MacBook Air 16GB RAM Upgrade

In this video, I upgrade a Mid-2012 MacBook Air from 4GB to 16GB of system memory, and in the process repairing the machine, which I got with bad RAM. Since this machine never came from the factory with more than 8GB of RAM installed, modifying the SPD, or serial presence detect, info in the system's SPI ROM was necessary in order for it to detect and run with the newly-installed memory.
If you'd like to contact me about performing an upgrade such as this, go to doslabelectronics.com/contact
A copy of the SPD dump used can be found here: dosdude1.com/files/spd/PC3-128...
Stencil kit used: www.unionrepair.com/ds-908-ma...

[@micleh]

Awesome. Didn't know it was possible to harvest memory modules from SO-DIMMs to use in a Macbook. Props to what you've achieved.

[@Astinsan]

It’s the memory interface and pinout. Lucky for most of us, you weren’t the first to think of it. Look it up :) Happy hacking!

[@johndododoe1411]

I thought memory modules contained an extra chip telling the computer what the chip and module properties are, so the north bridge or CPU can provide the right voltage, timing and address decoding. Thus when Apple soldered the memory, there would either be a similar chip or the equivalent data would be in another firmware chip. And since the information includes electrical properties of the PCB itself, someone would need to figure out the data for each combination of Apple board and unofficial chips. Update: In the second half of this video, he does in fact reprogram that tiny flash chip.

[@user-nb3xu8yw6h]

@@johndododoe1411 chips itself are dummy. The controller is to put modified rom image

[@CBZED101]

This is the kind of content I love on KZbin. Thanks for sharing! I need to buy some stencils - I have my hot air station and have played with reflowing - but I haven't done a full reball before.

[@wwjoshdew]

Dude… wtf. You are literally the best. I had no idea this could be done. Friggin love your work man.

[@TechMex27]

Collin, thanks for working on my 2015 MBA 11", works like a charm after the RAM upgrade to 16GB. Been using it for over a week and am completely satisfied with the service. Much appreciated.

[@dosdude1]

Awesome, glad you like it!

[@sbyseven]

How much did you pay for it?

[@zameerramdianee5718]

@@dosdude1 Hello, do you offer this upgrade as a service? I have two A1370 2gb that needs upgrade.

[@dosdude1]

@@zameerramdianee5718 I do, though the A1370 can only be upgraded to 4GB.

[@joseosuna-carrero1674]

It’s possible for the A2337 to be upgraded, if so, how much can it support?

[@_BYR47]

You’re a monster bro !! Insane dude keeping that unsupported hardware alive!!

[@dreikycaprice]

You should get an award for true sustainability. I’ve been using your patch on my 2011 iMac, but this is next level. I love it. This even looks FUN!

[@KimoKimochii]

what patch?

[@CygnusBlack]

@@KimoKimochii The dosdude Catalina patch.

[@samuelmills4990]

@@CygnusBlack Couldn't live without the Catalina patch!

[@mndlessdrwer]

your speed and precision at lifting those BGA memory modules with those tweezers is legendary.

[@BluesfireTV]

Absolute insanity. Never seen someone do something like this, mad props.

[@thatdude5104]

That stencil and the holder looked really good, I think it can make things way less complicated!

[@beingatliberty]

dosdude making apple hardware do happy backflips, undoing all of the garbage that apple forced on users unnecessarily, ram limitations , non upgradeability etc. marvellous to watch.

[@axethepenguin]

I’m pretty sure ram limitations is intel’s own fault

[@jimwheeler6094]

This is one of the most interesting videos that I've seen on KZbin in a very long while. I had no idea that this type of work could be done outside of a highly specialized repair facility. Good job and very impressive work!

[@jbrooks4282]

I'd love to see a 2015 15" MacBook pro retina with 32gb.

[@ares9304]

My exact thoughts. My 2015 15" would be perfect for this.

[@user-gv8zd3ry1k]

it's imposible

[@jbrooks4282]

@@user-gv8zd3ry1k who said it was impossible? They said it was impossible to upgrade MacBook air to 16gb yet here we are.

[@PedroPauloAmorim]

@@jbrooks4282 CPU doesn't support.

[@jbrooks4282]

@@PedroPauloAmorim According to Intel's website the i7 4980HQ (the CPU present in the 2.8ghz 2015 15" retina MacBook pro) supports 32gb of DDR3L 1600 in 2 channels non ECC.

