Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

8GB RAM update did not work for Macbook 7.1??

Nov 9, 2011 12:38PM PST

Hi everyone, I had early 2011 Macbook white 7.1 (the last macbook white apple supplied). It came with 2GB (1GBx2) RAM. I read many articles online and decided to upgrade it to 8GB (4GBx2). What i ordered was 2 RAM 4GB DDR3 1066MHz PC3-8500.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Regarding RAM on eBay
Nov 9, 2011 8:46PM PST

not always the best place to go.

- Collapse -
(NT) The same RAM is working with my other 2010 ASUS Notebook
Nov 10, 2011 12:10PM PST
- Collapse -
Which does not prove anything
Nov 10, 2011 9:24PM PST

except that the ASUS may have a higher tolerance for faulty RAM.

- Collapse -
Answer
I'd agree
Nov 9, 2011 10:28PM PST

I'd agree. If the MacBook is beeping when you press the power button, that means the RAM didn't pass even the most basic testing done by the EFI at POST.

And since we're dealing with ebay here, just because it has a Hynix label on it doesn't mean it's actually Hynix RAM. It could be some cheap knockoff or someone selling RAM that failed QA testing at the plant and was supposed to be disposed of. It happens all the time, particularly with memory cards, but you name it, there's probably someone selling fake versions of anything you want on ebay.

Also, just to help you out in the future, you have a Mid-2010 MacBook. Doesn't matter when you bought it, when it was manufactured, it's a Mid-2010 model. That was the end of the road for the MacBook line, now being replaced by the MacBook Air 11" as the low end model.

I'm not sure what the max CTO options were for the Mid-2010 MacBook, but 8GB might be pushing it a bit. If you go to Apple's support page, and then go through their product selector to find yours, there should be a table with descriptions of the different configuration options Apple offered. If the CTO column doesn't list 8GB of RAM or higher, then the results you can expect will be unpredictable. It may work fine, it may be fussy, it might not work at all.

- Collapse -
Just checked that out,
Nov 10, 2011 8:06AM PST

that model supports up to 4GB.

- Collapse -
Well
Nov 10, 2011 10:29PM PST

Well, sooner or later they'll get tired of having their MacBook give them the beep code for RAM passing basic CRC testing and decide they want to use it, so they'll go back to what works.

I would imagine that over the long term, trying to use 5GB will lead to problems, but if it were me, that's where I'd start.