Purchasing RAM for a desktop?

Question

I have a pretty old"hp pavilion mx 90" desktop (I am 13, it is actually my parents') with ...
19.1 GB memory on the C:\ partion, 8.57GB is free
Windows ME edition
256 MB RAM
AMD Athlon processor

that was just to demonstrate how truly ancient this computer is..
They will not sell it, so what I need to know is where I can buy a RAM upgrade, 512MB at least, for very cheap,(I can buy online) and if it would be worth buying a new processor and Windows XP or if we should just get a whole new computer.

I also need to know where to find cheap laptop RAM, maybe about 1GB

Another thing...
If I get a new laptop, different than above, which brand should I get, regardless of the price,(please nothing un-realistic ex. dell with 3.4gb ram, 3GHz dual core processor, ect)
And where should I purchase this laptop?

Answer 1

This is funny because this is pretty close to the desktop I have (HP Pav. Pentium 4, Windows ME) and I upgraded my RAM about a year ago. I searched for hours and because my computer has RD RAM (which is no longer manufactured) it was very hard to find, and it was very expensive when I did find it.
My computer came with 256MB of ram, (two 128MB sticks). The RAM would only work if all of the sticks were the same manufacturer and the same amount of MB. I got very discouraged after I saw how expensive they were, but then I checked eBay, and found my exact RAM for 5$. It was perfect and works great.
Good Luck!

Answer 2

If you want a laptop, just look in the Sunday ads. The big box electronics stores almost always have a decent one on for $450-500 that will have the following:

Dual Core CPU (AMD Turion or Intel Pentium)
1gb DDR RAM
80gb+ hard drive
DVD burner
Wi-Fi
etc.

I picked up an Acer (a brand some people consider "cheap") and it's fine for the price, though I upped the RAM to 2gb for $40 from Newegg.com.

Brands don't really matter as they all use the same processors, RAM, hard drives, etc. And they usually have the same warranty length, regardless of brand.

Answer 3

You got around 250-300 Dollars to Spare??? You could get a decent Pc Gaming computer for that price, meaning you can run Counterstrike Source at High Settings with 0 lagg.

drop over to newegg.com

get a amd 64 x2 +3800 for 50 bucks.
Geforce 7600 GT for 80 bucks

Oh btw if u upgrade ur ram it will be useless because Pc parts are like legos, as ur pc is ancient their are different slots for Rams depending on the Mobo, Meaning Pc2100, Pc3200, PC4100, Pc5200 etc.. so if u buy a new faster powerful ram its gonna fit in ur old Motherboard, in thus u wil have to upgrade ur Motherboard, when u do that u gotta upgrade ur Cpu, then u gotta upgrade the video card.. Etc...

So what im saying is if u buy a new CPU thats fits into ur old pc... its still gonna give u crappy *** speed.
kingston hyperx ram 1 gig pc3200 for 70 bucks
then some new harddrive
and ur set..

just use ur old case and Psu.. Simple as that

Answer 4

you can put how ever many sticks in as the motherboard can hold just not over 12gb, so you could buy 2 4gb sticks or 3 if yuor motherboard has more than 2 slots

Answer 5

The new computer is the way to go, you are wasting your time trying to upgrade especially wjth computers as cheap as they are.
Now I personally would buy direct.
http://www.dell.com
Don

Answer 6

You might check here for memory:

http://www.directron.com/memory.html

However to find out what is the correct memory to purchase, visit:

http://kingston.com/

and use their memory finder.