LaserWriter Pro 600/630

Memory Information
RAM Speed
SIMM type
On Board RAM
Expansion sockets
Supported sizes
80ns
72 pin
none
two
4, 8, 16
Notes
The LaserWriter Pro 600 shipped with 8MB of RAM. The LaserWriter Pro 600 supports these RAM configurations: 4MB, 8MB, 16MB, 20MB, and 32MB. Some very early models shipped with 4MB, the PhotoGrade upgrade kit was later included to bring it to 8MB.

The LaserWriter Pro 630 is shipped with 8MB of RAM. It supports these RAM configurations: 8MB, 16MB, 20MB, and 32MB.

The LaserWriter Pro 600 and 630 printers use industry standard 72-pin fast mode 80ns SIMMs. Each printer has two banks of memory; each bank has one SIMM socket.

Memory Upgrades
When you add memory to a LaserWriter Pro, you must fill Bank 1 before Bank 2. If you have SIMMs of two different sizes, you must put the SIMM with the greater amount of memory in Bank 1.

You may use 4MB, 8MB, or 16MB RAM SIMMs in the LaserWriter Pro printers. All 8MB SIMMs currently produced are considered double-sided SIMMs, since they have memory chips on both sides.

If you have a double-sided SIMM in one memory bank, the other memory bank must be left empty. The second memory bank cannot contain a SIMM.

This is inherent in the design of the LaserWriter Pro I/O Controller board.

When a double-sided SIMM is installed in one bank, each side of the SIMM is treated electrically as an individual bank. Since the LaserWriter Pro printers can only have two banks of memory, the second physical bank is unusable and you cannot insert a memory SIMM into it.

Apple manufactures many LaserWriter Pro printers with one double-sided 8MB memory SIMM. To increase memory, you must first remove the 8MB SIMM and then insert the desired memory SIMMs into the printer.

Here are the valid memory configurations for the LaserWriter Pro:

Bank A      Bank B      Total Memory
------      ------      ------------
 4MB        Empty           4MB
 4MB         4MB            8MB
 8MB        Empty           8MB
16MB        Empty          16MB
16MB         4MB           20MB
16MB        16MB           32MB


Please send any comments on this page to:
G.Mills@compserv.gla.ac.uk
(George W. Mills, Computing Service, University of Glasgow)