I have run out of memory, can I expand or should I upgrade?

sara34

Hi, I wonder if anyone has time to give me some advice?

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-BX61MN, Intel Core 2 duo cpu
T5270 @ 1.40ghz
1.40 ghz, 1.49 GB RAM
(it has some sort of memory expansion when in for repair at pc world)

I am not very techy, but the 110gb hard drive is full, so I wondered if this lap top is worth upgrading some how or whether I should just try and get another?

I am a student/parent so use my lap top for uni work, music, photos and internet surfing. I don't use if for gaming but I have alot of music (40gb-itunes) and have recently purchased office 2010 so think I would be able to load that onto a new laptop. If I upgrade, I would like a decent spec and would probably pay upto £750, but as I am not a gamer, is it necessary to spend that much?

Any useful advice, would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Sublime_2

You could get a very decent laptop for £300 to £400. No need to spend that much unless you really want to.

sara34

oh and I only have windows xp proffesional, I think I probably should get windows 7 (but I don't really know why it think that!), my understanding is that my current laptop will not upgrade to windows 7 as it would need 2gb ram?

sara34

Sublime wrote: »

You could get a very decent laptop for £300 to £400. No need to spend that much unless you really want to.

Great, thank you. I wondered if that was the case, as I am not a gamer, but then, I don't like to miss out :-)

sara34

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Notebook-i3-370M-processor-Wireless/dp/B004EBUX12/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294850238&sr=8-1

I quite like the look of this one, but wonder if i should stick to the Sony Vaio range, as they seem to be well reviewed?

Sublime_2

If you are going to get a new laptop, it should come with windows 7 installed.

sara34

Sublime wrote: »

If you are going to get a new laptop, it should come with windows 7 installed.

Thank you again.. I think I should just splash out on a new one!

Sublime_2

For a notebook its fine. Do a shop around on the net, and compare prices. Perhaps you could try Dell, excellent customer support for those who need it, and they usually have some good deals on.

marisa

A cheaper alternative, you can upgrade the RAM in your current laptop , get a 2GB RAM stick and put it in instead. This will be under £30 for ram that will work find for your uses,you can pay more for better quality and speed but if you ain't a gamer or doing anything hardcore with graphics then I don't see much point. There are guides online how to install it, really easy just take the back off and push it in gently usually. Sounds like you might even have a spare slot so you don't have to take the old one out.
Then you can get a much bigger harddrive and put that in instead. (Much more difficult, I would find a tech friend to do it for you, or maybe pay a repair shop or similar, not too much though, it is a 15min job for a pro!)

You can get laptop compatible 500GB for under 100 easily.

There are enough of us techies around here to make sure you buy the right thing

If you are not a gamer your main laptop is fine just upgrade it, don't waste money on getting another would be my advice!

You can make your laptop much, much better for £200 including labour, or get one about the same as it used to be for 300?

Sublime_2

That would have been mine, but OP has the money to upgrade, and wants windows 7, which she stated her current one won't support. Also her hard drive is full.

sara34

marisa wrote: »

A cheaper alternative, you can upgrade the RAM in your current laptop , get a 2GB RAM stick and put it in instead. This will be under £30 for ram that will work find for your uses,you can pay more for better quality and speed but if you ain't a gamer or doing anything hardcore with graphics then I don't see much point. There are guides online how to install it, really easy just take the back off and push it in gently usually. Sounds like you might even have a spare slot so you don't have to take the old one out.
Then you can get a much bigger harddrive and put that in instead. (Much more difficult, I would find a tech friend to do it for you, or maybe pay a repair shop or similar, not too much though, it is a 15min job for a pro!)

You can get laptop compatible 500GB for under 100 easily.

There are enough of us techies around here to make sure you buy the right thing

If you are not a gamer your main laptop is fine just upgrade it, don't waste money on getting another would be my advice!

You can make your laptop much, much better for £200 including labour, or get one about the same as it used to be for 300?

I wondered weather it was possible to upgrade this one, thank you, it is worth considering. I suppose it is whether I need Windows 7 or not.