Can I use 16 GB RAM with my MacBook Pro 7,1? I just picked up 16GB of RAM for my MacBook Pro, running the newest OS X. According to the NewEgg reviews, it should work in it. However, once I boot up, it shows the Apple logo and, after a few seconds, the spinner just freezes.

If I boot into my Windows 7 partition, it lists 16GB as installed, and 15.7GB available. Why, then, is OS X not recognizing it?

I've tried each of the sticks themselves (1x8GB), and OS X still freezes. The RAM came as 2x8GB and are PC3-10600 @ 1333 MHz.

I've tried holding D as the computer boots, but it just gray screens for a while, then jumps to the Apple logo.

It seems to me that 16GB may not work, but why then does the same hardware, just Windows 7 successfully run?
Your Mac needs to meet specific criteria for this to work. In the case of the 2010 Macs, here’s what you must have:

a Mac mini (Mid-2010), a MacBook (Mid-2010) or a 13” MacBook Pro (Mid-2010)
Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later
the latest EFI firmware update for your system
the proper specification memory modules


See Certain 2010 MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models join the ’16GB’ MaxRAM club for details.
You will need (2x8GB) 16GB DDR3-1066MHz SODIMM. Anything faster like a DDR3-1333MHz or DDR3-1600MHHz SODIMM will fail to boot the machine.