[REQ] Laptop Memory

Markjsca1

Hi,

I'm looking for anywhere to buy laptop memory on the cheap. More specifically i'm looking for 4Gb of DDR2 SODIMM 200 pin ram for a Dell M1330. I've found a few american websites (at about $175) but I'd sooner not pay customs etc importing it.

The cheapest i've found so far is memoryc.com which is working out at €256.

If i can't find it cheaper, it might be worthwhile paying customs and for shipping from the US.

Ruu_Old

Did you try Crucial.com?

Markjsca1

Just had a look there on crucial.com and it's coming out at 260 ex delivery. It's only a few euro more but memoryc.com is cheaper including delivery.

Thanks for the site recommendation tho ruu.

Darando

Might be worth the risk! a small package.

the_syco

shop4memory.com isn't much better, at €258. They do free delivery within Ireland.

dubtom

I thought the max any pc could use was 2 gig,am I wrong?

Ruu_Old

My motherboard can handle up to 8GB but it is the operating system that has the limitation (e.g XP 32bit will only recognise 2GB as far as I know).

TerrorFirmer

You'll only get 3Gb out of 32bit, you need 64bit OS to address more

fguihen

be very careful. Many pc's these days have intel chipsets, that limit the amount of useable ram to 3 gb. This is true of the New mac book's, and of many other laptops and pc's. apple seem to be the only company to come clean with this fact. Its known to happen when the pc uses the Intel 945PM chipset, but could happen with other chipsets. to quote a site:

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Although the Intel 945PM chipset can physically handle 4GB of DDR2 RAM, there is the potential for "memory overlap" when more than 3GB of RAM is installed.

a number of items that must be stored in physical RAM space, and when RAM reaches 4 GB, there is some overlap. In other words, in a 3 GB RAM configuration, there is no overlap with the memory ranges required for certain system functions. Between 3 GB and 4 GB, however, system memory attempts to occupy space that is already assigned to these functions.

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just check it out before buying something that is useless to you.

Markjsca1

The M1330 from dell is based on the santa rosa platform. Santa rosa is able to address the entire 4Gb of RAM. What i have found out about the santa rosa platform is that it can only handle 667Mhz RAM even though the core 2 duo processors associated with this system run at 800Mhz. So even if i bought the substantially more expensive 800Mhz RAM, the motherboard would just underclock it to 667Mhz anywho.

I plan on installing vista ultimate 64-bit onto this laptop when i get it. From what i've been reading on some US notebook forums, this system with the 64-bit OS is able to address the entire 4Gb of RAM.

I've been looking at some sites from the US that will ship internationally and ewiz.com appear to be cheap enough ($270 inc postage of $43). However they require international orders to pay by western union or wire transfer which i'm not too keen on...

Markjsca1

Sorry for the double post but I just though that I'd post my results for this search.

The cheapest option for me to get 4GB for my Dell is getting two off these from memoryc.com:

http://www.memoryc.com/products/description/2GB_A_Data_DDR2_667-PC2_5400-SO_DIMM_200_pin_module/index.html

It's working out at €227 inc delivery. Comparable to the US prices including delivery and don't have to worry about customs!