I purchased the Crucial CT2K8G3S160BM 2x8GB to increase the memory in my Lenovo Y410P laptop from 8-GB to 16-GB. My Y410P has two memory slots, and one slot was already occupied by a factory-installed Samsung M471B1G73QH0-YK0 8-GB memory card. I probably could have just added another 8-GB card. But to avoid any possible memory glitches, I prefer not to mix-and-match memory cards of different types. The existing Samsung memory was PC3L/DDR3L, with the 'L' signifying that it is low-voltage 1.35V memory, whereas the standard PC3/DDR3 memory uses a higher voltage of 1.50V. You should not combine memory of different voltages or use memory with incorrect voltage since your laptop may not even boot up. To further maximize compatibility with my laptop, since it came equipped with CL11 1600-MHz memory, I likewise wanted to stick with CL11 CAS Latency speed, instead of going for memory with a faster (lower) CL rating. Some CL9 memory cards have faster specifications, but I really think that most people will not notice 2-nanoseconds of extra latency. So I ordered this CL11 1600-MHz memory because I wanted to exactly match the specifications of my laptop's original 8-GB memory card to ensure compatibility since using mismatched memory can cause system instability. And this memory has been working flawlessly in my laptop!

In real-world applications benchmarks, there is barely any difference between using CL11 memory and using some fancier CL9 memory, and the unnoticeable speed difference is not worth paying extra money for more-expensive models of CL9 or faster memory. With most applications, if you compare CL7, CL9, and CL11 application benchmarks, the differences mostly amount to 2% to 4% differences in benchmark timings. Along with the CL listing, another important memory performance indicator is bandwidth, and this Crucial memory's DDR3 1600MHz has a very good maximum bandwidth of 12800MB/s. But what does this mean in real-world performance terms? Relatively little. As long as you have enough memory to hold the applications that you are running without paging, RAM speed is only very rarely a performance bottleneck. Even with quad-core CPUs, the bottleneck is more likely still going to be the CPU . The reason for this is that the CPU's branch prediction algorithms are so accurate that, in the vast majority of circumstances, the data is already in the cache when the CPU needs it. So direct calls to RAM are quite rare. The branch predictor is like the CPU's personal assistant; it guesses what piece of information the boss needs next and makes sure it is already on his desk by the time he needs it. Occasionally, the assistant will get it wrong and the boss will have to forage around and find the information himself. In CPU terms, "foraging around" means retrieving the information from RAM, or (worst case scenario) disk, while if it is "on the boss' desk", that is equivalent to it being in the CPU's cache. And if your computer is equipped with an SSD using Intel's "Smart Response Technology" or if your computer uses SSDs instead of hard disks, it may retrieve the data from the speedy SSD instead of reading from a slower hard disk.

So the days are long-gone when purchasing high-end expensive RAM actually makes a tangible difference to your computer's performance. As long as it meets the basic specifications that your chipset requires, there is not much to be gained by paying more. Some performance gains are possible from buying better RAM, but these days, most tests tend to show that such performance gains are minimal... far, far lower than you will get from adding more RAM (not necessarily faster RAM, just *more* RAM) or a faster CPU. This was not always the case. When the Pentium IV first came out thirteen years ago, it used a new type of RAM that had, at the time, very high bandwidth, but also very high latency. AMD's Athlon used traditional RAM with lower bandwidth and lower latency. Some types of applications (e.g. video and audio conversion) were very sensitive to bandwidth, but less sensitive to latency. These types of applications showed significant performance gains with the Pentium IV. Other applications (typically games and office applications) were more sensitive to latency and favored the Athlon.

Overall, this Crucial memory is a great buy! Don't overspend on memory just because a brand or model of memory touts better specifications. If you are a hardcore computer gamer with a $4000 gaming laptop, you may opt for faster high-end memory to complement your top-of-the-line CPU and graphics. But most people should focus far more on how compatible that memory's specifications are for your system because the differences between CL ratings are negligible if you are considering CL rating differences of 2 or 3, while using memory that is not correctly matched or compatible with your computer can cause a variety of problems.

After I removed the original Samsung 8-GB memory from my Y410P laptop and added these two Crucial SODIMM cards, I reran the Windows Experience Index benchmark and got the same WEI "Memory operations per second" score of 8.1 that I had with the Samsung memory. The WEI "Processor: Calculations per second" also remained unchanged at 8.1. This was not surprising considering that both the original Samsung memory and this Crucial memory have the same specifications.

I also purchased a single 8GB card of this same Crucial memory to upgrade my HP Chromebox, which comes equipped with only 2GB in its single memory slot. There is a lot of misleading information on the Internet stating the maximum memory that you can use in the HP Chromebox is 4GB. But that is incorrect since the HP Chromebox can fully use 8GB of memory. After I upgraded my HP Chromebox, the Memory Monitor app on its Chrome OS displayed the memory capacity as 7.9GB. 2GB of memory is sufficient for a Chromebook/Chromebox if you are just browsing with a few tabs open. But if you want to open up lots of tabs and run lots of apps, or if you plan to install Linux or Windows on your Chromebook/Chromebox, then adding more memory will help with performance.

