New MacBook Pro Does Not Support 8GB RAM (for now)
Luke from iFixit.com was kind enough to test out a new NVIDIA-based MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM (two 4GB chips) to see if the earlier reports were true. NVIDIA representatives had stated that the new chipsets used in the MacBook and MacBook Pro could support up to 8GB of RAM. Previous generation MacBook Pros could only reliably support up to 4GB of memory.
Preliminary results show that while the new MacBook Pro did recognize the entire 8GB of RAM, during actual usage, the computer appeared to be limited to 4GB:
The machine would hit an invisible wall at 4GB and act like it had run out of memory. In the larger screenshot, two instances of Parallels can be seen (both set to 2GB of RAM). The second instance, however, only occupies a small portion of RAM expected. It's unclear why this limitation exists, as Mac OS X is able to use more than 4GB on Apple's Mac Pro. As a result, MacBook and MacBook Pro owners should not expect to be able to upgrade to 8GB of RAM at this time.
iFixit has posted a disassembly guide for the new MacBook Pros including RAM replacement and will post updates about these results after further testing.
Update: More results.
Preliminary results show that while the new MacBook Pro did recognize the entire 8GB of RAM, during actual usage, the computer appeared to be limited to 4GB:
The machine would hit an invisible wall at 4GB and act like it had run out of memory. In the larger screenshot, two instances of Parallels can be seen (both set to 2GB of RAM). The second instance, however, only occupies a small portion of RAM expected. It's unclear why this limitation exists, as Mac OS X is able to use more than 4GB on Apple's Mac Pro. As a result, MacBook and MacBook Pro owners should not expect to be able to upgrade to 8GB of RAM at this time.
iFixit has posted a disassembly guide for the new MacBook Pros including RAM replacement and will post updates about these results after further testing.
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Update: More results.
Top Rated Comments
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43 months ago
interesting. I'm pretty sure that leopard is leopard is leopard, no matter what kind of machine you have, so I'm not sure why this would be a limitation. Very odd that this is happening. With leopard being a "64-bit" OS, why would they ever limit the memory it could access? What possible benefit could this have to write this code blocking more than 4Gb into the OS?
Ideas anyone?
Ideas anyone?
43 months ago
Disapointing at the moment, but I am hopeful that in time this limit will be removed. Untill then 4GB is good for what I need, but I completely understand why some folks might need more.
It should be said again, Apple never promised that 8GB was supported, so no one is being cheated here, despite the complaining that always follows bad news...
It should be said again, Apple never promised that 8GB was supported, so no one is being cheated here, despite the complaining that always follows bad news...
Maybe the Mac Pro build is different?
Yes. Apple chose to fully support up to 32GB of ram from early on, which is a respectable max for a desktop and in my opinion, 4GB is a decent max on a laptop. I'm looking forward to the possibility of 8GB, but I bought the new MBP knowing that 4GB might always be the limit.
43 months ago
Noooooo!!! Oh, well. Snow Leopard to the rescue!!!
Unfortunately, I think all of these little tidbits are building to become the 'value' in snow leopard.
The dual video cards, the max ram... possible only available if you shell out $129 for snow leopard. :(
43 months ago
Try booting a Ubuntu or any latest Linux Live CD and run the command "free" when it successfully boots? Best way to see if it's hardware is capable of 8GB
43 months ago
Could it be a limitation of the CPU?
As best as I can tell, it's not a chipset nor a CPU limit, rather either EFI or OS limit.
Has anyone installed a 64-bit Linux on a new MacBook Pro with 8GB?
43 months ago
Probably an EFI limitation as the chipset seems to recognize the memory fine. I'd say it could be fixed with a firmware update. But I wouldn't put it past Apple to leave this for later models only and tout it as a new feature :)
43 months ago
What if you boot Linux? Is the 4GB limit in Mac OS X or is it in the hardware? If you have a Linux boot CD around you could find out in 10 minutes.
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