Upgrading RAM

Cfaherty

Hi I’m trying to choose a laptop for music production - one that can run Protools efficiently. Unfortunately I’m on a budget. It is recommended that a PC with 16 GB RAM is purchased but these are so expensive when you add all the the recommended specs like intel core i7, USB 3.1 ports and 500Gb SSD. Anyway I did come accross Dell Inspiron 15 (7000) that is just about within my budget. This laptop has all the recommended specs but 8 gb RAM but it says it can be upgraded to 32 gb. I was thinking of buying this pc and if there is not enough RAM, upgrading at a later date. Anyway as I don’t know a lot about computers I was looking for advice whether this is a good idea or not? I really don’t want to run in to problems down the road upgrading the RAM after spending so much on the laptop (it’s about €1100). Any advice is much appreciated!!

FishOnABike

What maximum memory it can take would depend on the exact model number - there seems to be a range of models in the inspiron 15 7000 range.

If it can take up to 32GB, you can buy 2x16GB online for €286 if you can install it yourself.

most laptops these days have only 1 ram slot, some still have 2.

the thing about ram is that it's fairly expensive at the moment

e.g. 1 x 8gb ddr4 sodimm is about 60 euro,

1 x 16gb sodimm is about 130 euro

if it says max 32gb ram then the laptop has 2 ram slots as there aren't 32gb sodimms around afaik. so if it came with 8gb then you'd only need to buy 1 more 1 x 8gb sodimm (sodimm is the ram stick size for laptops) for 60 euro or so. but if it had 8gb and only has 1 ram slot then you have to shell out 130 euro for a 1x 16 gb ram sodimm and the 8gb one in there is useless to you - you could maybe get 40 euro for it selling on adverts.

I guess for that software if it can use more than 1 core then you should be looking at an i5 chip that has 4-cores. pro tools does use more than 1 core I have confirmed. so it's very important for you to get a 4-core cpu laptop for decent performance.

like the 8 series i5 u laptop chips e..g 8250u chip or later.

make sure that the laptop you're getting has a 4 core chip. the 8 series i5 and later have 4 cores. no i3 chips have 4 cores, they only have 2.
note the 7 series i5 or i7 only have 2 cores e.g. i5 7200u

so a 4-core i5 is your best bet. no need to pay extra for the i7

lastly you'll want to make sure that the laptop has an ssd type hard-drive as that's a lot faster than the older spinning hd. if the storage is not described as ssd (it will say just hd) then it's not an ssd.

this laptop for 599 will do the job.
it has the 4-core cpu, fast ssd drive, a nice quality full hd ips screen and is fairly light. 14 inch screen is not that much smaller than 15.6 as it's measured on the diagonal (i.e. not a big difference)
https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-14-ce0501sa-14-intel-core-i5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-silver-10184651-pdt.html#srcid=11026

it has 8gb ram. 1 slot
this 1x16gb sodimm will bring you up to 16gb if needed. for less than 130 euro
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT16G4SFD824A-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin-x/dp/B019FRBHZ0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1546795720&sr=8-4&keywords=16gb+sodimm

you could maybe get 50 euro for the 1x8gb sodimm inside your laptop selling second hand going by what is being offered on adverts so that would be a net cost of €80 to get up to 16gb ram

there is no need to spend 1100 on that dell - this will offer the same performance and you could have it up to 16g ram for less than €700 total.

Cfaherty

Thanks for that help Glasso. One of the minimum requirement is 500mb SSD storage but the HP Pavilion only has 254mb, do you think this would cause problems or Can this be upgraded?

glasso wrote: »

this laptop for 599 will do the job.
it has the 4-core cpu, fast ssd drive, a nice quality full hd ips screen and is fairly light. 14 inch screen is not that much smaller than 15.6 as it's measured on the diagonal (i.e. not a big difference)
https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-14-ce0501sa-14-intel-core-i5-laptop-256-gb-ssd-silver-10184651-pdt.html#srcid=11026

it has 8gb ram. 1 slot
this 1x16gb sodimm will bring you up to 16gb if needed. for less than 130 euro
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT16G4SFD824A-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin-x/dp/B019FRBHZ0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1546795720&sr=8-4&keywords=16gb+sodimm

you could maybe get 50 euro for the 1x8gb sodimm inside your laptop selling second hand going by what is being offered on adverts so that would be a net cost of €80 to get up to 16gb ram

there is no need to spend 1100 on that dell - this will offer the same performance and you could have it up to 16g ram for less than €700 total.

mordeith

Cfaherty wrote: »

Thanks for that help Glasso. One of the minimum requirement is 500mb SSD storage but the HP Pavilion only has 254mb, do you think this would cause problems or Can this be upgraded?

What exactly are you going to be working with in your productions? 16GB is crazy unless you're talking 20 plus audio tracks layered with VST effects and instruments

yes you could upgrade the storage later but I'd see how you get on with the internal drive. you'd have over 200gb free after taking windows into account.

the reason they recommend 500gb is if you have a large amount of sample audio files.

but even at flac (the highest quality compressed audio) a cd is 300mb so that is space for over 600 cds of sample audio

with mp3 320 you'd be looking at over double that again.

also with the ram if you don't really need 16gb, try the laptop first with 8gb.

8gb is recommended for the software as far as I can see on the web - except where you'd be using a lot of plugins where 12/16gb is good.

for specifics on the storage there will be a free 2.5 inch space free (as the provided ssd drive is an m.2 stick so the 2.5 inch bay is available) where you could add another sata 2.5 inch ssd for cheap. e.g. 240gb for 35 euro or 480gb for 60 euro.

Cfaherty

Thanks a mil, that’s really great help!

glasso wrote: »

yes you could upgrade the storage later but I'd see how you get on with the internal drive. you'd have over 200gb free after taking windows into account.

the reason they recommend 500gb is if you have a large amount of sample audio files.

but even at flac (the highest quality compressed audio) a cd is 300mb so that is space for over 600 cds of sample audio

with mp3 320 you'd be looking at over double that again.

also with the ram if you don't really need 16gb, try the laptop first with 8gb.

8gb is recommended for the software as far as I can see on the web - except where you'd be using a lot of plugins where 12/16gb is good.

for specifics on the storage there will be a free 2.5 inch space free (as the provided ssd drive is an m.2 stick so the 2.5 inch bay is available) where you could add another sata 2.5 inch ssd for cheap. e.g. 240gb for 35 euro or 480gb for 60 euro.

hopefully that item is still in stock - deal items can go out of stock there but should be ok hopefully. some people on this forum have bought the exact item there recently and seem happy with it.