PowerBook 12.1 - 1GB RAM DIMMs Supported


Despite Apple's official position that PB-12 Mini-Me's maximum RAM is 640MB, Cupertino's ownDeveloper documentation reveals otherwise, as MacBidouille notes.

The PDF for the PB-12 states that a 1GB SO-DIMM is supported. It would require a 128x64 configuration in two banks, with device densities of 512Mb (megabits).

Apple's documentation states that "1 GB is a theoretical max and is reserved for future expansion. 1 GB dual die package not supported."

The bottom line is that when 1 GB SO-DIMMs come on stream, your Mini-Me will support 1GB-plus. Better still, it points to future iterations of PowerBook mobo design. Like maybe 1 or 2 GB in a high-end PB? How would you like to run OS X on that much RAM?

It took some time after release for Wallstreets, Lombards, iBooks and Pismos to get larger 256 and 512MB SO-DIMMs - simply because they didn't exist at the time of release. But 'forward-compatibility' meant that you could - and can - have 1GB in your Pismo, or 576MB in your old iBook.

They'll certainly cost a lot of green on introduction, but given that 512MB SO-DIMMs have fallen markedly in price in the last 12 months, 1GB-plus is a real possibility for the cash-poor (and who isn't after buying a new PowerBook?), so long as they're not early-max-RAM-adopters.