[@daverichardson7289]

Amazing video, and really amazing to give these older Mac's extra life- thank you!

[@abdo.3asal]

Dude this was Awesome , the amount of knowledge that u have and shared and the skill you showed you earned a new subscriber ,Mad props

[@honda_fanboy]

Oh my god, if you do this on a regular basis, there will be less e waste. Good Job Collin!

[@honda_fanboy]

I hope I knew how to solder and stuff so I could keep using my 2013 MBA even after upgrading from it a month ago

[@MexicaliBenchmark]

@@honda_fanboy you can request the service and still use it or sell it

[@koobydotnet]

This is phenomenal stuff! I also see that you've helped out with the OpenCore Legacy Patcher project! Awesome!

[@poorlydrawnstickman1660]

Love your content on MacBooks! You do what apple won’t. Keep it up!!!

[@rawstarmusic]

Quite amazing. It takes all the skills to do this.

[@Verssales]

Apple: We can't offer a 16gb macbook air, it's physically impossible. Men with a heat gun at home: Hold my beer.

[@maklogetrich2378]

it's hot air station actually

[@beenine5557]

@@maklogetrich2378 And women with a hot air station, too. The beer stays the same.

[@FixTechStuff]

Impressive! I love what you do with old mac's.

[@prod.7590]

I like this kind of videos on KZbin. You are doing interesting things for many years, so thank u for it

[@glaubhafieber]

You’re the dude, man. Apple Store in iconsiam Bangkok understood the term dosdude style when i was talking with employees there. But actually they’re honest enough to send people to independents for rossmann style repair

[@BuzZ.]

some of the most satisfying content on KZbin

[@chadwickcloister5143]

those machines still ran good. i bet it cooks now. i have seen the ram upgrade process before one time, it's the souce of the ram chips that is genius. i have one mid 2012 and 3 early 2015 11 inch and one early 2015 13 inch

[@aykhanislamzade]

Bro. You are insane. This is some good soldering skills. Good luck with your work!

[@HardProduct]

Very neat video! I remember how I tried to mod the X99 BIOS to get XEON V3 turbo unlock mod to work... it was painful you on the other hand have a really good understanding what you are doing. Keep up the good work.

[@michaelsilverman341]

That is incredible DOS Dude. You are the DOS MAN

[@RyanKarolak]

I have this Macbook Air. I'd love to do this, but I don't think I have the soldering skills to pull it off. It's awesome that you were able to do this and record the process! Nice job!

[@Guitaricmusic]

Yeah, from experience video seems much easier. Couple of practices on dead boards will give you the confidence.

[@anoopraha7166]

Just Take precautions like heat taping surrounding and use plenty of flux. Watch for Heat gun flow so that nearby components don't fly away . It is simple .

[@utforskaren3031]

wow impressive thanks for having people who have a high level of knowledge to figure things out

[@nitro-ww6sk]

wow i highly impressed by your hardware and programming abilities !

[@yothere1209]

Phenomenal. Simply phenomenal. That was soooo cooool to watch. Thank you for sharing it and congrats!! I'd be curious to know what the performance was like.

[@perish1n]

I love your work man Just keep it up Hopefully you can cash in on your huge and useful knowledge 🤞😁 But even if you dont , you will always have a satisfaction for helping millions of people worldwide 💖

[@Howeitworks]

Good stuff dosdude1! Keep up the great work!

[@aen1528]

When dosdude is better than the manufacturer you can’t do nothing but applaud hard Great job man

[@ezzbuttheyshouldntleavethe5529]

your existence scares me, keep up the good work!

[@whitebeartigtig]

Projects like these is why I need to learn how to solder. Would love to breathe new life into older systems like this. I know soldering projects like these are difficult to learn how to do and I don't expect to be able to do them instantly.

[@VovaViner]

Same. When I have some disposable income I'm definitely going to invest in all the proper equipment and learn how to do it properly.

[@whitebeartigtig]

@@VovaViner that's also part of the problem for me, I don't just have the money to buy dead boards along with all the equipment too.

[@DigitalJedi]

My advice is to see of it's applicable to any of your current hobbies. If it is, then you already have a starting point to work from. It helps get over that first step into doing it. I started off with RV cars and small combat robots. Now I do computer repairs and port replacements.

[@geekPlayground]

Great work. This is super complex and a delight to watch. Thanks for the video.

[@Josh.Davidson]

This is awesome, great work as usual.

