Will this RAM work in my Macbook Air?

June 18, 2012 3:19 PM

Will This RAM work in my brand new Macbook Air?

A few months ago I bought this RAM from Newegg for my Mid-2009 Macbook Pro:

CORSAIR 4GB DDR3 1066 Memory for Apple

Last week I bought a new Macbook Air (2012) and was wondering if I can just move the third-party RAM from my old Macbook Pro to my new Macbook Air.

Thanks!

posted by LudgerLassen to technology (6 answers total)

The new Air's RAM is soldered in, and cannot be upgraded.
posted by Tomorrowful at 3:22 PM on June 18, 2012 [4 favorites]

You cannot (without using a soldering iron) upgrade RAM in the new Air or the 2012 Retina Display Macbook Pro.
posted by iamabot at 3:32 PM on June 18, 2012

Even with a soldering iron I doubt if you could, since Apple doesn't offer it as a post market upgrade. I also doubt they are the same RAM, but since it's a non-starter I won't bother looking.

You may be interested in the debate going on right now.

All links via daringfireball.net:

It's Called Progress, Folks
Progress
Why are Apple laptops becoming harder to take apart?
Hackers gonna hate

The above are all a response to:

The New MacBook Pro: Unfixable, Unhackable, Untenable
posted by cjorgensen at 4:35 PM on June 18, 2012

No, and you may with to upgrade your RAM by returning your machine for one with more memory before too long. Knowing you get one choice for amount of RAM might lead you, as it did me, to bump up.

FWIW there will likely be third party disk upgrades in a month or two, so keeping the SSD at stock is a sane approach -- this is the only socketed component.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:42 PM on June 18, 2012

A soldering iron won't help, the RAM chips are almost certainly BGA. That means that the "pins" are in a grid under the chip. Desoldering and rework is possible, but the necessary equipment will cost more than your Macbook Air, and the technique is not easy at all.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:50 PM on June 18, 2012

Lest you get the wrong impression from cjorgensen's links, which are about the retina MacBook Pro: The Macbook Air has never, ever had user upgradeable RAM.

I think Apple has a 14-day return period if you want to return that Air and/or get a model with more RAM.
posted by Good Brain at 3:27 PM on June 19, 2012