[Ericuse165]

I have a laptop(64bit) with 4GB of ram I found a deal 8GB(2 4GB) for 33.99 or 34.99. I know I might not see a big difference in speed if any but do you think it is wroth buying?

[coastie65]

Ericuse165, on 15 September 2011 - 11:17 AM, said:

I have a laptop(64bit) with 4GB of ram I found a deal 8GB(2 4GB) for 33.99 or 34.99. I know I might not see a big difference in speed if any but do you think it is wroth buying?

Hi. Well, if it will support it and you want to get it do so. I doubt as if you'll ever need all of it, but it will be there. Might see some improvement on boot, but I don't really know how much. I am of a mind that more memory can never hurt.

[LiveBrianD]

I kinda doubt it. Windows usually likes having 2GB as cache, then probably 2GB actually used, so 4GB is fine. For instance, I have 2.3GB actually used, 1.7GB cached, and 4GB free now. The machine has been on for an hour, I have a few web browsers, email, and word open right now. Future versions of Windows are also supposed to be lighter than before (or at least the same requirements), so more ram isn't really needed there. However, other programs may get more bloated over time. With ram cheap right now, it can't hurt to have more.

[Ericuse165]

I bought it I found a coupon code so the price was $26.00. How can you say no for 8GB of RAM for $26.00? Need it or not.

This post has been edited by Ericuse165: 15 September 2011 - 04:58 PM

[LiveBrianD]

Ericuse165, on 15 September 2011 - 04:57 PM, said:

I bought it I found a coupon code so the price was $26.00. How can you say no for 8GB of RAM for $26.00? Need it or not.

Once I had a $10 Best Buy thing that was about to expire (I purchased there before, it was a reward or something). I found a $9.99 8GB sandisk thumb drive. I had to spend about $1 or so on something to make the price at least $10 (for the coupon to work, I got some candy), but hey, $1.50 for a 8GB thumb drive is a good deal.

[LincolnSpector]

Ericuse165, on 15 September 2011 - 11:17 AM, said:

I have a laptop(64bit) with 4GB of ram I found a deal 8GB(2 4GB) for 33.99 or 34.99. I know I might not see a big difference in speed if any but do you think it is wroth buying?

Hi, Eric.

That sounds like a deal, all right. A few issues:

Are you sure it's the right kind of RAM? Use the Crucial System Scanner tool.to find out.


I believe that more RAM requires more power (I haven't researched this, though). That means shorter battery life.

Earlier this year, PC World did a big article on hardware updates that will speed up your PC. One of the big surprises that came out of the testing was that more RAM--once thought the most cost-effective way to improve performance--doesn't do much anymore.

Lincoln

[Ericuse165]

Thanks for the information I use my laptop as a desktop and I even took the battery out. It is the right RAM what I did was looked up RAM for my pc on Toshiba website then just took that information and matched it up with the RAM I bought.

[JimH443]

LincolnSpector, on 16 September 2011 - 07:25 AM, said:

Are you sure it's the right kind of RAM? Use the Crucial System Scanner tool.to find out.

I wish I had read this post BEFORE I ordered mine. The RAM I bought met all the stated specs (PC3-8500, 204 pin DDR3 SO-DIMM 1066), but it was incompatible with my machine. It was only then that I discovered the Crucial scanner page.

This post has been edited by JimH443: 16 September 2011 - 07:33 PM

[Ericuse165]

If the specs matched what do you think the issue was?

[JimH443]

Ericuse165, on 17 September 2011 - 11:15 AM, said:

If the specs matched what do you think the issue was?

I'd only be guessing, but the only thing that makes any sense to me is that the exact pinout of the DIMM might have been slightly altered. Sometimes standards refer only to the size and spacing of a component, but don't state precisely what signal gets sent to which pin. My guess is that they put the exact type of RAM chip that I needed on the exact size circuit board that fits the socket... but hooked the two up in a proprietary manner.

Until just yesterday, the only sources of compatible DIMMs that I found were charging $25 per gigabyte. For some reason when I ran the scan again last night, I found that Crucial does have reasonably priced 4GB sticks. The kit of 2 costs just over $50. Unfortunately Newegg doesn't stock that part number, so I can't apply the money I spent on them directly on a replacement part.

[LincolnSpector]

LincolnSpector, on 16 September 2011 - 07:25 AM, said:

I believe that more RAM requires more power (I haven't researched this, though). That means shorter battery life.

Hi again, folks.

I've researched this a bit, and I now doubt very much that adding RAM will hurt laptop battery life. RAM doesn't use all that much juice, and it cuts hard drive usage. For that reason, it could even help battery life, but I'm not ready to make that claim, either.

I haven't found any reliable benchmarks on this. I suspect that whatever difference it makes, one way or the other, isn't worth worrying about.

Lincoln

[LiveBrianD]

LincolnSpector, on 19 September 2011 - 03:38 PM, said:

LincolnSpector, on 16 September 2011 - 07:25 AM, said:

I believe that more RAM requires more power (I haven't researched this, though). That means shorter battery life.

Hi again, folks.

I've researched this a bit, and I now doubt very much that adding RAM will hurt laptop battery life. RAM doesn't use all that much juice, and it cuts hard drive usage. For that reason, it could even help battery life, but I'm not ready to make that claim, either.

I haven't found any reliable benchmarks on this. I suspect that whatever difference it makes, one way or the other, isn't worth worrying about.

Lincoln

I assume that as long as you have 4GB RAM, you're fine. (enough for windows to not use the pagefile much - typically 2GB used and it likes having 2GB cached even if you have more it seems. I have 8GB but often have 4GB completely unused, 2GB used, 2GB cached)

[orlbuckeye]

Ericuse165, on 15 September 2011 - 11:17 AM, said:

I have a laptop(64bit) with 4GB of ram I found a deal 8GB(2 4GB) for 33.99 or 34.99. I know I might not see a big difference in speed if any but do you think it is wroth buying?

Well if you have the 64 bit version of you OS it's well worth it and you will see some speed difference especially when you have multiple programs open. More memory helps with multitasking because with lower memory your system will use your disk drive (page file) to move programs in and out of cache. Your system will use the excess memory to do this if it has it and the transfer rate is much faster using memory for chaing then using a hard drive for caching.