Memory and Prices

Slartibardfast_2

Worth trying http://www.mrmemory.co.uk/ as a comparison to crucial.

poppy10_2

2 gigs should be more than enough, very few people use their laptops for gaming/video editing which are the main applications that would need more RAM.

luci

I found Crucial to be cheapest for my netbook RAM, but MyMemory were considerably cheaper than Crucial for the desktop RAM.

T4LFR

My notebook has 2 slots - is it okay to replace the two 512mb modules with 1 x 2gb module?

ChristopheB

If it wasn't clunky when you first had it and it is now it's more likely the clutter on your laptop that is causing the issue and not lack of RAM.

An easy but not neccesarily quick way of fixing it would be to back up your personnal data to memory stick or external hard disk and do a restore to factory default settings.

This will wipe out ALL your data and leave you with the base Windows installation. Then all you need to do is copy your personnal data back and install any additional software you subsequently installed and do windows updated etc.

Alternatively, you could try and clear out all the malware, defrag harddisk etc but sometimes that can take just as long.

If you did want to do a factory restore there is usually a CD that comes with the laptop for doing it. Of course you need to be careful you backup all your data first.

poppy10_2

T4LFR wrote: »

My notebook has 2 slots - is it okay to replace the two 512mb modules with 1 x 2gb module?

Yes, that should be fine. Just make sure you get the right type of RAM

T4LFR

Tested last night, a couple of mins or so start up and get to the desk top, but from switching the power button and getting onto the net takes about 7 or 8 mins - is that normal?

Lokolo

Depending how much stuff you have load on startup I would say thats about right.

Richie-from-the-Boro

T4LFR wrote: »

Tested last night, a couple of mins or so start up and get to the desk top, but from switching the power button and getting onto the net takes about 7 or 8 mins - is that normal?

No, not normal, that's 6 minutes to establish a net connection. You have two different problems (1) boottrap/bootup, and (2) wired or wireless internet.

- 99% of bootup is pre-loading [ msconfig ] whatever + icons and progs on desktop and taskbar etc.

- getting on the net should be virtually instantaneous, certainly not 6 minutes.

Deal with them as separate issues, in my experience a good 50% of what is preloaded in msconfig is not needed, cure the boot time first and then tackle the net issue.

When Vista was rolled 1 GiG of RAM muscle would struggle to run it, now, with service pack & other updates that same 1 GiG of RAM muscle is breaking it's back to perform the mount of pre-desktop work allocated.

What is the HDD light doing for the 6 minutes between desktop and internet connection ?

T4LFR

Thanks for that, my personal opinion is that it is the boot up and I would imagine that at least doubling the ram would indeed help...

The HDD light is on constant until it has gotten on the net.

I have switched off everything on start up via the software suggested in a prev post (advanced system care) but still it is slow...

I have done a msconfig before (but not recently) there wasnt anything obvious that was running that shouldnt have been (but god knows i guess)...

:cool: