HOW TO - Upgrade_Install RAM on Macbook Pro

# How to Upgrade RAM on Your MacBook Pro: A Step-by-Step Guide

## Introduction

Hello everyone, this is Brendan here, and today I’m going to show you how to upgrade the RAM on your MacBook Pro. I’ll be using a late 2011 model 13-inch MacBook Pro for this guide, but the process also works for the 2009, 2010, and 2012 models. Whether you’re looking to improve your computer’s performance or free up some space, upgrading your RAM is a great way to do it.

Before we get started, let me list out the materials you’ll need:

- Your MacBook Pro (obviously)

- A Phillips 0-0 screwdriver (you can find these at your local tool shop or even on Amazon)

- DDR3 1066 MHz RAM (look for PC3 8500 memory).

I highly recommend using Crucial RAM because I’ve read great reviews about them and they’re reliable. For my upgrade, I went with two sticks of 4GB each, totaling 8GB. If you’re upgrading from a lower capacity, make sure to check how much RAM your computer currently has. In my case, I had two 2GB sticks for a total of 4GB.

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## Step 1: Accessing the Internal Components

The first step is to turn over your MacBook Pro and unscrew the back plate. This part should be straightforward if you have the right tools. The screws are magnetic, so they’ll pull off easily with a Phillips screwdriver. I actually bought my screwdriver on Amazon when I ordered the RAM—it was all part of the upgrade kit.

Once you’ve removed the screws, gently take off the back plate. This will give you access to the internals of your MacBook. The green module you see here is my Crucial RAM; yours might be a different color if it’s the standard issue. Either way, this is where we’ll be working next.

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## Step 2: Removing and Installing New RAM

Now that the back plate is off, you’ll notice the original RAM modules. In my case, I’m holding up the blue one—it was the original 4GB stick. To upgrade the RAM, you need to pull these little arms outward (as shown in the video). This will loosen the RAM and make it easy to pull out.

Once the RAM is loose, you can lift it straight up and then gently pull it out. Don’t worry about breaking it—just be careful as you remove it. Now, take your new RAM sticks and align them with the gold connectors inside the MacBook. Make sure they’re facing downward before inserting them. You’ll hear a satisfying click when they lock into place.

After inserting the new RAM, press down gently to ensure it’s secure. Repeat this process for all the RAM modules you’re installing. In my case, I installed two 4GB sticks, bringing my total RAM up to 8GB.

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## Step 3: Reassembling and Testing

Once the new RAM is in place, put the back plate back on your MacBook. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to screw everything back together. Double-check that all the screws are tight before you proceed.

Now it’s time to boot up your computer and make sure the new RAM is recognized. Go to **About This Mac** (found in the Apple menu) and check the Memory section. You should see the upgraded amount listed there. For example, mine now shows 8GB of memory instead of the original 4GB.

If you’re using a memory cleaning app like I do, it should also reflect the increased RAM capacity. In my case, I have 5.5GB free, which is a huge improvement over the previous 1GB or so of space I had. This extra memory will make running multiple applications smoother and prevent freezing during tasks like video editing.

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## Final Thoughts

Upgrading your MacBook Pro’s RAM isn’t too complicated, and it can really boost your computer’s performance. While you might not see a drastic improvement in boot times, you’ll definitely notice the difference when handling demanding tasks or multitasking with several applications open.

If you have any questions about this process or if something didn’t quite work for you, feel free to leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you and help out! Don’t forget to give the video a thumbs-up if it helped you, and subscribe for more tech tips in the future. Peace out, guys!

