[MacTUG] FYI: Mac Mini 2018 and using 3rd party memory

[Glenn Anderson]

Hi,

I had a chance to talk to CampusTech about the cost for them to replace the memory in the new Mac mini with 3rd party memory. While they haven’t done any, the estimated cost based on what is involved would be $97.50 + taxes.
I was also cautioned against just buying any memory that might look to have the same specs as Apple just because it is “cheaper", but instead should buy memory from a place dealing with Macs such as OWC.

So here is a cost breakdown between Apple vs 3rd party memory. I have used OWC current “Black Friday” sale pricing, regular pricing would be higher. Note, I haven’t factored in any custom handling charges ( Cdn Post is $5 I believe )

[cid:DAF79DA2-4ECA-46D8-9BB6-71DB98F3AA7D at uwaterloo.ca]

From the above, one can see it would make little sense to go with a 3rd party upgrade over Apples for 16GB.
The 32GB 3rd party option does result in a fair savings. That said if you had a problem with the 3rd party memory the savings would vanish due to the costs involved in removing and replacing the defective memory and that is assuming the RAM replacement is free.
The 64GB upgrade option costs are likely to be the same.

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It appears that the best memory approach might be to simply go with the Apple 16GB upgrade at the moment, and if down the road more RAM is needed then do a 3rd party update. At which point the cost of such RAM modules would have likely dropped considerably. For example, a 32GB Memory module for a MAC Pro os $160 US now vs $520 US for a 32GB simm for the Mac Mini
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