Random Access Memory (RAM) is one of the most important components in any computing device. From our iMac’s to our iPhone’s and iPad’s everything uses memory to store current real time information. If you don’t understand anything about RAM don’t worry, that isn’t what this review is intended for.
RAM vendors are all very different and it’s not so much about the RAM they supply but more about the service they provide. Crucial offer the best service out of all the RAM vendors out there. They go out of their way to make the way you purchase RAM simple. When you first attend the Crucial website you can manually find the RAM your looking for if you know what type and how much your system can handle. Or you can download the Crucial system scanner which will scan your computer to see which type of RAM it uses. Then Crucial website will display all the different configurations of RAM you can have and the maximum your computer can handle. If you're a Mac user the Crucial RAM scanner will always detect the correct RAM for you.
Even purchasing the RAM is easy and they ship right across the USA and to many parts of Europe including the UK. Shipping speed is fast and you will receive your RAM within two to three days. Crucial are very competitive in pricing amongst other manufactures. Their RAM is usually always cheaper than everyone else's.
So how easy is RAM to install, well the installation I will be using to demonstrate this on is my iMac late 2008 24 inch model which can take up to 4GB of RAM. To install RAM on an iMac it is made very simple, you first need to unscrew just one single screw from the bottom of the unit, allowing an aluminium door covering the RAM to be taken off. Once done the RAM is straight in front of you and you'll see two black tabs which once tugged will release each RAM module (the iMac 24 inch has two). Then you can gently take out the RAM. Now you can install the new Crucial memory which will look identical to the removed RAM. The RAM installs the same way up as the previous RAM was taken out and once properly in you should hear a faint click. Screw it back up and boot your iMac. It's not uncommon the for the first boot to take a little bit longer than usual because it will need to register the new hardware and make sure everything is ok. If the iMac beeps this means the RAM was installed incorrectly.
So how is performance increased, I was originally going to measure this with benchmarking Applications but numbers don’t mean as much as real App usage. Boot up times have greatly increased from 40 Sec to 34 Sec. Apps like iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11, Quark 8, Photoshop CS5 are all a lot quicker to start. Actually using iMovie and adding transitions, clips and colors is so much faster now, demonstrating no delay at all. Exporting in 1080P with 5 minutes worth of video would have taken 15-20 Mins with the previous RAM installed but now it takes around 8-10 Mins. Overall using the iMac the speed of everything has increased, larger Applications show a greater speed benifit, than say using Safari which doesn’t have any noticeable performance difference.
Overall Crucial RAM is fantastic with great service to find the specific RAM your computer can take and then fast free shipping making sure it gets to you when you need it. Also Crucial offer a lifetime warranty on all RAM which is another fantastic feature to add. If you're thinking you're in need of some extra RAM, we reccomend Crucial.