Amount of RAM in my laptop

A Primal Nut

I bought a laptop second hand a couple of months ago, a Fujitsu Lifebook C1020. The guy who sold it says the RAM was 256 MB RAM and sure enough that's what it says when the computer starts up. But when I rightclick on My Computer and click properties it says 496 MB RAM under processor. So which is it? I just used Belerc adviser i think it's called, it's in the sticky here, to do an analysis of the system and it says 256 MB RAM under processor and in another section 496 MB installed memory. Is it possible there are two caches of 256 MB RAM installed, perhaps the original owner added another? Strange that he didn't say it as it would have increased the value. I'm particularly interested in the value of RAM which applies to system requirements for programs, although im also interested in what the difference is.

irlrobins

256Mb could be the processor cache. The 496 is the RAM. You have 512Mb installed and the missing 16Mb is used by the video card. It shares the system memory rather than having its own.

Stephen

The CPU cache would be 256KB rather than MB. Could the OP confirm which units it is listing?

irlrobins

agh, yes. Meant to point that out. Thanks S.