From: HK.MLR@forsythe.stanford.edu (Mark Rogowsky)
Subject: Powerbook RAM Discussion
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 07:35:20 GMT

I am having nightmares with the Powerbook RAM upgrade process. They
are as follows:

My 170 outgrew its 4 megs of factory memory as soon as I bought it.
I knew I needed to move to 8. I had seen boards with DRAM and boards
that cover the entire daughterboard (where the processor and RAM are
inside the Powerbook) and knew they were not for me.

I wanted a board that covered as little of the daughterboard as
possible -- in order to preserve the board if/when Apple comes out
with a processor upgrade for the 140/170 -- and I wanted the board
to use pseudo-static RAM and be inexpensive. Seems reasonable
enough, no?

I called Shadow Technologies in Livermore, Calif. because they
advertise that they'll match any price AND because they have the
smallest board physically there is. Shadow uses Hitachi TSOP chips
which are very thin depth-wise. These chips are used on Apple's 2
meg card but not on the PB logic board. By using this chips, Shadow
can stack three sets of four in virtually the same space as the
Apple 2 meg board. Perfect for a future upgrade! BUT ...

I asked the guy to match a price of $369 (then the best price, from
MacCenter in Austin, Texas). He say he couldn't do better than $499
and because I'm in California, I'd have to add 8.25% in sales tax.
No go, I thought -- too expensive.

So I went out in search of another physically small board and found
that there was none to be had. For starters, no one else uses TSOPs.
They think that all Hitachi pseudo-static is TSOP RAM. In reality,
most is SOJ RAM. It's got the same power consumption -- allegedly --
but it's much thicker. Too thick to allow for a triple deck board
like Shadow Tech's.

Anyway, after being misled by TechWorks into believing their board
was small enough, I bought one for $459. It covers half my
daughterboard and is, of course, expensive -- especially versus the
new record-low price of $325 (Centon Electronics in Irvine, Calif.).

Mysteriously, TechWorks' ad in the most recent MacWeek seems to show
a double-sided board (six chips each side) that, while not as small
as Shadow's, would be damned close and probably satisfy my
hyperkinetic personality. However, they shipped me a 2.3inch by 4.15
inch board that covers half my daughterboard. ARGH!

They do have a 30-day money back so I can send theirs back and order
from Centon and save $90 (after losing money in shipping and such).
The catch is that TechWorks will buy back my 2meg Apple board for
$100 saving me the hassle of selling it personally. And, the Centon
board is no smaller.

Why TechWorks shows a board in their ad they didn't ship me despite
my strongly expressed desire for small size I don't know.
(Incidentally, the TechWorks board is so heavy that the cantilevered
section actually leans on the daughterbaord. Poor Powerbook!) Why
Shadow claims they'll price match when they don't I'll never know.
Why TSOP based boards are so rare I assume is because of the cost
(Ouch! Bad Grammar Alert!).

Anyone with anything to add on this would be welcome.

E-mail to Rogo@forsythe.stanford.edu or post here. I think this is
worthy of a little discussion among those more expert than myself.
All my knowledge on the subject was gleaned in tiny bits and pieces
over several weeks.

Mark Rogowsky
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware,comp.sys.mac.programmer