Dell laptop memory upgrade - worth it?

maurice28

I have an old Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop, which I bought in 2009. I have a new laptop now so the 1545 isn’t really needed, but it would be nice to keep it as a spare.

The only problem is, it’s underpowered and runs very slow now. It will take a minute to load up Google Chrome for example.

It wasn’t that fast when originally bought, but it was cheap and did the job it was needed for (writing uni assignments). It came with Windows Vista but I upgraded it to Windows 7.

I was wondering if it was possible/worth maybe adding some extra RAM into it to see if that speeds it up at all and make it more usable. Not sure if anyone could advise what effect adding an extra 1GB of RAM might have, and how possible this normally is on Dell laptops?

The spec is below:

Intel® Celeron® Processor 900 (2.20 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
1024MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
Intel Integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics card
160GB (5,400rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive

Not sure if that’s enough information to go on. Is adding any extra memory worth it or will it not really make much difference?

Thanks in advance!

closed

reinstalling windows will speed it up

another GB or so might help, task manager, performance will tell you how much ram is being used, see commit charge

Slowness is nothing to do with brand, it's caused by the software added since purchase. 2GB or more and a reinstall and the machine should run nicely, it's not underpowered or old.

maurice28

closed wrote: »

reinstalling windows will speed it up

another GB or so might help, task manager, performance will tell you how much ram is being used, see commit charge

Slowness is nothing to do with brand, it's caused by the software added since purchase. 2GB or more and a reinstall and the machine should run nicely, it's not underpowered or old.

Thanks, much appreciated. I just wondered if Dell laptops are tricky to physically upgrade - heard stories that they are but wasn't sure if that applied to all machines of that brand!

Cisco001

Back up, factory restore.
Get another 1 x 2GB DDR2. This cost you £12 on ebay

maurice28

Cisco001 wrote: »

Back up, factory restore.
Get another 1 x 2GB DDR2. This cost you £12 on ebay

Great, thanks. Just a quick (possibly stupid) question: when I factory restore, will it go back to Windows Vista (which originally came with the system) or will it go back to Windows 7 as it was when I first upgraded?

I still have the Windows 7 disc so it's not a problem to reinstall it, but just wondered.

grumpycrab

maurice28 wrote: »

will it go back to Windows Vista (which originally came with the system)

yes it will. did you do an image of the C: drive after you put Windows7 and all its updates on? That would be the best plan.

maurice28

grumpycrab wrote: »

yes it will. did you do an image of the C: drive after you put Windows7 and all its updates on? That would be the best plan.

I have a vague memory of doing that, so hopefully I did yes! Thanks very much.

closed

did you buy an upgrade disc, get a free one, or a full version of W7

backup with macrium reflect free before you start, then if anything goes wrong you can recover the situation

jimmy_save

Note visit Crucial UK and use there memory selector to find out what you can fit. You don't have to buy from them but they do offer a guarantee it will work if you do.
Have two 1Gb sticks I'm about to throw away HP part number 446495-001 is there a forum you can use to give stuff away.

maurice28

closed wrote: »

did you buy an upgrade disc, get a free one, or a full version of W7

backup with macrium reflect free before you start, then if anything goes wrong you can recover the situation

I believe it was an upgrade version which I downloaded and burnt on a disc.

Thanks for the tip re: macrium, I'll give it a look.