I actually contacted nVidia support.

I said: "What is the maximum amount of RAM that is hardware supported in the new 9400M chipset used in the new MacBooks & MacBook Pros? Apple says that their notebooks only support 4GB. However, Intel's Montevina platform supports 8GB. Since the 9400M is a competitor to the Centrino 2 platform it only makes sense that physically your chipset would be able to support more than 4GB."

I get a reply from mVidia: "Hi Mike,
Thanks for contacting us. Unlike the Intel platform, 4GB is the max. So you wouldn't be able to go higher than what Apple advertised.
Best regards,
David"

Now of course this is a CSR that never went to college and isn't an Engineer. So after reading this I sent: "See, I can't see that as financially or even from an engineering standpoint as plausible. It would be completely moronic for nVidia to only support 4GB of memory. I just read an article from 9to5 mac stating that it may in fact support 8GB. So what is it? I want an Engineer, someone who graduated from college, to tell me how much memory this chipset is capable of supporting."

I am awaiting a reply. Unlikely I will get one. Usually when you break out the "College Degree" thing, people who don't have one get insulted. Why can't a company have ENGINEERS answer ENGINEERING questions!?! No, we have to deal with the high school drop-out, pot smoking, I am a worthless twit working a CSR center because I have no life person and I only know what my paper says."

GRRRR!@ nVidia! You better get an Engineer to answer me!

whaaaaat? tell me more about the 4GB in the Mini.

It could be that Apple is waiting to up the specs until the release of the 17" MacBook (I would guess in Jan)

It could also be that if you put 8GB into a MacBook you would only see 6.8GB i.e. 8GB less chipset and graphics addresses.

One would think that Crucial would try it out and add it to the MacBooks specs, just so they could sell more of those high dollar chips.

I thought you couldnt get that sped ddr3 in 4gb chips yet anyway!?!?

Being a CSR for a educational software company 6 credits short of a masters, I can tell you that your very basic question wouldn't warrant someone at an "engineer" level to answer it. If nVidia or Apple don't support it, even if in theory it would work, they're not going to say it can, it's that simple.

What? The chipset is 32 bit? that seems even more of a limitation. Are you saying this chipset limits the entire OS to 32 bit? How does that fit in with Snow Leopard? Heck, how does that fit in with current 64bit operability?

@MadMike, did you ever go to college? There is no evidence whatsoever in David's e-mail that he doesn't have a college degree. You've only managed to reveal your hot temper, prejudice, rude manner and perhaps hinted at a lack of your own education. Better be careful, or you may be out of a job soon.

Actually, while you could put (2) 2GB Chips in a MacMini, it will only address 3GB's of Ram, even though it might say more.

Better off to buy a 1GB and 2GB kit.... save some dollars.

You can confirm this with Macsales.com

It is known that some Macs support more RAM than Apple's technical specs state ... such as the old iBooks.

ask crucial duh!

ps i have a degree

how much resident ram does your process friggin need?

Sure, I have machines > 64 gb of ram, but they run a huge simulation. So I am curious what process or program you have that needs more than 4 gb on a laptop.

Ps- I'm a PhD, comp sci. Not an engineer.

well if Sarah palin can become vice president with a bs in journalism and work as a sports journalist then anything is possible. Everyone is apparently qualified for any position in this country.

You can physically install 4GB of RAM in the mac mini, but the system can only use 3GB of it.

Click on the System Memory tab in the Activity Monitor and you will see quite clearly that the system can only see 3GB.

Ha Ha Ha another uneducated person who thinks holding a college degree actually provides mystical intelligence to it's holder, as like in the wizard of OZ... Hahahahahaaaa.. I have worked in a large corporate enviroment for many years and have worked with Engineers to Presidents of companies. One thing is for certain that most people who wanted to get things done in the corp knew was, stay away from the ones with the degrees as they actually knew the least and held the lowest skill sets.. The people that worked with the products and processes who actually had skill and knew what they were doing became the "GoTo" people. Funny thing was the majority of the "GoTo" people in the organization did not hold a degree but instead held something more important, Intelligence that can be purchased but obtainable only through genetics, Experience gained from actually working and honing skills over the years most degree holders were to busy spending their time partying and a positive attitude towards others not based on a false internal belief of privilege over others because they bought a piece of paper that says so. Ha Ha Ha, if you want to see what a real college degreed individual looks like, take a look at Europe or Japan, sadly in the US a college degree most of the time means a lazy unskilled person who thinks they deserve more because they could pay for a piece of paper that tells them so. Anyway there are intelligent people whether they hold a degree or not. No piece of paper can instill intelligence in a person no matter how much money they throw at it. Grow up and realize the reality, it may just lower your blood pressure :)