[@personalPickle]

greatest respect for your work, I'd love to pay for your services!

[@SalemTechsperts]

Man this is so sick.

[@vazador]

EXCELLENT job Collin!!!!!!! You are something else man, congrats!!!! Got a question, would you be able to post the link for the stencils you used for this process? Would be very much appreciated. Thanks again for the great content!

[@dosdude1]

I'll update the description with a link.

[@vazador]

@@dosdude1 thank you very much sir!!!!

[@CatBacon-qc5ot]

This is amazing, you guys are doing the lord's work, fantastic.

[@MikieLAX]

The first part of your awesome video (unsoldering the 4 RAM chips four times) reminds me of when I was 10 years old and my father took me to the theater to see his favorite "star" Frank Sinatra, in Oceans 11. Being a geek, I loved the scenes where they were using the invisible paint to setup the casino for the big robbery AND when they repeated those sequences in each of the other 3 casinos being setup to be robbed on New Years Eve at the stroke of Midnight. Of course, you have modernized this repeated activity with time-lapse photography! Great work! I have sent you an email about upgrading my 2 recently purchased used 2014 Mac Minis!

[@ABTOMOTO]

Great job! Keep it up, buddy! I watched this video several times and really enjoyed it.

[@DragonBlazeDesigns]

Thank you I had feeling others can do this or with other parts see it step by step is really good info am a seller of parts I had others say why to sell old CPU to ram to GPU to boards no one wants that I had feeling can be remade or use on other upgrades A+ great job on that repair

[@HeuderM]

Impressionante. Um profissional de alto nível. Parabéns pelo trabalho!

[@lucasnoroes]

Heuder, você conhece alguem que faz esse trabalho no brasil?

[@lexsmith8689]

this is pretty elaborate piece of work.. I suppose i have an admiration for anyone who has the balls, energy and patience to deal with any apple sh.t .. this dude is awesome..

[@tommelm.7124]

My respect! Excellent work!

[@PrateepAmon]

Absolutely amazing work! Thank you for sharing.

[@ProjectPhysX]

Almost every laptop manufacturer: To upgrade/replace the RAM, just plug in the new SODIMM modules. Apple: This is not possible unless you can do reflow microsoldering...

[@retal052]

Not these days.... most thin and light laptop manufacturer uses the same process as Apple. Apple just made it "normal" :( hopefully things will change with right to repair, but not holding my breath.

[@indigosandwiches]

@@retal052 well... Yes, and no. There's a reason luggable computers don't exist anymore. With today's technology and incredible performance, you could totally pack a portable supercomputing powerhouse with, like, 50 compute nodes into a 10KG package! Upgrade everything in it! Have amazing expansion! Sure, it's 'portable'! Consumer demand dictates the products we consume. The majority of consumers like thin. light designs, made from premium materials and enclosures with as few visible seams as possible. Finishing a flagship phone in plastic today would never happen. Even if it also had a battery with alien tech and was last on the charger when dinosaurs roamed the earth. 'Yes, it's amazingly resistant to shattering! It even bounces!' Every product has compromises - introducing removable batteries and upgradeable anything again means increasing product weight or thickness. Or, compromises in material choice, fit and finish, price, etc. Absolutely product lifespan/ease of replaceable components should again be reconsidered, but the consumers aren't going to be as willing to adopt such when we've been so spoilt already.

[@cleanycloth]

That is awesome. Makes me want to buy up some old Mac boards and play about with them to learn new soldering skills 😝

[@cambike]

Great work, little tip for you. Use pointy needle to scratch around chips before removing. That way you can easily align chips visually.

[@petebro8893]

Man, your such a machine! Thanks for your great content 👌 please continue your great work in the future 😎🥳

[@LanceUngerBBYFOZ]

This is amazing dude! very talented! i love your vids! Been watching for years.

[@luis11347]

Good quality content I don't miss any of your videos. greetings from 🇲🇽 City

[@cappuccino-1721]

Apple: Forces people to pay for more RAM upgrades at time of purchase. Or Buy new computer when something goes wrong Dosdude1: Hold my soldering iron

[@skerto1]

Já já isso chega em todos locais do Brasil, espero que chegue

[@antoniojunior5710]

tbm estou esperando

[@javitobosch]

Keep going man! Really like your content!

[@bradnelson3595]

Pretty nifty modification.

[@teodor9176]

🤘 you rock! This is the content I enjoy watching on yt!

