I operate a Mac Power PC 7200 and I wish to increase the RAM with either a 32MB or a 64MB chip. There is a great discrepancy in price between RAM for a Mac and RAM for a PC. Do you know why this is so and can you advise whether RAM is RAM and indeed interchangeable. I have found some material which suggests that this might be so but the Mac people said that Apple RAM is quite specific. This Mac requires 168 pin DIMM with a minimum RAM speed of 70 ns.

It’s a fairly risky business playing around with compatibility of hardware because if you buy PC RAM and try to put it into a Mac and it doesn’t work then you are stuck with PC RAM which you probably won’t use. I would suggest that you talk to the staff at a Mac specialist store (there are a few in Canberra) who should be able to give you good advice. I always think that it is much safer to stick with what you know will work rather than hanging on a limb on something that could go either way. If any other readers have had experience with putting PC RAM in a Mac, please write in and share your experiences. I can’t really comment on the price discrepancy between RAM for a Mac and RAM for a PC. Perhaps Mac RAM is somewhat specialised and/or has different features or qualities than PC RAM. If this is the case, it looks like you couldn’t use PC RAM in a Mac.