preese@lapis.berkeley.edu.UUCP (05/11/87)
Well I know that this territory has been covered before but...
How do I upgrade the RAM in my Mac+? The prices on RAM now seem to
becoming slightly affordable. The typical price for 2meg upgrade is about
$650 with some as low as $519. A high price but one I'm willing to look
at. Now my question really focuses on what you need to do to your Mac to
do the upgrade. I know that if I buy a kit from a known vendor all the
info will be enclosed but I have other alternatives and would like to know
if they can work.
First let me state some of what I know and then I'll tell you about some
of the low price alternatives I've in mind.
It seems that most of the upgrades being sold are using 1meg DIP chips on
a SIMM pc board. These seem to be ok except they are a bit wider than the
1meg SIP(?) packages. MacMemory, a vendor of the 1meg DIP style claims
that theirs are wider but work with the majority of CPU clipons except for
the Radius which puts an additional board into the Mac. Their upgrade
comes with two 1meg SIMMs and an extra board to insert 2 of your 256k
SIMMs into and stick that in one of the remaining 2 SIMM slots. Most of
the upgrades seem to mention this extra board on to which you add your 256k
SIMMs. Does it have to be this way? I'd be interested in having 2 1meg
SIMMs and 2 256k SIMMs in my four slots on the motherboard. Is this
possible? Any hints on what I'd need to do?
Now the tips for cheap memory. UC Berkeley is a consortium school so we
get reasonable prices on Apple equipment. The Mac II price sheet lists a
Apple Product M0219- Apple 2MB memory expansion for about the same price
as most of the third party 2meg upgrades. No savings but you would be
buying Apple's own memory if that matters. Secondly, at BMUG this past
week a new company called Open Mac Enterprises, 140 Mason Circle, Suite H,
Concord, CA 94520, 415-682-0440 (a subsidiary of Julian Systems)
announced some memory for the Mac line. They offer a variety of options
but the one that caught my attention was a 4 meg upgrade for a MacII, SE,
or Mac+ for $999 with 48 hr turn around (and a 2 year replacement
warranty)! A grand is a lot, as is four megs,
but if two people went in for 2 meg each then you have a price of $500 for
a 2 meg upgrade. A reasonable price.
Thus you can see why I ask my questions. Any help and/or corrections on
information contained here would be appreciated.
Phil Reese
preese@lapis.berkeley.edu or
{get to ucbvax}!ucbvax!lapis!preese
Standard disclaimer: I know that Open Mac is a new company with no
history. I don't know anything more about them than what was said at
BMUG. Buyer beware!