I want to know more about computer memory?

Question

I have a laptop,i can superficailly operate it,but i know nothing about how it works,which really bugs me,i have tired reading it up from many places,but i just doesnt make sense.
Evertime i tell people i have a laptop,the immediate question is ,how much RAM or how many gigabites.
And i feel stupid telling them i dont know,and that i am not so good at technical stuff.
Please help me out with this one,
Dont link me to another website,please explain like ur explaining it to a cavegirl.

Answer 1

run belarc advisor on your computer. It will tell you everything you ever wanted to know and a whole lot more.
there is a free version on belarc's site
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html



EDIT: just run the program after downloading, and it will tell you what you want to know.

Answer 2

RAM is an acronym for random access memory. The amount of RAM determines how many programs you can operate on your computer at one time (and how quickly the computer
does what you tell it to do.

I can't be totally sure for your specific laptop and software, but it might be in your user's manual or you may be able to follow these steps:

1. Make sure your computer is on & your desktop is loaded
It may take a little while to load
There will be a bar at the bottom of the screen

2. Click the button in the far left of that bar
It should be labeled START

3. A menu will appear; look to the right side of the menu.

4. Click the button labeled CONTROL PANEL on the menu

5. The Control Panel menu will appear.

6. Click the option labeled SYSTEM

7. The System menu will appear;
it contains the basic information about your computer
such as the operating system on the computer
(Windows 95,Windows 98, etc.), RAM, & manufacturer.

8. Look for the phase, Memory or the phrase Memory (Ram)

9. The number to the right of that is the RAM on your laptop
The abbreviation MB stands for megabyte;
GB is gigabytes




Should this fail:

Follow Steps 1-3,
Click HELP or HELP AND SUPPORT
Type RAM into the search box of the HELP AND SUPPORT menu that pops up

A list of questions or topics will appear when the computer finishes searching, find the question that best matches your request.

Happy Computing!

Answer 3

ahhh..cavegirls are sexy. Sorry.

Your computer's RAM is like a temporary workspace that is cleaned up when you turn off your computer. The more RAM the more space your computer has to work on stuff, so the faster it can do said stuff. The RAM is kind of like scratch paper were you write down random things and work out problems and then just through away.

The gigabytes part refers to your laptop's hard drive. The hard drive is where information is stored over time. You can turn you laptop on and off and the information on the hard drive is preserved. You can save and delete information from your hard drive over and over. To help quantify things here, a gigabyte is 1 billion (10^9) bytes. A byte is usually 8 BITS. A bit is basically a single 0 (zero) or 1 (one). A bit is the most basic information unit in computing.

I hope that helps some.

Peace out sexy cavegirl!

Answer 4

In a laptop or desktop there are many components.

1. Mainboard, it's the component who support the other components. It contains chipset, BIOS chip, slots for expandability, CPU socket, RAM socket, connector, audio chip, GPU chipset, Networking chipset and lots of other connector...

2. CPU, Central Processing Unit. It's brain of the computer. Its job is to compute the data. Every CPU has clock speed stated as MHz or GHz. More higher the nominal more faster the computing ability. Now there's technology which manufacturing two or four processing unit into one package, they called it Dual core or Quadcores. At this moment clock speed aren't everything anymore, but cores. It just look like you are faster working with 2 or more people than work alone.

3. RAM, it's the memory. There are different kinds of RAM. SDRAM, DDR, DDR2 and the new DDR3. Its capacity stated as Megabyte (MB), Gigabyte (GB). Most common and suggested capacity for RAM at this moment is 2Gigabyte. RAM has it's speed too and stated as MHz.

4. GPU(Graphics Processing Unit)/Video Card/Video Accelerator. This is the component who give a visual to you. It is somehow can be called an independent component because in Video card containing a Mainboard, GPU, RAM, BIOS chip and it's own cooling unit. It has its own clockspeed for each GPU and RAM. But mostly people are asking what's the series of the GPU. For example a 9600, it's an ATI video card and 7800 is an Nvidia video card.

5. HDD, It's a harddisk drive. It's where you store all your data/files/documents/softwares. It's the only parts who has a moving parts inside of it. It has capacity stated as byte, Megabyte (MB), Gigabyte (GB) or Terabyte(TB).

There are other components such Power Supply, Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy Drive, DVD-ROM drive, monitor and any other components. Well 5 of them are the most important components in the Desktop/Laptop.

That's just a small explanation. If you really want the explanation of each components, it'll take days to explain it. It's better you register to a forum to ask and get reply and ask again without knowing that you loose points (even it doesn't harm you).

Cheers.

Answer 5

RAM is the memory in the computer for the programs to run in - windows etc. - not the disk. It will be something like 512 meg - 1 gig etc. The other number is the size of the hard disk. It will be like 30 GB - 60 GB - etc could be more - but not less than about 30 GB today. That is 30 gigabytes - one gigabyte is 1 billion bytes. Actually a little more but that isn't important.

Answer 6

RAM is called Random Access Memory, Forget about what you think the logical definition of memory is, we are taught that memory is the part of our brain that is storage. This is untrue with computers. The storage is the hard drive the RAM is actually everything you see up on your monitor to put it in a very simple way. It is all open programs. By the definition of what we always though memory is, it is the complete opposite. It is what controls everything that is active on your computer when you are using. it. This may not be the definition in my text book, it is the definition of how to visualize it to understand its function.

As for the numbers, gig and all that. Just tell them you forgot. Or you will have to get back with them on that. I know I can never remember mine either.

Answer 7

There are 2 types of memory. RAM (random access memory) are chips in the computer that store the information that is being used while the computer is on. The amount can range from 100s of megabytes (1,000,000) to a few gigabytes (1,000,000,000).

The hard drive stores information when it is not being used and is not lost when power is off. The amount can range from a few gigabytes to over a 100 gigabytes.

Answer 8

You hard drive is where everything is stored, your documents, photos, etc. This is typically measured in gigabytes, though the first terabyte drives are just coming out (a terabyte is about 1000 gigabytes).

When you load a program or open a photo, it copies it from your hard drive into RAM. RAM is much more expensive than hard drive space, but it's much faster. Whenever you load anything, it puts it into RAM. Whenever you turn off your computer, everything in RAM is wiped out (which is why things are on your hard drive).

If things are slow, it's because there is not enough RAM available to open everything. Everything running requires RAM, including Windows itself. If things are slow you either need to close some programs or just purchase more RAM.

Answer 9

Your RAM is basically your computer's short-term memory. RAM holds the data for programs and whatnot that are currently running at that moment. Once you turn off your computer or restart it, your RAM gets cleared.

To find out how much you have, right click on the My Computer icon and then click Properties. It will tell you how fast your processor is running and also how much RAM you have installed. If you have less than 512MB, consider getting more.

Answer 10

You can look up the memory on your computer by clicking the start button, going to control panel, then go to system. The amount of memory will display. An easier way to find out more details about your memory would be, and I know you didn't want to be linked to a website, by going to www.crucial.com. That site sells memory. They have a utility that checks your computer and tells you exactly what you have and what you could buy to upgrade your system.

Answer 11

There are two primary types of memory, system memory, commonly called RAM and hard drive memory, or storage. Nowadays both are measured in gigabytes. The difference between the two is that hard drive memory persists (IE doesn't go away) when the machine is shut off. Regular system memory is faster.