Dell 1501 w/1 Gig RAM and Vista Premium

[Agentbolt]

Grabbed an Inspiron 1501 off the Dell Outlet for 536 bucks tax and shipping included. I thought I'd gotten a relatively decent deal, but then as I was looking at the specs again (after I bought it of course) I realized it's only got a gig of RAM.

Just wondering, if this thing going to be useable? It's for a friend, she'll only be using it for web surfing, emails, looking at photos, the basic non power user stuff. It's got an X1150 video card which I believe also steals some of the RAM, and since it's Vista Premium, Aero will probably be taxing that video card.

Has anyone had any experience with this setup before? If she's going to be crawling with that much RAM then I'll have to buy a 1 gig stick and hope 1.5 gigs will be enough, since it's in 2 DIMMS getting her up to 2 is going to be too expensive to be worth it. I'm hoping that since she doesn't game, edit videos, or do anything more stressful than ocasionally watch DVDs on it, that 1 gig maybe won't seem like molasses going uphill in January.

Thanks for insight!

 

[kainlongshot]

My advice? Get the 2 gigs. Vista will run ok with 1 gig. I really can't get a good idea of what kind of threshold you have for slow. If it means just surfing the net and word processing then yeah, it would work. DVD playback will be so so. Contrary to what people believe Vista does run with 1 gig of ram. I personally feel it is still slow and a 2 gig upgrade definitely curbs the slowness by far. Hope that sheds some light. If it hurts that much, why not format and go xp?

 

[JustaGeek]

I had to make it 2GB on my laptop, running 32-bit Vista Home Premium.

With 1GB only, the memory would be 90% full all the time.

 

[ajemm]

As I'm typing this on my Gateway M-6816 with Vista Home Premium, I'm using 769 MB:shocked:. The only things I have open are IE7 and the Task Manager. If you can afford it, get the 2 gigs.

 

[zig3695]

yeah... well as much as people love to hate on vista installs with 1gig of ram, its amazing to me how well it actually runs. been using a 1501 since april with vista hp and 1gig of shared ram (256 for video). i use ms office 07, streets and trips, google earth, video, music, and uh, everything basically with no problems. sometimes a little slow, yes, but its not my desktop and i really never notice the speed difference anyway. couldnt be further from unbearable like most say it is.... just dont multitask too bad and youll be fine.

 

[iseestars]

I also have no problems, running Vista Ultimate on my Acer. It's a core duo (not even core 2) and 1GB ram. I did upgrade to 2GB and there was a noticable improvement, but it still ran pretty well with just 1GB. I read a trick on another forum that you can do is to turn off sidebar if it's running slow. That seemed to help a lot for movies/games when I tried them.

For general purpose office/web use 1GB should do fine. Just don't open AIM, Yahoo messenger, MSN, skype, gizmo, ICQ, etc... all at once and you'll be fine. The same rules that applied with XP or any OS apply with Vista. The more you run the slower your machine will go. People max out their machines and toss all kinds of bloatware and spyware on and then blame it on the operating system. People still do that with XP (say their computer is slow when really they just have loads of useless junk on it). Now they're just citing a new operating system as the cause.

I notice 0 difference in speed between XP and Vista with 1GB or more ram. 2GB will make it faster regardless of the OS so it couldn't hurt to do that.

The only times I noticed it slowing down was trying to do video stuff with the sidebar open. Turn that off, and you've basically got XP. Just my take on it. I find it kind of funny, kind of sad how people complain about Vista and ignore the fact that you can turn off the fancy features and be left with a more stable XP, plus with a quick search in the start menu, which is darn cool.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: iseestars
I find it kind of funny, kind of sad how people complain about Vista and ignore the fact that you can turn off the fancy features and be left with a more stable XP, plus with a quick search in the start menu, which is darn cool.

But the idea behind the brand new OS is those "fancy features", isn't it...?

Just add the extra gig, and use it to its full potential.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: kainlongshot
My advice? Get the 2 gigs. Vista will run ok with 1 gig. I really can't get a good idea of what kind of threshold you have for slow...

Exactly!

I refurb'ed my bosses dinosaur, doorstop, home PC last month.

His 20MB Western Digital HD puked, and he wanted me to install a new HD and XP...

His machine had a 600MHz AMD slot 1 CPU with 128MB RAM and a Voodoo video card.

LoL! Am I putting you to sleep yet? ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz... 😀

To make a long story short, yes, XP Home ran fine on his 600MHz AMD with 128MB RAM, but it was S-L-O-W, especially at start-up -- however, it did run!

