I'm looking at getting a laptop (but I guess they call it "notebook" now) computer for college work and fun. One computer that I'm looking at says it has 4 GB RAM post-upgrade, pre-upgrade is 2 GB. What does 4 GB RAM do that 2 GB doesn't do? Is it worth the upgrade? And what would the upgrade cost be like?
2007-10-23 05:08:04 · 8 answers · asked by Gunther 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
It depends on what you need the laptop for. It's very unlikely that you need 4 gig of RAM though Vista does need more than XP did.
Basically RAM is memory that is only available while your computer is powered up. It's a lot faster than your hard drive, and all your programs though they load up off your hard drive actually 'run' in RAM. This is why if you shut down your computer without saving what's running, you'll lose your work.
The more programs you have running, the more RAM you need, and some programs are rather intense on their needs, such as some games.
The upgrade cost wouldn't be horrible, though it really depends on the laptop vendor. It's usually more expensive to buy the memory with the laptop than to buy it yourself, later.
2 gig should be fine for whatever your needs are, however. My laptop only has 1 gig but I'm running WinXP. Remember, unless you get a non-integrated video card, your video card will probably share some of your system memory.
I'd check out the HP dv6500z for a really good deal on a laptop these days. I spec'd one out for a friend with 2 gig memory, dual core processor (1.8g), 120gig hd and a real video card (rather than integrated) 8400M GS for about $750. (Look for a 20% off coupon on cheapstingybargains before purchasing on the HP site).
2007-10-23 05:17:14 · answer #1 · answered by Krista 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
At present, 2 GB is considered adequate for most computing applications. I am currently running a digital TV card, the SETI at Home project, and normal MS Office applications on a dual core P4 processor with 2 GB RAM and it rarely uses more than the first 400 MB. Theoretically 4 GB would allow faster multitasking but you would really only need it for high-end gaming applications. The cost of RAM is falling rapidly so in a couple of years you could probably upgrade then if you needed to. I would suggest sticking with the 2 GB option.
2007-10-23 05:20:23 · answer #2 · answered by Michael B 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The upgrade COST depends on, from whom you're getting the computer! The difference is, how fast the computer may run, because, the more ram it has, the more programs it may have in memory at once, or the more of A LARGE program it may have in memory at once.
What parts of a program a computer may not have in RAM at once, it has to store, on disk, really quickly, back and forth, while it's running the other parts (paging...the operating system Windows does this). If you have more RAM then this happens less.
If on an Apple for example I want to run a copy of MacOSx and a copy of Windows at the very same time (!) then I just about have to have 4G instead of just 2G or else the laptop will just groan and sit there when I also load a copy of Photoshop to edit a photo while all this is going on because the system is quickly trying to write little bits of these superhumongous programs to disk so's it can run leedle bits of parts at a time!
2007-10-23 05:19:10 · answer #3 · answered by fjpoblam 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Here's the catch: The extra ram will not work unless you specifically have a 64-bit operating system, like XP 64-bit, or Vista 64-bit.
If you are running typical Vista or XP, then you will see ZERO performance increase! They simply cannot use the extra ram. Wasted money.
2007-10-23 06:28:16 · answer #4 · answered by shinelove8702 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not too sure of the cost for that kind of upgrade. Ram is the memory that your laptop uses to run programs. In other words, if your computer has more ram it can run more programs at the same time and it can run them faster. 2gb ram compared to 4gb ram? Think of it as your laptop having twice as much memory to run programs with.
2007-10-23 05:13:15 · answer #5 · answered by Michael T 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
4GB RAM will allow you to run more programs @ 1 time then a 2GB RAM will. Its not really worth the upgrade, I would just go with the 2GB. I am not sure about the price, sorry!
2007-10-23 05:19:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
2gb is fine unless you plan on doing some extreme gaming but you really wouldn't want a laptop for gaming
2007-10-23 07:44:14 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You only really need 4GB RAM if you are doing heavy duty computing and/or heavy duty graphics intensive (video) work - or really serious gaming :) 500MB is tight 1GB is better, but might still not be good enough is yu are running Vista. 2GB is good. 4GB - only if you have the money or really need it.
2007-10-23 05:18:52 · answer #8 · answered by seanatg 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