3 GB of memory in notebook

[madmickey]

.I recently bought a Toshiba A200 notebook (vista home premium 32 with 2 GB PH PC2-5300 DDR2 ram running a T-7250 Intel duo centrino processor. It has a Radeon 2650 M video card 256MB. I do no plan to run anything more than stately games on it. Is it worth getting more Ram? I have seen notebook with 3 GB ram is their any advantages to an extra GB of ram. I have a bought a 2gb for $35 Canadian and do not know if I should return it, Is it not wise to have equal amount of ram in each slot?

 

[Jeff7181]

Realistically I don't think it's going make much difference, but for $35... why not?

 

[Blazer7]

I've upgraded 2 Acer 5920G to 4GB (the OS sees only 3GB - Vista Home Premium 32bit) and both users reported that the extra mem did had an impact. Loading times improved and HD seems to work far less. I've used G.Skill?s F2-6400CL5D-4GBSQ dual channel kit and it worked like a charm. Because of chipset limitations the 5920G could only run the mems up to 667. Despite the fact that the G.Skills do not have an SPD profile for 667 they did downclock at that speed and are working flawlessly. With mem prices so low you should definitely go for it.

 

[madmickey]

I am such a klutz i will have to be careful about installing.

 

[Yellowbeard]

More memory in a notebook is ALWAYS a good idea IMO.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
More memory in a notebook is ALWAYS a good idea IMO.

It sure can't hurt.

Originally posted by: madmickey
I am such a klutz i will have to be careful about installing.

All you have to do is pick the right mem for your notebook. IMHO Installing mem in a notebook is much easier than doing so in a desktop.

 

[Yellowbeard]

Originally posted by: Blazer7
All you have to do is pick the right mem for your notebook. IMHO Installing mem in a notebook is much easier than doing so in a desktop.

I think those people that have never removed a keyboard from their notebook might disgree. It's not hard but you do have be more careful than when simply removing a side panel on a desktop case.

 

[Blazer7]

Although I understand your point I have to disagree. IMO removing a notebook keyboard is much harder than replacing/adding memory. In 3 of the last 5 mem upgrades I performed within the last 2 months (2 x Hp + 1 x Toshiba notebooks) all I had to do was remove a single screw. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to do that, right ? Of course things were a bit more complicated with the Acers as I had to remove more than 7 screws to get to the mem. That's because the 5920G do not have a ?dedicated? mem cover like most notebooks but instead they have 1 cover that grants you access to everything, mem, cpu, VGA, HD etc.

On the other hand when opening a desktop you have to be careful of the various cables, heatsinks, cards etc. IMO it is much easier to damage something in a desktop than in a notebook but of course this is just my opinion.

The bottom line is that if someone is careful, replacing/adding mem in a notebook is simple enough.

 

[madmickey]

Does it matter which slot (top or bottom) you put the memory? By the way how does the 2 processor acces the Ram since they are not equal amounts. The Toshiba has an easy memory opening.

 

[starfireone]

Installing more memory is the most effective way of gaining better performance in a laptop. Yes add the memory. Don't worry how it is going to be used. Vista will take care of how to best use the available ram you have installed. Vista 32 bit can handle up to 4 gb.

 

[Blazer7]

Originally posted by: starfireone
Installing more memory is the most effective way of gaining better performance in a laptop. Yes add the memory. Don't worry how it is going to be used. Vista will take care of how to best use the available ram you have installed.

In general I agree with this. You can?t go wrong with adding more mem to a notebook.

Originally posted by: starfireone
Vista 32 bit can handle up to 4 gb.

AFAIK this is not 100% accurate. Vista 32 will show 4GB if you have 4GB installed but will still access only ~3.2GB. You?ll need to upgrade to Vista 64 if you want to access the full 4GB.