Low RAM on laptop

esperanza

I only have 256 Megabytes of RAM on my laptop and with all the applications I need for my job, I need to either buy a new laptop or increase the RAM. How can I do the latter? Is it possible to do with laptops, i know with pcs it's not a problem.

secret_squirrel

Generally its possible. It does depend on your laptop though. you should also bear in mind that if you have a pair of dimms already in there then you might have to sacrifice them to put a bigger pair in.

Try www.shop4memory.ie or kingston.co.uk they both have laptop memory configurators which will tell you what you need.

Depending on the make you may actually have a small cover on the underside of the laptop that is held on by one or two screws and will have a memory icon on it. If you have one, taking that off will reveal whether you have room for more memory.

esperanza

secret_squirrel wrote:

Generally its possible. It does depend on your laptop though. you should also bear in mind that if you have a pair of dimms already in there then you might have to sacrifice them to put a bigger pair in.

Try www.shop4memory.ie or kingston.co.uk they both have laptop memory configurators which will tell you what you need.

Depending on the make you may actually have a small cover on the underside of the laptop that is held on by one or two screws and will have a memory icon on it. If you have one, taking that off will reveal whether you have room for more memory.

thanks for your reply. I have a toshiba satellite 1410-604. it's a few years old.

secret_squirrel

There ya go.
Depending on whether you have 1 slot free you either can get another 256Mb or 2x256Mb to give you a max of 512.

esperanza

secret_squirrel wrote:

There ya go.
Depending on whether you have 1 slot free you either can get another 256Mb or 2x256Mb to give you a max of 512.

thanks for that. see that i can only increase memory to 512Mo.. well, better than nothing, i suppose. how much of a difference would it make? Will my applications run quicker?

Buzz_Irl

yes - even going to 384 would make a difference

512 is the minimum but it should run fine with that - you should make sure you have the least amount of resident programmes - u can see these by looking at the bottom right hand screen (if xp) or <Start> <Run> <services>

secret_squirrel

It depends what OS you are running. If you are running XP you will see the least improvement since XP is the most memory hungry. In fact 512Mb realistically the minimum I would run using XP.

If you are using W2K then its slightly less memory hungry than XP and will zip along happily in 512Mb.

Looking at the prices on shop4 memory its pretty much a no-brainer if you have 50-60 quid lying about.

esperanza

thanks for the info. I have windows xp professional. for me resident programs/tools onthe botton RHS i have avast, gmail notifier and kerio personal firewall.

perhaps it's time to invest in a new laptop, as i also only have the celeron processor.

WexCan

esperanza wrote:

thanks for the info. I have windows xp professional. for me resident programs/tools onthe botton RHS i have avast, gmail notifier and kerio personal firewall.

perhaps it's time to invest in a new laptop, as i also only have the celeron processor.

See if you can scab some memory from someone else, see how it runs, and make your decision then. New laptop would prob be a good idea, but if it works ok with the extra mem you might be able to put it off for a while.

lolo2

It might speed you up slightly if you turn off the nice default graphic effects of windows xp, they dont really do anything cept look pretty but will slow you down considerably.

Right click anywhere on your desktop - choose properties.
On the "Theme" tab choose "Windows Classic"
On the "Appearance" tab, choose "Effects" - turn all of these off.

Right click "My Computer" and choose properties.
On the advanced tab, under Performance, click settings and choose "Adjust for best performance" on the visual tab.