more ram for laptop

Discussion in 'Mobile Technology' started by Jack858, Jun 17, 2006.

  1. Jack858

    Jack858 Geek Trainee

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    I'm very new to modding and would like to put more ram into my laptop. i currently have 512mb and want to upgrade to 1gb, is all i do insert another ram module? or is there any setup reqired?
    Thanks
     
  2. donkey42

    donkey42 plank

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    hi

    what are the specs of the laptop ?
    make & model too ?
     
  3. Jack858

    Jack858 Geek Trainee

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    hi

    Its a fujitsu siemens amilo d 3.06 GHz, 512mb ram, windows xp sp2, 512 mb graphics memory (ati) sorry, i have no idea of wot specs to give u!
    Thanks
     
  4. pelvis_3

    pelvis_3 HWF Member For Life

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    hi

    Upgrading memory in laptops thses days is usually very simple.
    There should be a small slot on the underside of your laptop which unscrews revealing an empty memory bank. Most laptops do have empty memory banks availabe, but some of these require the laptop to be dismantled to do it.
    Without knowing the exact model number of your laptop, we can't advise you on what RAM to buy though.
     
  5. donkey42

    donkey42 plank

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    hi

    yeah, we need an exact model number of your laptop
     
  6. Addis

    Addis The King

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    hi

    If in doubt, use a little program called [google]CPU-Z[/google] and use it to find the details of your current RAM. E.g. DDR 266, 333 or 400. Also, you can use it to see if you have a spare memory bank available.
     
  7. Jack858

    Jack858 Geek Trainee

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    hi

    ok, at the moment i have 2 banks, bith taken with 256 mb samsung modules, is made not sure if this is waht u mean (sorry) but the motherboard by uniwill model 257SAO. Please advise and thanks for the help, Jack
     
  8. donkey42

    donkey42 plank

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    hi

    sorry but if you only have 2 SODIMM slots and their both being used by 2 256Mb modules the only upgrade option open to you is:

    take out the 256Mb module and get (say a 512Mb module) and replace the 256Mb module, the other 256Mb is probably onboard (built in)
     
  9. Jack858

    Jack858 Geek Trainee

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    hi

    ok, i spoke to a technitian whi open up my laptop and found both are removable, and now im have 2gb of ram, yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy cheers guys

    JAck,

    Also off topic, now there are such high hard drive speeds, why do we even have ram? why not just use virtual memory? thaks
     
  10. donkey42

    donkey42 plank

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    hi

    yes HDD speeds are going up, perhaps one day we'll not use RAM but HDD's are still very very slow compared to RAM
     
  11. sabashuali

    sabashuali Ani Ma'amin

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    hi

    [ot]
    2GB RAM? On a laptop? Yieeeeks....
    What is this laptop doing? powering up Chernobyl?
    LOLOL...... :confused: :eek:hah:
    [/ot]
     
  12. zeus

    zeus out of date

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    hi

    Like its says under my name, (out of date!) When I was in date date anything above 1gb was considered to have a negative effect. I cant remember how this was so but is it still the case?
     
  13. Parachutes

    Parachutes Geek Trainee

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    hi

    I wouldn't see how having more RAM could ever have a negative effect, but as you say zeus, I'm out of date in all things hardware too. Thus my recent decision to visit HWF when I can. :)

    I don't know if this is possible, but relying too much on virtual memory (paging file, etc...) can possibly lead to bad sectors on your drive? I think that is why I've been having HDD problems lately, because it seems like my paging file is always getting used, despite having a decent amount of RAM for a 'clean' system (devoid of many start ups / spyware).

    Hard drives are definitely no where near the speed of RAM though, so that is basically why virtual memory can't be relied on as your primary memory source. You're system would be slower than an old 8088! :-P
     
  14. Big B

    Big B HWF Godfather

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    If the OS doesn't support the amount of RAM you have (ie. 12GB and run WinXP), the biggest negative would be that you'd have blown money on 2/3 of RAM you're not going to use.
    Windows 98 was optimized for 256MB and going over 512MB would slow things down---although this would have more to do with the programming of the OS.

    I'm not aware of higher virtual memory use leading to bad sectors, but the higher VM usage would lead to a more sluggish system, which can be compounded if you have a slow hard drive (i.e 4200RPM---it really sucks).
     

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