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Can I Increase Memory On 2007 iMac?

Read one could go up to 6 GB RAM on my iMac. Had two 2 MB chips. Bought a 4 MB and placed in right hand slot. Nothing dramatic. I still show 77.02 GB free of 319.21 GB. Shows a purple color “Backups” 4 MB. Have I helped myself?
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Mike Suddarth

Comments: 3 Responses to “Can I Increase Memory On 2007 iMac?”

    7 years ago

    Don't confuse memory with storage. Having 6GB of memory doesn't change the storage on your hard drive, which is 320GB.
    Storage is the size of your hard drive. It is where you store your documents and other files -- music, video, photos, etc. Storage says populated when the Mac is off.
    Memory is the amount of workspace the computer has to run applications when it is on and doing something. It is not being used when your Mac is off, only when it is working.
    Storage is your hard drive. Memory is chips.
    Since you are using such an old Mac, you can't be running Sierra. So it is hard for me to direct you where to find out what your Mac actually has. Go to the Apple Menu, then About the Mac and look around for Memory to see how much it shows. It is possible that if there are 2 slots and the maximum you can have is 6GB, then the maximum for each slot is 3GB. So putting a 4GB RAM stick in a slot won't get you what you want. It may not work at all if it is the wrong type of RAM.

    Mike Suddarth
    7 years ago

    Thanks. Got it at iFixit here in SLO. About this Mac recognizes it as 6 GB installed. 2 GB and 4 GB. Cals them by name. Maximum was always 4 GB, which I dutifully did years back. I'm on El Capitan 10.11.6. I believe Photos etc. load faster. I just want to go around Safari faster. Worth changing out hard drive?

    7 years ago

    Well, changing an HD for an SSD is one of the best upgrades you can do. But I don't know how much you want to put into a 10-year-old Mac. Even with the memory and if you get an SSD, you still have an old processor, graphics chipset, bus, ports, etc. I would save the money and put it toward a new Mac. But I don't know your personal situation so it is hard to advise.

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