Note that Crucial has two identical 16-GB 2x8GB kits with identical specifications, with each memory product having two different part numbers: CT2K8G3S160BM/CT2C8G3S160BM Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Mac Memory CT2K8G3S160BM , and CT2KIT102464BF160B/CT2CP102464BF160B Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory CT2KIT102464BF160B. CT2K8G3S160BM/CT2C8G3S160BM and CT2KIT102464BF160B/CT2CP102464BF160B are exactly the same memory cards, with the only difference being that the CT2K8G3S160BM/CT2C8G3S160BM product is packaged for Macs with the words "Mac Compatible" on the package. But all four of these part numbers are totally interchangeable because they contain identical memory cards. So if you determine that this is the right memory for your computer, just get whichever of these four Crucial part numbers is cheapest :-) I purchased the CT2K8G3S160BM/CT2C8G3S160BM on Amazon because it was $30 cheaper than the CT2KIT102464BF160B/CT2CP102464BF160B product listing at the time (of course, prices can vary each day). Both of these products are dual-voltage and can work in either 1.35V PC3L/DDR3L or 1.50V PC3/DDR3 memory slots. Both products are Mac-compatible, but they are also not Mac-specific or PC-specific, and they work equally well with PCs, Macs, and Chromebook/Chromebox.

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I installed this in my wife's MacBook Pro (mid 2012; non-retina; MacBookPro 9,2) . Very easy upgrade. No issues. Memory instantaneously recognized, no need for 'option command r p'. At the same time, I upgraded the HDD to Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRE5UE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top). With these 2 upgrades (and a fresh OS X 10.10 install) the computer is better than the day we bought it. Very highly recommended for Mac users. Another note: even though Apple claims 8GB being maximum amount of memory for this Mac, it can actually take 16 GB. I entertained that idea for a moment, but at this point 16 GB is a bit pricey. Very happy with the upgrade.

Fantastic! I can confirm this kit works fine with the new Late 2015 iMac 5k.

OMG. Best purchase I've EVERRRRR MADE. I have the 2012 Macbook Pro (without Retina, obviously)- the 13 inch version. I did a lot of research before buying this one. If your mac is SLOW, TRY THIS!!!! I would recommend the 8gb if you aren't a gamer. I got accepted into a Bachelor's Degree program (Nursing) and my mac isn't even a year old- it was really angering me how it would constantly freeze up. I knew if I didn't do something fast, I would be ripping my hair out in class just to keep up with powerpoints and everything else. The computer at 4gb memory was enough to make my life a living hell. A lot of times I wouldn't even crack it open to use because I DREADED dealing with how slow it would get. I did multiple factory resets and erased everything, started from scratch. I even added CleanMyMac3 app which helped a wee-bit, but some things are just unavoidable. Still, every 5 minutes or so, my 4gb memory got maxed out. It was ANNOYING. So I took the plunge and ordered this Crucial 8GB kit and I have the BIGGEST regret: NOT ORDERING IT A LONG TIME AGO! It's a plug-n-play kind of thing for me. Literally all I did was unscrew the screws from my housing case and popped the case off the back of my mac and easily spotted the old RAM cards. I popped those out and added the new 8GB cards. There's youtube videos on how to upgrade your RAM in Mac. Easy stuff! Just make sure you wash your hands and you use a phillips head screw driver that fits the screws on the outer part of the case. You shouldn't have to unscrew anything inside the mac as far as I'm aware of- not in my Mac version anyway. I'm a lady and technology isn't even my thing. If I can do it, you can do. Oh, after you wash and dry your hands to remove skin oils, touch a real metal surface to discharge any static electricity before you do the work on your mac so you don't short anything out. Also make sure your mac is TURNED COMPLETELY OFF and the charger is removed from it! Good stuff. Can't go wrong with this one! My mac experience is crazy fast now. WOAH! Also would like to point out that my Mac is compatible with DDR3 Ram, but it accepted this DDR3L version like it didn't know any difference so you should be fine! :)

Adding an additional data point, since as of Jan 2016, 16 GB DDR3 SODIMMs are still a relatively new entrant, and there are, understandably, concerns about compatibility: this works in a Thinkpad T450S.

The first stick was defective (system would recognize there was power, but would not even boot to BIOS), which was more difficult to confirm than usual, since I don't have another system that is known to work with memory of this density. After updating the BIOS, re-seating, and confirming that the existing 8 GB SODIMM worked (as a positive control), I asked Amazon for an exchange, which was, as expected, painless. The new stick worked (works) perfectly.

Great Memory. My system had a single 4 GB stick stick from the factory. I consider this minimal total memory. Adding this stick both doubled total memory and also allowed the memory system to run dual channel instead of single channel which gives about a 10% increase in system memory speed. This stick has high density chips which is a plus, because some computer systems need it to work properly.