Memory and Prices

T4LFR

I have an Acer Aspire notebook with 1GB of RAM, (2.6 dual core etc etc) its getting a bit clunky and slow these days.

When I do the memory test via crucial it tells me that it will cost 80 quid to upgrade to 4gb RAM which I think is a bit dear, so -

Would 2gb give me a significant enough RAM increase to be noticable

or

Is there anywhere else to get cheaper RAM?

Thanks,

bbuckle

2GB is actually OK, but if you can get a deal for 4GB go for it. 32bit Windows will only be able to use around 3.5GB of it, but more is definitely better in this instance.

There are definitely cheaper merchants than Crucial though, and their products are not necessarily any worse.

I would note the details of the memory, as displayed by the Crucial page, and then go to somewhere like Ebuyer or Scan to compare prices.

Just make sure you accurately note (and compare!) the correct memory.

fwor

Whether you will actually see any gain from going from 1 to 2 or 4Gb depends on what you are doing on the laptop and what OS you have.

In my experience, with XP or Linux, very few people use their laptops in a way that needs anything more than 1Gb. Vista and 7 use memory in a slightly different way and may benefit from more but, again, unless you are running lots of programs at the same time, it's unlikely you will see any noticeable gain from going up from 2Gb to 4Gb.

Crucial are almost always more expensive than people like Ebuyer, but you should bear in mind that they guarantee to refund if for whatever reason the memory that they supply does not work in your PC.

Reggie_Rebel

Try Orca Logic instead

http://www.orcalogic.co.uk/asp/default.asp

T4LFR

Thanks guys, I really only use the laptop for the basic stuff (vista OS), browsing word processing etc. The real problem is actually start up, it seems to be taking forever to load up from scratch.

How the hell do you know what should be running on start up and what shouldnt?

evilgoose

Maybe worth checking how many memory slots your laptop has, and how many are spare. Quite often to save costs they'll use two 512's for 1GB, leaving you with no slots free. So you have to take that into account when looking for memory. for instanace - If you've got two slots and a 1gb chip then go for 2gb, cheaper and giving you 3gb which is ample for just basic stuff.

Run a defrag on your disk, if you've had it a while then the disk might be a little fragmented, which will slow things down a bit.

What apps have you got loading into your taskbar - ask yourself if you use them? Things like messenger or in my case nokia Ovi suite - which is very slow loading.

Check your start --> startup folder - again - do you use what it has set to load?

Run msconfig - have a look for anything suspicious running on startup

HO87

Was there any particular reason for your checking Crucial?

It would be well worth checking to see whether your model of AA is running dual-channel RAM as some models incorporate dual-channel 1066MHz DDR3. If this is the case and you want to continue to enjoy the benefits of it then I would suggest that you get decent quality "paired" sticks. As said, Crucial are always comparatively expensive but Kingston, for example, are likely to be cheaper and I have found their "pairs" reliable.

Before actually embarking on any RAM upgrade I would suggest that you critically examine what you are running and dump (i.e. uninstall) anything you are not using or use only occasionally and anything that is a resource hog - things like mobile phone suites - as suggested.

It would also be well worthwhile downloading Malwarebytes Anti-malware utility (can be found via this link). Update it before running and see if it picks anything up.

T4LFR

Really just checked crucial because of rep and the fact that it scans your system!
Dont think it is running dual core RAM DDR3 etc...

I think i ll need to go thro the motions of defrag (altho, i think i have it set to do so) and the maleware bytes ect (have dloaded this, but havent run it for a while).

I have checked what is running on start up but find it difficult via task manager to understand what should be running and what shouldnt...

nomoneytoday

RAM has gone up in price due to the lovely exchange rates... (not)

dogmaryxx

How the hell do you know what should be running on start up and what shouldnt]

Best way for you may be

Download Advanced System Care (worth having for number of utilities )

Click utilities under Care button

Select Admin Tools then Startup Manager

Right click any entry and click Online Search.You will be taken to a page showing description and status.

Repeat for each entry

Untick any you want to stop at startup and click Apply.

T4LFR

Advance system care seems like a nice piece of software to use...

Any other good uses for it other than stopping all manner of things starting up on boot up!

managed to stop a whole host of things on start up, but still to test if it is any quicker.

Thanks...