Should I upgrade ram from 768MB to 2 GB ?

[Scottie]

I have a laptop Intel P M 1.7 Ghz it has 768MB of ram in it now, should I upgrade to 2 GB or just leave it? I don't use it much other then MSN IM and web browsing but ram is so cheap right now.

[Silver Bullet]

Depends what type of ram it uses and if you can get it cheap. I've seen 1GB modules for less than $30, in that case maybe going to 1.5GB would be a good idea. You probably have a 256MB + 512MB stick, so you might want to replace the 256MB stick with a 1GB stick.

[Scottie]

Depends what type of ram it uses and if you can get it cheap. I've seen 1GB modules for less than $30, in that case maybe going to 1.5GB would be a good idea. You probably have a 256MB + 512MB stick, so you might want to replace the 256MB stick with a 1GB stick.

I saw on a thread they have 1 GB stick for like $19 do you think 1.5 GB would be good?

[Silver Bullet]

Should be more than enough.

[willy]

Your notebook uses DDR2, right ?

[Amourek]

Simple way to determine how much RAM you need. Fire up the most intensive task(s) that you do, open up the task manager and check your PF usage. If it exceeds the amount of RAM you have, then more will help. If not, then you'd be throwing your money away.

[stormy13]

Just remember you need SO-DIMM sticks.

[rabbit]

If it's cheap, I would do it (2GB). Once RAM gets obsolete, it is $$$$$. You can't go wrong with lots of RAM.

[hytong]

Memory, Pages/Sec - this is one of the most misunderstood measures.
A high value for this counter does not necessarily imply that your performance bottleneck is shortage of RAM. The operating system uses the paging system for purposes other than swapping pages due to memory over commitment.

Memory, Pages Output/Sec - this shows how many virtual memory pages were written to the pagefile to free RAM page frames for other purposes each second.
This is the best counter to monitor if you suspect that paging is your performance bottleneck. Even if Committed Bytes is greater than the installed RAM, if Pages Output/sec is low or zero most of the time, there is not a significant performance problem from not enough RAM.

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555223/en-us

[Zertz]

Pentium M's use DDR, no? If so, the upgrade isn't worth it, DDR is expensive.

[Desolatax]

Pentium M's use DDR, no? If so, the upgrade isn't worth it, DDR is expensive.

Depends on the Chipset, some use DDR and some use DDR2. I think the T43's use DDR2, they are only Pentium M cpu's

[Scottie]

Your notebook uses DDR2, right ?

yes

[Deals Deals Deals]

Definitely upgrade. Ram is so cheap now. You will see the difference when you close windows, minimize windows, open programs, etc.

[akbar_k]

Don't upgrade. You won't notice anything. Cook your sweetheart a lovely meal and relax at home. You'll feel better.

[jadoocian]

yeah im thinking if you only use it for email/MSN etc... it won't really benefit...

[aimfox]

no u dont need taht much

[st7860]

unless you run only ONE thing at a time and do not have MSN, ICQ, SKYPE, outlook, etc AND an antivirus loaded, boosting it to 1.5 or 2.0 will make a big difference.

[Desolatax]

unless you run only ONE thing at a time and do not have MSN, ICQ, SKYPE, outlook, etc AND an antivirus loaded, boosting it to 1.5 or 2.0 will make a big difference.
I agree with you. Even with light surfing, MSN, listening to music or whatever, on top of all the services that you are running in the background. With the price of ram right now, why not, 1GB of DDR2 SODIMM is dirt cheap right now. Especially if you wanted to load vista onto it, 1.5GB will be a significant increase over 768mb. Do it.

[Scottie]

thank you, the store that sells the ram cheap is about 1.5 hours away thats the only thing stopping me now.

[Deals Deals Deals]

You have two ram slots right? If the max for your computer is 2GB, I would upgrade to 1GB X 2, then you won't have to worry about the speed since that is the max speed.

[akbar_k]

MSN, web browsing, listening to music, running an antivirus, running skype, aim, and other shovelware that ships with your PC will NOT require more than 768 MB of RAM. You are wasting your money, and time (the store is 1.5h away). If you foresee yourself doing more with this PC in the future, then it's a different story. People here are into upgrading and spending money on stuff they don't need; bear that in mind.

[st7860]

I agree with you. Even with light surfing, MSN, listening to music or whatever, on top of all the services that you are running in the background. With the price of ram right now, why not, 1GB of DDR2 SODIMM is dirt cheap right now. Especially if you wanted to load vista onto it, 1.5GB will be a significant increase over 768mb. Do it.

+1

[rogeryen]

I don't see a reason to spend $40 dollars on 2GB of SODIMMS if you don't need it. And I don't think performance is gonna have a lot of difference if you install vista(don't think you are) on the Pentium M...it's still gonna be hella slow.

Plus 1.5 hour away, there goes 30 dollars for gas, so in total you're spending at least $70 for RAM on a Pentium M.

But looking from your post, you sounded like you got extra cash and you want to spend it, then sure go for it.

[st7860]

768 megs will be slow thats because you need a swap file

[onecoolloser]

Do it..take advantage of low RAM prices

[Zertz]

Just buy it online, you'll most likely get a better price and shipping is going to cost less than a 1.5 hour drive.

[cliff]

if your machine takes the cheap ram then max it out. I've got 4G (3.x useable in the macbook) was something less then $80, cheep in my books.

but only 1.5G in the desktop because the ram for it is still hasn't crashed in price. Both are adequate, but I'd like more in the desktop.

[canadiancynosure]

Some of these replies are garbage.

768mb of memory is MORE then sufficient for what you are doing with your system unless you are running Vista.

Save your money and use it towards a new system down the road.

[st7860]

if your machine takes the cheap ram then max it out. I've got 4G (3.x useable in the macbook) was something less then $80, cheep in my books.

but only 1.5G in the desktop because the ram for it is still hasn't crashed in price. Both are adequate, but I'd like more in the desktop.

you are right. 768 megs of ram is not sufficient regardless of whether you are using XP or vista.

[Desolatax]

Some of these replies are garbage.

768mb of memory is MORE then sufficient for what you are doing with your system unless you are running Vista.

Save your money and use it towards a new system down the road.

One question for everyone who is saying not to upgrade. How much RAM do you have in you laptops/desktops?

I have 2GB in my Macbook Pro (2x1GB for $50) and 4GB in my desktop (2x2GB for $80)

Even if you plan on selling your laptop any time soon, the specs make it seem better with 2GB because it has been maxed out with ram, more likely to sell too, and if you don't sell it, in a few years you could get your money back on CL by selling this RAM once it has gone the way of DDR ($100 for 1GB stick of DDR SODIMM RAM right now!)

[billccwu]

I agree that you won't notice a significant difference unless you decide to run memory intensive applications later down the road. But if it were me, I would probably replace the 256MB with a 1GB stick just looking at the prices for DDR2 right now.