2,326
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    XP and OSX works fine with 1GB each. Heck XP works fine with 512MB of RAM lol.
     
    lixuelai, Aug 2, 2009
    #8
  9. Xhibit

    Xhibit Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    131
    Messages:
    460
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    XP can run on 128mb ram, vista only really needs 512mb. 1gig to run aero optimally. I don't see a problem with running OS X and vista on 2gigs. Just give a gig to each.
     
    Xhibit, Aug 3, 2009
    #9
  10. Luke1708

    Luke1708 Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    352
    Messages:
    3,799
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    i don't know why vista was lagging on my laptop. it was lagging so much that i decided to install w7 rc. see my config in my sig...
     
    Luke1708, Aug 4, 2009
    #10
  11. laptopkid

    laptopkid Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    14
    Messages:
    208
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    There are a few little tweaks that (supposedly) make Vista less laggy. I've never had a problem with Vista myself, but w7 still beats it big time :p
     
    laptopkid, Aug 4, 2009
    #11
  12. masterchef341

    masterchef341 The guy from The Notebook

    Reputations:
    3,047
    Messages:
    8,636
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    206
    w7 or xp will do a lot better.

    2GB is still plenty these days, even for games.
     
    masterchef341, Aug 4, 2009
    #12
  13. Brain191

    Brain191 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    244
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I ran OS X and XP with Fusion on 2GB of RAM no problem. It can be done no worries. The only reason I upped to 4GB is I found a good deal. I notice it is a bit more responsive but nothing to write home about.
     
    Brain191, Aug 6, 2009
    #13