Mac Pro RAM and Memory Upgrade: Transcend Announces $2,500 Apple Upgrade, Install of Up To 128 GB RAM
Do you have a new Mac Pro? Does it need more RAM already? But are you not able to feed the beast due to Apple's exorbitant upgrade pricing, particularly when it comes to memory markups? Then Transcend Information, Inc. has the perfect RAM upgrade solution for you.
For just $2,500, the Taiwanese memory giant is offering a 128GB kit that's fully compatible with Apple's latest and greatest "Pro" workstation. For regular Joes, spending that much on memory may sound shocking. However, $2,500 is hardly a significant chunk of change when you consider that a fully-loaded Mac Pro can run upwards of ten thousand dollars. Surprisingly, that much cash only gets you 64GB of factory installed RAM.
Transcend isn't the only player in the memory space however that has decided to make a 128GB kit for Apple's beastly machine. Other World Computing (OWC), aka Macsales.net, is another company that sells 128GB kits. They are charging $2,129.99 in comparison to Transcend's pricey alternative. But no matter where you buy your RAM from, just make sure it isn't Apple.
If you look at what Apple charges for 64GB of factory installed RAM ($1,200) and compare it with OWC's user-installed offering ($829), it's easy to see just how much Apple is ripping people off. So while it's impossible to say just how much Apple would charge for a 128GB Mac Pro Ram upgrade, it would likely be a lot more than $2,500. Maybe as much as 45-50 percent, judging from the 64GB markup.
It's worth mentioning that the 128GB RAM kits are a lot slower than the 64GB (and below) memory kits that Apple supplies. Yet, many applications aren't programmed in a manner that would take full advantage of that excess speed. So in an effort to clear up these misconceptions OWC released the following statement:
"While current DRAM device technology limit 32GB modules to a 1066MHz memory clock in the Apple Mac Pro 2013, due to enhanced CAS Performance of OWC MaxRAM 32GB Modules, actual real-world performance is insignificant in low memory need scenarios while offering incredibly significant performance gains in all cases where application use benefits from greater than 64GB of total memory installed."
Does your brain hurt after reading that?
Anyways, would you drop two-and-a-half Gs on RAM, even if you had the money? Let us know in the comments section below.
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