Stupid laptop RAM question

condra

Sorry about this -my brains not working- its broken.. I dont know shid about laptops or RAM. :mad:

I have 512 RAM in my recently bought Dell Inspiron 5160.
Im thinkin 1024 some time .- coupla dumbass questions. :rolleyes:

Im presuming theres 512 in one slot and another spare slot?- Any way I can check without opening it up?

Do I have to buy off dell? or is laptop RAM kinda standard? :cool:

How much is 512 RAM for a lappy this weather? :eek:

Nukem

SiSandra will tell ya(love that program) you should have a free slot but it may be 2*256 Ram, may have to get a 2*512 then,could sell your old RAM here then.

For prices have a look around but this is one place shop4memory.com
Check crucial and kingston as well and also make sure with a memory checker(all three of the sites have them)with your lappie (its a DELL remember)

Nukem

sceptre

womoma wrote:

Im presuming theres 512 in one slot and another spare slot?- Any way I can check without opening it up?

It's easy to open up and check if you're so inclined. The 5160 has two little doors on the bottom, each held with one captive screw. One holds your memory (and nothing else), the other has your wireless card. The memory one is marked with an M and is the bigger and more centrally placed one. The wireless card is in the door marked C for some reason. Few turns with a screw, no touching inside and you'll see.

As for how much pricewise, this'll give you an idea

steveland?

I was wondering the same thing with my Dell Latitude CPx (not sure of the model number)

It's only got 64mb of SDRAM in it so it's slow as hell (running XP... bad idea I suppose...)

Anyway I tried opening it up but i'm a little dodgy when it comes to opening things (always break stuff )

Anyway anyone know how to open up a Dell Latitude CPx cos I got all the screws out but then couldn't open it because it would involve "prying" bits apart which I'm scared to try...

condra

The 5160 has two little doors on the bottom, each held with one captive screw. One holds your memory

thanks sceptre- youre a gem- ill check it out.

It's only got 64mb of SDRAM

isnt that a pretty old machine, hardly worth upgrading?

condra

oh- another quick question if anyones interested- Im wondering about RAM versus Processor.
Im trying to figure out what each does and which is most impoirtant.

I have a 3.2 Ghz p4 and at the moment Im constantly running UD agent [analizing cancer cells for charity] which is taking up 50% of my processor power with no appearant effect on performance.

I get the impression RAM is what most newly bought PCs are lacking??..

steveland?

womoma wrote:

isnt that a pretty old machine, hardly worth upgrading?

About 5 years old... I have very little money so yeh it's worth upgrading

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.portables.co.uk/info_latitude_cpx.htm
Memory 2 x PC100 SDRAM Maximum 512Mb
though check the memory configurators.

Running XP on 64MB is like believing microsoft that windows 95 would work on 4MB - in both cases 4 times as much would be much better. Also battery life would be improved since less swapping to disk.

if you buy memory buy one big simm rather than two smaller ones if the price is anyway similar, that way you can add more later on.

XP licences cost a lot more than RAM..

reece

Dell usually screws you by going the cheap route - sticking 2 * 256meg chips into the laptop. This means if you want to upgrade to a gig and only have 2 slots then you've gotta throw away 2 * 256meg chips. Had to do this myself. Will know better next time if/when buying another Dell.

Ram V Processor - depends on what you're doing. Bump up the RAM as much as possible. The processor you've got sounds ok. If you're doing video / photshop editing then a fast processor comes in handy also

steveland?

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Also battery life would be improved since less swapping to disk.

Heh, don't think that matters since the battery falls out when i have it unplugged