[@ThomasReinermallorca]

Amazing job!!! Thinking if i should try that myself

[@shred69]

Great video man. Big props for this 👏👏

[@toko7746]

This is just amazing! More videos like this please! :-)

[@loriansaceanu]

Keep up the good work! Best regards, from Norway! 🙂

[@Lanceawright]

I am beholden to your skill! Wow!

[@rongray8934]

Simply amazing! Very interesting video of what is actually possible.

[@Sanjuro2112]

dosdude1 does what the rest of us wish we could do.

[@joep1984]

This is just nuts. 👏👏👏 Bravo, sir. Bravo.

[@koeds4512]

Awesome tutorial.....Thanks for sharing

[@foam4123]

this is god mode. Incredible!

[@daspec]

Colin is THE #1 dude! 😎

[@diegosalgo]

Amazing, great job! Unfortunately the newer m1 macs can't upgrade the ram because they are inside the SOC 😖

[@tomike544]

Dude, you are freaking AWESOME !!!

[@ominkan3129]

I learned so much today. What an excellent video.

[@PoconoPCDoctor]

Amazing. You have got the skills. I am guessing the equipment is not cheap. My soldering skills are basic. It does seem a shame that Apple wants to keep this process so locked down. ✅💻

[@pkt1213]

You're insane...in the best way. I have been working up wipe and update my wife's old macbooks and it's insanely frustrating.

[@anunakischile8673]

I’ve done some reballing before, and I have exactly the same Mac mid 2011, the only part I get lost is reprogramming the “what?” With the eprom programmer. Such a nice video dude

[@beenine5557]

Reprogramming the SPD, "Serial Presence Detect".

[@libertarian1637]

I still run a MacBook Pro from mid-2012; I also updated to 16 GB years ago, which also wasn’t a standard from Apple which shows maxed specs at 8 GB. You can also modify/modernize the mid-2012 machines to use PCIE Gen 3 NVME SSDs along with allowing them to accept two 2.5” HDDs or SSDs, though this does require the elimination of the DVD drive; you can also upgrade the WiFi to AC. With a Pentium Core i7 these computers can compete with plenty of modern computers in running OSX, Windows, or Linux, with the exception of OSX 11+ and Windows 11 as Apple and Microsoft have established hardware restrictions/limits on these newer operating systems.

[@eileenlucynakurosawa7421]

Most outstanding work!!! Someday something like this to upgrade RAM to M1 family Macs.

[@celeron.26]

Awesome. Hats off to you Sir.

[@mauriciorodrigues9991]

My friend, you are a genius.

[@augustoconstante8780]

dude, you're a rockstar

[@jovieasyrof2017]

dude, you're insanely genius!

[@dellodel9502]

Great job , Master's job Thanks for all infos

[@alberbrando]

It´s amazing...But I don´t dare to do it by myself...Great job!!!

[@NB-Philly]

That was really fun to watch! amazing!

[@pattskatoey3139]

Dos dude does it again!

[@AndrewBPowers]

Great work! Thank you, for sharing...

[@mystic316]

yes! you are right, the MacBook Air's offered with 16GB of ram from Apple are the Retina 2018-2020 MacBook Airs

[@crispy-k]

Gotta love those expensive apple laptops which you have to buy a new of every 2 years ;) Nice work, really cool vid!

[@michaelscottcutler3627]

Amazing, to say the least!

[@tahaak]

If you have the ability of BGA and microsoldering you have unlimited power on doing great projects

[@peterxyz3541]

Thanks! I love to see you upgrade an M1 ram & ssd.

[@wasfiiwasfi]

Awesome !! Thank you for sharing this video

[@mateuszszalkowski6625]

Wow, so impressive!

[@gayassdeer2968]

This seems like more trouble than it's worth. Very cool nonetheless. Have my like sir.

[@CAA84788]

This guy is a legit wizard

[@Junkyard_Dawg]

I remember some Apple fanboy saying soldered memory is an advantage because it would not be prone to the failures of removable DIMMs/SO-DIMMs. I wish I would of seen something like this years ago.

[@Junkyard_Dawg]

I heard the same. I cannot stand fanboys.

[@baconfister]

Another great video! Thanks!!!

[@KadiusFTW]

Ive had to desolder bios chips and run them in a ch314a flash programmer for some x99 motherboards to do the haswell turbo unlock, specifically on the x99 G7 from Machinist so I could add a socket to the board for the chip