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Need help buying memory for my laptop

S

scoobyx13x

Member
I have this laptop:
http://www.gateway.com/home/products/ret/ret_7330GZ.shtml

P4 3.04ghz, 512mb ram, 80gb hdd.

CPUZ shows that it has 1 512mb stick of pc2700 2.5 CAS Latency in it, as the website says.

Do I have to buy pc2700 speed memory for it to work in my laptop?

Now, the big question:
I want to do photoshop work on this machine while traveling. According to the website, 1.5gb is the most memory that it can support. However, I recall hearing somewhere that mis-matching memory quantities is not good (512+1gb) because it slows the system down. Would I be better off just getting a 512mb stick and putting that in?

I found this stick 1gb stick at Newegg for $108:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145068

and this 512 stick for $42.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820221204

Thanks for any help
 
It can only take up to PC2700. You CAN buy higher rated RAM, but it will only run at 2700.

2nd. That only applies to dual channel systems. 1.5GB should be fine.
 
I have 1.5 in my T-42 and it runs PS nice and fast/smooth. - and simms is correct, you can get pc3200, pc3500 or whatever but it'll throttle down to 2700 in your notebook. - if you want to be absolutely sure the mem stick is going to work in your particular machine go to Crucial.com or another mem manuf of your choice and use their search utility that'll give you an exact match. Sometimes buying from NewEgg or other sites like that will leave you w/ a stick that for some reason isn't compatible that you'll just have to return.
 
thanks guys 🙂

My system isnt listed at Crucials web site 🙁

I think Im going to go with exactly what is in there, I have bad enough luck with computers without addiding more potential issues lol
 
Funny that you mention that. I DID check the chipset at Intel and was very curious about the 1.5 limitation myself.

Problem is, without disassembling the chassis, I can't tell if the 512 in there is in one stick or is somehow fixed, because the expansion slot on the bottom is only one empty slot.
CPUZ does report stick 1 as being in slot one, so I dont know if that is just the way it reports things or if it really is in one slot.

I'm very tempted to open it up and check...

And Gateway couldnt be assed to even include premade restore discs, I had to make them myself. So I doubt they bothered screwing with the BIOS ;p
 
the other slot is usually located infront under the keyboard if there only one slot on the back side. avoid high density memory and you should be fine. there no problem buying higher rated memory.
 
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