Upgrading laptop memory

faithcecilia

How easy is this to do please? Could I do it myself as a complete technophobe? I have had enough of my laptop freezing due to not having enough free memory. Thanks

Browntoa

are you sure its freezing due to lack of memory

go to control panel , then clcik on the system icon , it should tell you how much ram

what version of windows is it ??

its normally as easy as opening a small cover on the back on adding an extra stick of ram , or unclicking and replacing the existing , windows does the reat as you turn it on

faithcecilia

Its 1GB of ram, running Vista.

kwikbreaks

Do you get any messages about it being short on virtual memory? Certainly XP usually throws a few of those up if it is.

Make sure it can be upgraded and find the correct type using the Crucial memory checker.

===

Ah Vista. 1GB is low for Vista but I wouldn't expect it to cause hangs on 1GB. The good news is it will almost certainly be able t take another 1GB and it shouldn't cost the earth either.

faithcecilia

I've found memory at about £20 for 1gb. Yes, vista isn't a dream, but I was on a mega tight budget and it was reduced as 7 had just been launched.

kwikbreaks

I disliked my Vista lappy enough to buy Win 7 for it

With 2GB it should be comfortable. I upgraded mine from 1GB to 2GB as soon as I got it so never ran it with just 1GB. XP runs fairly well on 1GB of course.

macman

Vista runs like a dog (a three legged dog) on 1GB of RAM. It'll be well worth £20 or so to double that.
Best source for memory is crucial.com, use their online checker.

Delboy24

have used offtek in the past and found them very good and reasonable - https://www.offtek.co.uk

Slartibardfast_2

So long as you don't have a Dell Vostro it'll be easy. They have a second slot under the keyboard of all places.. Madness"

Cricri

Posters 2 and 4 are right: if it was a memory problem, you'd get some warning. Besides Windows can use as much virtual memory it needs (by using the hard drive as memory), but that only makes your machine much slower, not crash.
I'd think it's something else, e.g. overheating because you fan is bunged up with dust. So I'd start by sticking the vacuum cleaner few seconds on the fan opening, and see if that sorted it out. Quick fix too, and well worth trying

Avoriaz

macman wrote: »

Vista runs like a dog (a three legged dog) on 1GB of RAM. It'll be well worth £20 or so to double that.
Best source for memory is crucial.com, use their online checker.

May I slight amend that.

Crucial is the best source of advice about what memory a laptop can use.

Ebay and similar are the best sources to actually buy the memory as you can save 50% or more.

:A

With the proviso that Crucial guarantee the memory whereas Ebay is buyer beware.