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How is it possible to find out the maximum amount of RAM compatible with my Macbook?

6 Answers 6

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You can find a lot of detailed hardware information for any Mac model from Mactracker.

It also indicated differences in Apple's official support documents and reality.

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Go to crucial.com, use the Crucial Mac Memory Advisor tool to choose your model.

You can find the specific information about your mac by choosing "About This Mac" from the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen.

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Depends on chipset/model. Presuming it is a MacBook, not a Pro:

May 06 - Nov 06 : 2GB

Nov 06 - Nov 07 : 3GB

Nov 07 - Jan 08 : 6GB

Jan 08 - Oct 08 : 6GB

Oct O8 - Present: 8GB

Hope this helps.

(You may get more specific and detailed answers if you post on the Apple Stack Exchange.)

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  • Quite a few folks here answer Mac and OS X questions regularly. There's no need to send users away to a beta SE site after only 2 hours. Some of us aren't in a US time zone ;)
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5, 2011 at 12:13
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Also the EveryMac website helps. Because the specs on RAM declared by computer manufacturers, and Apple in particular, are based on the maximum available modules at the time the compuer was released. For instance a 2011 MacBookPro can be upgraded to 16GB with 2 8GB modules (I'm writing with it now), while Apple and most say it can only reach at most 8GB.

On EveryMac you will find every mac model and its shipping RAM, declared max RAM, and tested working max RAM.

http://www.EveryMac.com

UPDATE Of couse this is valid for MacBook(Pro)s before 2012 because all newer models have no option to upgrade RAM, if in doubt you can check on the EveryMac website anyway.

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  • Unless I’m mistaken the last Apple laptop to allow upgrading RAM was released in 2012, not long after this question was first written! So this new answer may give false hope for those running modern hardware - you may need to qualify your answer
    – James P
    Oct 13, 2020 at 7:43
  • @JamesP I have updated the answer to reflect your concerns. Oct 13, 2020 at 9:53
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Go to the Apple site and look at the features f your model (try this table for example).

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  • These fancy tables are only for the current lineup. Getting information for past models is more difficult, sifting through support documents. And the information Apple provides is sometimes just plain wrong, see e.g. Mactracker's entry for Macbook 13-inch Early 2008: "6.0 GB (actual) 4.0 GB (Apple)"
    – Daniel Beck
    Jan 5, 2011 at 12:04
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Assuming the Mac you have isn't necessarily a currently sold model, the most complete resource would be Mac Rumors' chart that matches Ram to Processor. As Doug mentioned, Crucial also has a nice tool if you don't mind installing something to get a little information.

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