OWC just received the new, speed-bumped 15″ MacBook Pros that Apple released last month. While the boost in processor speed is nice, there’s another performance booster that Apple has remained relatively quiet about: these newer models can handle up to 8GB of memory!
That’s right! You can replace one factory 2GB module with an OWC 4GB module to go to 6GB, or replace both to take it all the way to 8GB, just like their 17″ brethren. We know. We confirmed it ourselves, in actual MacBook Pros, right here in our own testing facility.
We’ll be posting the benchmark results of how much this memory increases performance in these models shortly, but as we have all seen time and time again, adding more memory results in better overall performance. With more memory, you can “feed” all those memory-hungry apps like Photoshop, ProTools and Adobe AfterEffects and enjoy the performance increase of many common tasks.
You may be wondering if Apple supports this configuration, since they’ve said very little about it. Apparently, they are supporting this configuration since they are selling an 8GB upgrade kit on their site. Perhaps there has been little fanfare on their behalf because that particular upgrade is going for $1200!
Fortunately, you don’t have to shell out that much. OWC has you covered with a much more wallet-friendly solution.
However, this 8GB maximum only applies to the new 2.66GHz and 2.93GHz MacBook Pro 15.4″ models that were released in March 2009. The October ’08 “Unibody” MacBook Pros remain limited to a maximum of 6GB, as do the prior 15.4” models equipped with 2.53GHz or 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processors.
OWC offers a full line of memory for upgrading nearly every Apple model made in the last twenty years. Whatever model MacBook Pro (or MacBook… or Mac Pro… or Mac mini… or iMac… etc.) you have, you can count on OWC to have the correct memory to maximize your Mac.
What about the 2.4Ghz processor version? MacBookPro5,1 A1286 removable battery? Does that support 8GB?