And, my boss hasn't complained about ANY slowness since I returned it to him... hello?!?!?

I guess his 'threshold' is pretty low!!!

Thus, while Vista WILL run fine on 1GB (that's the official spec actually) I wouldn't be happy, I'm sure... 😉

 

[zig3695]

winxp pro on a 400mhz celery processor with 256mb ram runs skype all day long just fine.... 😉

 

[Rottie]

If you decide to upgrade to 2GB memory it won't cost you too much...I bought Patriot (I don't like brand name but it works great) 2 x 1GB for 90 buck.

 

[Pabster]

RAM is so cheap now it really isn't an issue. $536 for a 1501 shipped is a good deal for sure.

Vista runs just fine with 1GB.

 

[Skeeedunt]

I ran Vista for a month or so with 1GB and didn't really have any problems. Of course, that's with a clean install; if you leave on all the preinstalled crap that could push it over the edge. That being said, you can a 1 gig stick for $30, and 1.5GB should be more than plenty for email/web/basic stuff.

 

[JustaGeek]

Yes, you CAN run Vista with 1GB of RAM.

And you can run XP with 256MB.

The question is - WHY?

Do you really want to limit yourself and the OS to the basic features...?

So he spends $536, and now you guys are trying to save him extra 60 bucks for the significant performance improvement...?

Patriot's 2GB PC2-4200 (533MHz) Non-ECC Unbuffered SODIMM kit

$59.99
http://shop1.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG


OP - make your pick.

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Thus, while Vista WILL run fine on 1GB (that's the official spec actually) I wouldn't be happy, I'm sure... 😉

If people don't know any better, they won't be bothered by it. I've seen it time and time again, and not just with computers either. Like the fella above me said, 2GB for $60 is very do-able, in fact I did that just a month ago, and I got 667mhz memory too. Just give her the laptop and take it up to 2GB if it bothers her, but (assuming she even notices) chances are she won't care enough to do anything about it.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
[Just give her the laptop and take it up to 2GB if it bothers her, but (assuming she even notices) chances are she won't care enough to do anything about it.

LoL!

Got a problem with women, do 'we'? :laugh:

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
Just give her the laptop and take it up to 2GB if it bothers her, but (assuming she even notices) chances are she won't care enough to do anything about it.

LoL!

Got a problem with women, do 'we'? :laugh:

No it's not just women, old people are notorious for being able to put up with anything because it's good enough and works for them, but it's not just limited to these groups either. If a person, regardless of age or whatever, doesn't realize what they're familiar with is slow or even unbearable by others' standards, they won't be bothered by it, simply because they don't know what they're missing. You just can't be irritated by a problem you don't know exists. I mean, my room mate, a college-aged male, is perfectly happy playing Call of Duty 1 on his laptop with GMA 950. In fact, he thinks it's great, and loves it.

 

[zig3695]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
Yes, you CAN run Vista with 1GB of RAM.

And you can run XP with 256MB.

The question is - WHY?

Do you really want to limit yourself and the OS to the basic features...?

So he spends $536, and now you guys are trying to save him extra 60 bucks for the significant performance improvement...?

Patriot's 2GB PC2-4200 (533MHz) Non-ECC Unbuffered SODIMM kit

$59.99
http://shop1.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG


OP - make your pick.

good price. its still $60 though, cheap for ram but money to most, but at least that way you can sell the two 512mb sticks that come with the 1501's and get almost half that back.

ADD- the way i see it, my p4 2.6ghz htpc machine was struggling with what it needed to run (windows media center) on 1gb, while my dual core 1501 laptop seems everybit as fast as my desktop does (2.4ghz opteron 2GB ram) turning off the sidebar helps dramatically, but other then that i honestly dont feel left out with 1gb of ram on the 1501. when i bought the laptop i "knew" i needed 2gb, but its been running so well the past 6 months that i forgot it only has one.

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: zig3695

ADD- the way i see it, my p4 2.6ghz htpc machine was struggling with what it needed to run (windows media center) on 1gb, while my dual core 1501 laptop seems everybit as fast as my desktop does (2.4ghz opteron 2GB ram) turning off the sidebar helps dramatically, but other then that i honestly dont feel left out with 1gb of ram on the 1501. when i bought the laptop i "knew" i needed 2gb, but its been running so well the past 6 months that i forgot it only has one.

