I am running a HP DV6000 laptop with XP SP2, have an AMD Athanon 64 2Ghz processor. I have 1GB of RAM which I think is DDRII. I reinstalled XP, cleared out startup programs, have 35 processes running, cleaned out inside of laptop for dust (fans etc), but I still feel it is not as fast as I would like. Would a RAM upgrade be appropriate, or a waste of money? Thanks in advance
2007-12-03 06:33:37 · 11 answers · asked by elgriff_2000 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
Short Answer: It is hard to say if it will be a notable improvement. For one thing, "notable improvement" is a some what subjective term. Some people are exceedingly impactient and unless it boots up in 5 seconds, and opens MS Office in 2 seconds they consider the PC to be slow. My wife is just such a person....so for her, no amount of RAM will make the computer fast enough for her.
It will speed up your computer somewhat as 2GB of RAM will mean that the Laptop has swap files back and forth from the HD less often,
Long Answer: It depends on what is slowing down your PC to begin with.
Do you play games? then the answer is, YES, 2 GBs will help.
Do you have lots of open applications like IE, Music, CD recording, Spreadsheets, Word, etc. -- then YES, extra RAM will help.
Do you just email and surf the internet? then NO, 2Gbs will not be a "notable improvement"
Consider this, after reinstalling XP, did you also reinstall ALL the OTHER applications you had on your PC BEFORE? Then you could have a lot of extra applications running in the background that you don't need.
Click on Start | Run |
Type in MSCONFIG and click on the start up tab.
How many items do you have in there? How many are really needed? Some applications put entries in your start up folder so that when you try to launch the application it starts 3-5 seconds faster. So ask yourself if you really need Adobe Acrobat to start 5 seconds faster the next time you click on it?. OR do you need Quick Time to be checking for updates everytime you start Windows?
My guess is that you have a bunch of stuff in your HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run key that is slowing your system down.
Download Spybot search n Destroy and remove any spyware from your PC, even if you just reinstalled Wndows and a few apps.
Lastly, defrag your Hard Drive by right clicking on it, choosing Properties, then Tools and see if that speeds it up.
2007-12-03 06:50:46 · answer #1 · answered by John S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
RAM is for storing currently running programs and open files.
Most of the RAM is used by your default programs and operating system (if its Windows Vista 2MB is used on an empty desktop).
If you play two, large, high graphics games (about 20MB each), the RAM with be storing 22MB if using Windows Vista, the more currently running programs the more used.
The Random Access Memory is also used by web site graphics, if too much is used, the CPU overloads and your computer will shut down.
But I don't think anyone, apart from people who use about 100, 20MB games to require 2GB.
I don't even use the 1GB I've got!
2007-12-03 06:44:05 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would if what you are running are memory hogs.
I only have 512 in my laptop and program for a living and never have a problem.
But If I were playing games, running a lot of Microsoft Office apps at the same time, then I would notice an improvement with more memory.
Bring up task manager and see how much of your available memory is being used by your standard stuff. If you have a lot available then the extra memory is only going to create more available, not necessarily make an improvement.
2007-12-03 06:40:05 · answer #3 · answered by FREDOAK3 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Whatever anyone says, doubling your RAM to 2GB makes an enormous difference. I upgraded from 512mb to 1gb and the difference was outstanding.
RAM is the single most important thing for the overall speed of your computer.
2007-12-03 06:45:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on what applications you are running. If you are running memory intensive applications it will make much more of a difference. If there is something in particular you are running, check the recommended requirements with the software. If you are just running slow in general, I'd check to make sure you aren't running out of hard drive space or have a bunch of programs/services running in the background all the time taking up memory.
2007-12-03 06:41:29 · answer #5 · answered by Russell M 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Probably not much difference in the startup and such, but your programs will run better, if not faster and you can have more programs open as well.
2007-12-03 06:41:36 · answer #6 · answered by hunterrose30 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hey,
I found a free download of Adobe Acrobat here http://bitly.com/1p33Elk
I strongly recommend it.
Best
2014-08-23 15:11:37 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes you notice that you can have more at a time, and also better on graphic intensive web age.
2007-12-03 06:41:51 · answer #8 · answered by yoyo 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
it will be much faster and if your do a disk cleanup it should do that first and if that dose not help put more ram in it
2007-12-03 07:45:51 · answer #9 · answered by shawnd 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes it would go to crucial.com and scan computer the site will tell you what exactly that you need for that computer
2007-12-03 07:36:37 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