By default, the Apple iMac comes installed with 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Depending on the model you buy, the RAM can be 1066MHz or 1333Mhz speed. Apple charges an insane amount of money for memory upgrades. For my 27″ iMac I wanted to increase the RAM to the maximum 16GB but I didn’t want to pay the $1,000 upgrade price.
What I ended up doing was buying four 4GB sticks of Corsair 1333Mhz DDR3 memory from Amazon.com for about $70 each. This is a massive savings over paying $1,000 and I get to keep the two 2GB sticks that came with the iMac. I should be able to sell those for $50 and recover some of the upgrade cost.
The one downside to this is you need to install the memory yourself. For someone who has never done that before, it can be quite intimidating. However, changing memory on an iMac is one of the easiest upgrades you can do. In fact, it’s so easy that even a 4 year old can do it. Don’t believe me? Watch the video below and see Sally Chow upgrade the memory on a $2,799 27″ Core i7 iMac.