I understand entirely, I would have stuck with 1GB myself, but my shared memory was being used up too quickly when I'd run Generals, 1GB to 2 meant the difference between med-low settings and med-high. I did just fine with Google Earth, DVDs, multiple IE windows, you name it, and only had problems once I started playing Generals.

I don't personally know how Vista is with 1GB, but from what I hear, it seems to handle a lot like XP with 512MB unless you turn stuff off like you're saying. And that comes back to my original point, my folks had 512 on their main machine for several years, and it only got taken up to 768 last year because I found a stick of DDR for free after rebate, they just didn't use it hard enough to ever run into problems. In my experience, most people never use their computers to the same levels your typical ATer does, they never know how "slow" their machine is just because they never tax it that much. And like I said above, even if they do push it beyond what it should be used for, they usually don't realize just how slow it is since that's the way it has always been for them.

 

[zig3695]

yeah games are different story. and the sidebar is nice actually... its not a waste of money to go 2gb if thats what were all sayin then. i know for $60 its worth it to me, i just gotta acquire that cash first😉

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
Just give her the laptop and take it up to 2GB if it bothers her, but (assuming she even notices) chances are she won't care enough to do anything about it.

LoL!

Got a problem with women, do 'we'? :laugh:

No it's not just women, old people are notorious for being able to put up with anything because it's good enough and works for them, but it's not just limited to these groups either...

The thing is, your opinion of women (and old ppl) is based on YOUR experience with them, yes?

YOU might have the problem, not THEM....

For instance, one of my sisters drives a 10-yard diesel dump truck for a living, owns a Viper, a Harley Sportster, and drinks White Russians at 6:00 O'Clock in the morning.

If you said something like that to her, she'd kick your a** in a heartbeat! Really. I've seen it happen... 😀

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
Just give her the laptop and take it up to 2GB if it bothers her, but (assuming she even notices) chances are she won't care enough to do anything about it.

LoL!

Got a problem with women, do 'we'? :laugh:

No it's not just women, old people are notorious for being able to put up with anything because it's good enough and works for them, but it's not just limited to these groups either...

The thing is, your opinion of women (and old ppl) is based on YOUR experience with them, yes?

YOU might have the problem, not THEM....

For instance, one of my sisters drives a 10-yard diesel dump truck for a living, owns a Viper, a Harley Sportster, and drinks White Russians at 6:00 O'Clock in the morning.

If you said something like that to her, she'd kick your a** in a heartbeat! Really. I've seen it happen... 😀

There's exceptions to every rule, I won't try to deny that. What I'm saying is that in general women and old people don't care about having leet computers nearly as much as our demographic. Oh and 😛 for the generalization, you knew what I meant in the first place.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: ADDAvenger
There's exceptions to every rule, I won't try to deny that. What I'm saying is that in general women and old people don't care about having leet computers...

I see!

What demo are you in?

We call it l33t... :roll:

I'm guessing late 30-ish!

 

[Slammy1]

Like it or not he has a point, though not about women and old people. I hear it all of the time. "My P3 does everything I want it to do, why would I upgrade?" "Dial up is fine for what I do, why would I want more?" People don't know what they don't know, that's the way of things. Course, it's not limited to any particular segment, even otherwise very tech oriented people fall into it.

My Core Duo lappy and 1GB and Vista Home is fine so long as I don't tax it too much. Upconverting DVDs is very frustrating, so I'm sure I'll upgrade the memory before long. Regular DVD playback is fine, haven't done any gaming on it aside from cards. Only thing to make me nervous is the memory retainer clip, not like a desktop's...

 

[Ruptga]

Vin, I'm 19, tyvm 😛

Slammy, I originally had a 1gig with my T2300, laptop memory is nothing to fret about, in fact it's easier to replace than the desktop variety, imo. There's two little metal retainers, one on each side, you bend them out, memory pops up, take it out and put in new memory at ~45 degree angle, push new memory down until the clips click into place, and that's really all there is to it. You won't have to push hard at all, unlike some full-size DIMMs I've worked with before.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Slammy1
Like it or not he has a point, though not about women and old people. I hear it all of the time. "My P3 does everything I want it to do, why would I upgrade?" "Dial up is fine for what I do, why would I want more?"

Yes, to point one! I still hear this myself, however...

To point two: I *think* ppl are finally getting it!

The web has pretty much forced them to go to broadband... or at least SERIOUSLY contemplate it!

I don't know anybody that's happy with fax/modems, except in special situations, where they're a lifesaver...