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It's unfortunate, but I suspect that Crucial wouldn't be selling all that much RAM for those old machines anymore anyway. So they're not likely losing much business.

I placed an order for 6GB with OWC today. So I should have it sometime next week.

Nope; it doesn't work!

When I researched my original post I searched Crucial's website for DIMMs meeting the specs I was looking for, and the 4GB item didn't turn up. (My bad for not mentioning that.)

The DIMMs at issue, mine and Bob_00001's, apparently don't exist for any reason other than to upgrade Macs beyond Apple's specs and unless you specifically ask for them, so you must specifically ask for them. (Crucial ultimately gave me the part number and told me I could order it..."but it may not work" [ ].)

It's a shame that Crucial, for whatever reason, is screwing customers who prefer their DIMMs and so, for want of searching, are left unaware that the upgrades in question exist.

(*) "Above-spec" RAM is a pretty esoteric topic, and I suspect that many/most users who are aware that their RAM can be upgraded remain unaware of it unless they learn about it from a vendor.

In addition to what I said in post #33095 I'll mention that the first coupl'a times I bought RAM from Crucial the DIMMs were branded "OEM", same as the ones I was replacing, but more recently purchased DIMMs have been branded "Crucial", unlike those shipped by Apple.

I wonder if that's also "Apple fallout", and I also wonder whether my "Crucial" DIMMs are the same ones Apple ships but just branded differently?

That kind of sucks. From past purchases and various threads at MacFixIt I recall the discrepancy between the official Apple stance on max RAM and available DIMM sizes for the few Mac models where that was different. Apparently Crucial now hides any ‘off-label’ options more consistently since their business relationship with Apple. All the more reason for the buyer to be aware of the issue.

Am I the only one who remembers that Crucial originally did not offer RAM upgrades that exceeded Apple specs? I more than once bought from 18004memory or OWC when upgrading older Macs, specifically for that reason. I'd call it a return to a previous policy, not the advent of a new one.

See for example Pushing the HW envelope with OS X...

This may look like semantics, but I’m not saying that Crucial officially offered larger RAM DIMMs than Apple spec via their online RAM Advisor, only that they did have such DIMMs for sale, at least for some of the Mac models where there was a difference. Unfortunately, those links have long since expired, as did the inventory they referred to, making it difficult to substantiate that notion one way or the other. That said, I'm willing to concede the possibility that I’m confusing Crucial (my only supplier for at least 25 years) with other RAM vendors.

dk's linked thread and the "WallStreet" both predate my experience, so I can't comment.

I can say, though, that the above-spec DIMMs I bought for my 13" Early 2009 MacBook did appear in Crucial's Advisor tool's readout...no searching or advance knowledge required.

My memory upgrade finally arrived, after more than two weeks. Mail from US to Canada is typically slow, but it sailed through Canada Customs without incurring any additional charges, so I'm not complaining.

Anyway, I recall seeing somewhere, some advice to install the smaller memory card in a certain position, but I don't remember where I saw it, and the installation video on the OWC site makes no mention of this. So, I figured that I'd just stick them in arbitrary positions since I couldn't imagine it causing any physical damage. When I fired up the computer, it recognized the full 6GB, and so I left things where they are.

I'm still curious though. Is there a preferred arrangement when using two different size memory cards?