Upgrading the RAM in Your 2011 iMac: A Step-by-Step Guide

Hey there, YouTube! This is Detroit Borg with a walkthrough of how to upgrade the RAM in your 2011 iMac or any aluminum iMac. The current iMac comes standard with 4 gigs of RAM, but can be custom ordered with up to 16 gigs. Unfortunately, Apple will charge you $600 to get it built that way from the factory. Fortunately, upgrading the ram in your iMac is very easy and can be done for a third of that cost.

The iMac has four SODM slots which can handle DDR3 RAM chips running at 1333 MHz. If you don't know what your hardware can handle, crucial.com has an excellent online utility that we'll find out more about later. My iMac came built to order with 8 gigs of RAM spread over two 4 gig RAM chips, leaving two slots empty. Upgrading to 16 gigs of RAM is just a matter of popping in more 4 gig chips. In this case, I went to crucial for my ram upgrade kit which only cost $88.

Now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the iMac in position. You'll need to lay your iMac flat on the table, and in this case, I'm patting it with soft mouse pads for protection. The ram panel is held on with three Phillip screws. Once you remove the panel, you'll see two ribbons tucked into the RAM chips. This is actually used to eject the ram trays, and you have to pull on this fairly hard. The only reason I need to eject the RAM chips in this case is so I can see what their orientation is.

As you can see, Apple is using Samsung chips. Now slide in the new chips and push in carefully. You'll have to push in firmly and make sure all the RAM chips are seated evenly. I find the best way to install them is to sort of push them at the corners to get them started. Once that's finished, tuck the ribbons back in reinstall the panel and power it back up to confirm everything is working.

Okay, click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner, choose "About" about this Mac, go to more info, and check to see if all the slots have registered under your RAM. 16 GB is a lot of ram, more than most people will ever need. You won't see dramatic performance gains here, but it's largely useful when running lots of memory-intensive software all at the same time such as Final Cut and Photoshop. This amount of RAM is also useful when running virtual machines, giving you a lot more headroom for running Windows or Linux all at the same time for a real multi-platform powerhouse.

So there you have it guys, that's all there is to it. Thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next video!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat's up YouTube this is Detroit Borg with a walkthrough of how to upgrade the RAM in your 2011 iMac or any aluminum iMac this current iMac comes standard with 4 gigs of RAM but can be custom ordered with up to 16 gigs unfortunately Apple will charge you $600 to get it built that way from the factory fortunately upgrading the ram in your iMac is very easy and can be done for a third of that cost the iMac has four sodm slots which can DDR3 RAM chips running at 1333 MHz now if you don't know what your Hardware can handle crucial.com has an excellent online utility which we'll find out for you I'll post a link in the description below my iMac came built to order with 8 gigs of RAM spread over two 4 gig RAM chips leaving two slots empty so upgrading to 16 gigs of RAM is just a matter of popping into more 4 gig chips in this case I went to crucial for my ram upgrade kit which only cost $88 now if you were up upgrading from 4 gigs to 16 gigs you could do this for less than $200 which is even less than what Apple charges for the 8 gig upgrade now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the iMac in position you'll need to lay your iMac flat on the table in this case I'm patting it with soft mouse pads for protection the ram panel is held on with three Phillip screws once you remove the panel you'll see two ribbons tucked into the RAM chips this is actually used to eject the ram trays and you have to pull on this fairly hard now the only reason I need to eject the RAM chips in this case is so I can see what their orientation is as you can see apple is using Samsung chips now slide in the new chips and push in carefully you'll have to push in firmly and make sure all the RAM chips are seated evenly I find the best way to install them is to sort of push them at the corners to get them started once that's finished tuck the ribbons back in reinstall the panel and power it back up to confirm everything is working Okay click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner choose about about this Mac go to more info and check to see if all the slots have registered under your RAM now 16 GB is a lot of ram more than most people will ever need you will not see dramatic performance gains here this is largely useful when running lots of memory intensive software all at the same time such as Final Cut and Photoshop this amount of RAM is also useful when running virtual machines so this gives you a lot more Headroom for running Windows or Linux all at the same time for a real multi platform Powerhouse so there you have it guys that's all there is to it thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next videowhat's up YouTube this is Detroit Borg with a walkthrough of how to upgrade the RAM in your 2011 iMac or any aluminum iMac this current iMac comes standard with 4 gigs of RAM but can be custom ordered with up to 16 gigs unfortunately Apple will charge you $600 to get it built that way from the factory fortunately upgrading the ram in your iMac is very easy and can be done for a third of that cost the iMac has four sodm slots which can DDR3 RAM chips running at 1333 MHz now if you don't know what your Hardware can handle crucial.com has an excellent online utility which we'll find out for you I'll post a link in the description below my iMac came built to order with 8 gigs of RAM spread over two 4 gig RAM chips leaving two slots empty so upgrading to 16 gigs of RAM is just a matter of popping into more 4 gig chips in this case I went to crucial for my ram upgrade kit which only cost $88 now if you were up upgrading from 4 gigs to 16 gigs you could do this for less than $200 which is even less than what Apple charges for the 8 gig upgrade now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get the iMac in position you'll need to lay your iMac flat on the table in this case I'm patting it with soft mouse pads for protection the ram panel is held on with three Phillip screws once you remove the panel you'll see two ribbons tucked into the RAM chips this is actually used to eject the ram trays and you have to pull on this fairly hard now the only reason I need to eject the RAM chips in this case is so I can see what their orientation is as you can see apple is using Samsung chips now slide in the new chips and push in carefully you'll have to push in firmly and make sure all the RAM chips are seated evenly I find the best way to install them is to sort of push them at the corners to get them started once that's finished tuck the ribbons back in reinstall the panel and power it back up to confirm everything is working Okay click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner choose about about this Mac go to more info and check to see if all the slots have registered under your RAM now 16 GB is a lot of ram more than most people will ever need you will not see dramatic performance gains here this is largely useful when running lots of memory intensive software all at the same time such as Final Cut and Photoshop this amount of RAM is also useful when running virtual machines so this gives you a lot more Headroom for running Windows or Linux all at the same time for a real multi platform Powerhouse so there you have it guys that's all there is to it thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next video\n"