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*Thanks for watching!*

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engoing on guys it's brendan here and today i'll be showing you how to upgrade the ram on your macbook pro i'm actually using the late 2011 model 13-inch macbook pro this also works for the 2009 2010 and 2012 macbook pro models so the materials you're going to need are a macbook pro obviously a phillips 0-0 screwdriver and some ram the ram you're going to want to look for is ddr3 uh 1066 mhz type ram so you look for the pc3 8500 and you can i use crucial i'd really recommend crucial um i've just read great reviews about them i did a lot of research before i went ahead and bought this ram um and i went with the two sticks of four gigabyte ram uh for a total of eight gigabytes upgrading from four gigabytes i had um two uh two gigabyte sticks for four gigs total so as you see you're going to just turn over your macbook pro and you're just going to unscrew the back plate off it this part should be pretty self-explanatory and if you got a phillips screwdriver you can get one of these at your local tool shop or amazon actually got mine on amazon when i ordered the ram so it just all came together but it has its magnetic and it pulls the screws off pretty easy and they just stay on there it's really easy to unscrew the back you just have to make sure you have the right tools should take about four to five minutes uh tops so this should not be a time consumer at all but just make sure you follow directions and do everything right and you'll be good so after that you're going to want to take the back plate off of the macbook itself and this is going to present you with the internals of your dev of your macbook so that green part right there is actually my crucial memory yours isn't going to be green if you're just upgrading from the standard but mine is green right there and that's the crucial in there right now but i'm just going to show you i basically did the i basically did it without i upgraded the ram without recording it on video but i wanted to go back and show how i did it so you see i'm holding up the original memory there the blue is the original so to upgrade the rim you're going to want to pull these little arms outward so pull them outward as you'll see me do here in a second and it's going to loosen up the ram and just kind of pull it up as you see right there pulls it up nice and easy and then you're what you're going to want to do is just pull it straight out like almost at an upward position pull it out and up it's going to be you're going to have to give it a little bit of pressure not too much it's it's not likely you're going to break it but it's always good to just be a little bit careful so as you see you're gonna put it back in the same way the little gold um little gold parts of the ram are gonna go into the gold of the uh macbook you're gonna put it at a downward position and then you're gonna click you'll hear it go in and then you're gonna push it down you'll hear it click as you see right here and then right there it should click i know you can't see because my arm was in the way but it's pretty easy and then you're to want to make sure it's actually put down so just kind of press on it and make sure it's secure in there and then after that you can go ahead and put the back plate back on your macbook and you are pretty much done you're just going to want to check and make sure you have the ram actually showing up on your uh macbook pro so you're going to want to after you plug all the screws back in again this shouldn't take long at all take about four or five minutes and then after that you're going to want to boot up your computer and then go to your your mac settings your about this mac and just make sure you have the uh eight gigs or whatever you got maybe you did 16 gigs whatever it is just make sure you have that ram and make sure it's showing up on your actual macbook as you see right here i'm booting up and i'm going to go to i actually have a memory cleaning app that's going to show that i have like five gigs of space left up there so it's kind of your first indication if you have uh the memory cleaner app like i do but you're still going to want to go to the about this mac and just make sure that it shows up in there and everything's running smoothly as you see right there i have memory clean it shows 5.5 gigs left which obviously is a huge increase over my 4 gigs total where i'd always have you know one gig of space left or you know 600 megabytes something like that um so about this mac and as you see right there it shows eight gigs now don't expect too big of an of an increase uh in speed uh as far as boot times but you can actually i have noticed a big difference in running multiple applications and be able to have you know video editing go smoothly as opposed to freezing up all the time so it definitely is a difference and i definitely recommend upgrading ram and hopefully this video was helpful for you guys let me know let me know down in the comment section below also leave a like if this helped you out i really appreciate it thanks for watching peacegoing on guys it's brendan here and today i'll be showing you how to upgrade the ram on your macbook pro i'm actually using the late 2011 model 13-inch macbook pro this also works for the 2009 2010 and 2012 macbook pro models so the materials you're going to need are a macbook pro obviously a phillips 0-0 screwdriver and some ram the ram you're going to want to look for is ddr3 uh 1066 mhz type ram so you look for the pc3 8500 and you can i use crucial i'd really recommend crucial um i've just read great reviews about them i did a lot of research before i went ahead and bought this ram um and i went with the two sticks of four gigabyte ram uh for a total of eight gigabytes upgrading from four gigabytes i had um two uh two gigabyte sticks for four gigs total so as you see you're going to just turn over your macbook pro and you're just going to unscrew the back plate off it this part should be pretty self-explanatory and if you got a phillips screwdriver you can get one of these at your local tool shop or amazon actually got mine on amazon when i ordered the ram so it just all came together but it has its magnetic and it pulls the screws off pretty easy and they just stay on there it's really easy to unscrew the back you just have to make sure you have the right tools should take about four to five minutes uh tops so this should not be a time consumer at all but just make sure you follow directions and do everything right and you'll be good so after that you're going to want to take the back plate off of the macbook itself and this is going to present you with the internals of your dev of your macbook so that green part right there is actually my crucial memory yours isn't going to be green if you're just upgrading from the standard but mine is green right there and that's the crucial in there right now but i'm just going to show you i basically did the i basically did it without i upgraded the ram without recording it on video but i wanted to go back and show how i did it so you see i'm holding up the original memory there the blue is the original so to upgrade the rim you're going to want to pull these little arms outward so pull them outward as you'll see me do here in a second and it's going to loosen up the ram and just kind of pull it up as you see right there pulls it up nice and easy and then you're what you're going to want to do is just pull it straight out like almost at an upward position pull it out and up it's going to be you're going to have to give it a little bit of pressure not too much it's it's not likely you're going to break it but it's always good to just be a little bit careful so as you see you're gonna put it back in the same way the little gold um little gold parts of the ram are gonna go into the gold of the uh macbook you're gonna put it at a downward position and then you're gonna click you'll hear it go in and then you're gonna push it down you'll hear it click as you see right here and then right there it should click i know you can't see because my arm was in the way but it's pretty easy and then you're to want to make sure it's actually put down so just kind of press on it and make sure it's secure in there and then after that you can go ahead and put the back plate back on your macbook and you are pretty much done you're just going to want to check and make sure you have the ram actually showing up on your uh macbook pro so you're going to want to after you plug all the screws back in again this shouldn't take long at all take about four or five minutes and then after that you're going to want to boot up your computer and then go to your your mac settings your about this mac and just make sure you have the uh eight gigs or whatever you got maybe you did 16 gigs whatever it is just make sure you have that ram and make sure it's showing up on your actual macbook as you see right here i'm booting up and i'm going to go to i actually have a memory cleaning app that's going to show that i have like five gigs of space left up there so it's kind of your first indication if you have uh the memory cleaner app like i do but you're still going to want to go to the about this mac and just make sure that it shows up in there and everything's running smoothly as you see right there i have memory clean it shows 5.5 gigs left which obviously is a huge increase over my 4 gigs total where i'd always have you know one gig of space left or you know 600 megabytes something like that um so about this mac and as you see right there it shows eight gigs now don't expect too big of an of an increase uh in speed uh as far as boot times but you can actually i have noticed a big difference in running multiple applications and be able to have you know video editing go smoothly as opposed to freezing up all the time so it definitely is a difference and i definitely recommend upgrading ram and hopefully this video was helpful for you guys let me know let me know down in the comment section below also leave a like if this helped you out i really appreciate it thanks for watching peace\n"