2GB laptop memory (PC/Mac) for £22 delivered, and other memory bargains

Former_MSE_Lawrence

What's the deal?

The price of RAM has plummeted, especially for laptops, meaning you can now expand your computers memory for about £20 compared to about £90, which should supercharge its performance.

What is RAM?

In plain speak: a computer processor dictates its brain speed, the RAM memory size how much info it can hold at once without going to the hard drive. So more RAM speeds things up for intensive software (games, video playing, photo viewing, etc) or using many programmes at once. Often cheap laptops are sold with faster sounding processors, but they skimp on the RAM massively to the detriment of performance.

The Cheapest RAM for Laptops

The laptop memory deal is at 7dayshop.com, an electronics retailer which operates from Guernsey, and thus takes advantage of tax breaks (you pay no VAT on orders under £18).

Different laptops take different memory types, and two of these are currently very cheap. You can check if they'll fit your laptop using the free Memory Advisor Tool from Crucial. Just select the make and model from its drop-down lists.

• 7 Day Shop 2GB, £22 Delivered. SODIMM DDR2 667Mhz (PC2-5300)
• 7 Day Shop 2GB, £22 Delivered. SODIMM DDR2 800Mhz (PC2-6400)

These should work in many newer PC laptops, and Intel-based Macbooks/Macbook Pros. Compare this to the fact Apple charges £120 for 2 x 1GB memory upgrade modules (and £360 for 2 x 2GB ones!), and the savings could be massive.

Found even cheaper memory? Post below and I'll add it in here.

Cheapest RAM for Desktop Computers / Other laptops

There are so many different types of RAM its tough to pin point any one cheapest. Yet it's easy to find it cheaply.

• Start at Crucial. Crucial is one of the major players, so first use its Memory Advisor Tool to find what you need - and check its price; it's actually usually cheapest or near it.

• Other cheap suppliers. After that have a quick check at other cheap online PC component stores 7dayshop, ebuyer, dabs, microdirect, microwarehouse & aria. Be sure to factor in postage costs.

How to put the RAM in.

Laptops

It's generally easy to fit new memory into a laptop, though if you're really shaky with computers it still might be worth asking somebody else to do it for you (and obviously MoneySavingExpert.com can't accept responsibility for any problems).

It usually entails unscrewing a small panel on the bottom of your machine (whilst it's switched off and the battery's out, obviously) and sticking the new memory in the place of the old piece.

Always ensure you turn the laptop off first, and best to wait a few mintues. There's a small chance that static electricity might cause issues, so if this worries you get an anti-static wristband (example link I've not researched prices) or ensure you're grounded another way (ie, by touching something metal with your other hand throughout the process).

If you get stuck, read Crucial's Laptop Memory Installation Guide.

Desktops.

Installing new memory in a desktop's ever-so-slightly more difficult, as you'll have to open it up and find the relevant slots on its motherboard. (Again MoneySavingExpert.com can't accept responsibility for any problems).

MicroWarehouse has an excellent guide to buying and fitting memory in desktop computers. However, make sure you're aware of the potential warranty implications before trying it (see below).

Will it void my warranty?

Upgrading your laptop memory, provided you do so via the dedicated slot on the bottom of your machine, should not void your warranty.

Upgrading your desktop memory (assuming you bought your pc as an all-in-one unit, rather than building it yourself) is much more likely to void its warranty. Then again, are you still in the warranty period? Most only last a year unless you paid extra.

Some desktops have a void if broken seal on the case; breaking it'll (unsurprisingly) void the warranty, regardless of how knowledgeable you are, so check your PC's manual before upgrading.

Microsoft user? Be careful.

It's been reported below that XP & Vista may ask you to re-input your licence details after you upgrade, so ensure you have them handy just in case.

Anything else?

7dayshop also has some good deals on flash memory, as does Crucial.

-Lawrence

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krazykidskate

and a further 7% via Quidco for Crucial :beer:

bottleofsmoke

Just keep in mind that upgrading the RAM may need you to reactivate your Microsoft operating system (eg XP, Vista) licence. You will be prompted when your computer boots up again into Windows and it should reactivate over the Internet provided you have a live connection. However, you may need to phone Microsoft if you cannot reactive through your Internet connection. The phone number will be provided in the activation window that appears.

d123

bottleofsmoke wrote: »

Just keep in mind that upgrading the RAM may need you to reactivate your Microsoft operating system (eg XP, Vista) licence. You will be prompted when your computer boots up again into Windows and it should reactivate over the Internet provided you have a live connection. However, you may need to phone Microsoft if you cannot reactive through your Internet connection. The phone number will be provided in the activation window that appears.

I can second that, I bought 2GB RAM for my EeePC, when I rebooted after installing I got the "your hardware has changed" message.

I had to phone Microsoft to get a new code, no problems in getting it (they were pretty efficient at sorting it and it was a freephone number).

Just make sure you have your Windows code to hand when installing.

Dustangle

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

Laptops

Always ensure you turn the laptop off first, and best to wait a few mintues.

And don't forget to remove the battery.

:eek:

d123

Dustangle wrote: »

And don't forget to remove the battery.

:eek:

and touch something metal before touching the ram.

(it removes static electricity by grounding)

fuzzgun19

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_11&products_id=103355

I have a 4 month old Acer Desktop PC, would this RAM be ok for this?
How do you know it's compatable before you buy?

theonlyrick

All the information is already there:

"Different laptops take different memory types, and two of these are currently very cheap. You can check if they'll fit your laptop using the free Memory Advisor Tool from Crucial. Just select the make and model from its drop-down lists."



I think it's worth paying a couple more quid for branded RAM (eg Crucial, Kingston.)

You could even try direct from the manufacturer (Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc), but they will prob be much more expensive.

I think Crucial offer some tech support and a 5 year (or something) guarantee.

daveybuk

Is it possible to have too much RAM?

My macbook has 1256 at the moment.. a 1MB stick and one of the original 256MB.

If I put 2x2MB in there, presumably it would work like lightning.... but can you overload the processor or anything like that?

BillScarab

You cannot overload the processor by putting in too much RAM. However some machines are limited to how much memory they will recognise, e.g. 1Gb or 2GB so check this before buying. Also be aware of the law of diminishing returns. If you go from 256Mb of memory to 1GB you will notice a big difference, but going from 1Gb to 2Gb will be far less noticable.

Crucial are a good site to buy from as if you buy memory recommended by them and it turns out to be the wrong memory they will refund/replace. They also have a limited lifetime warranty on their memory.

Perosnally I've never had to re-activate windows when changing memory, it's usually for things like motherboards or CPU's but it is something to be aware of.

Also not all laptops have a handy panel underneath to get at the memory, I seem to remember on some you have to remove the keyboard.

batvink

My macbook has 1256 at the moment.. a 1MB stick and one of the original 256MB.

If I put 2x2MB in there, presumably it would work like lightning.... but can you overload the processor or anything like that?

I think you're confusing your MBs with your GBs :rolleyes:

You can't overload the processor. You can exceed the maximum memory possible for your hardware, at which point the rest will become "invisible" to the system. It's all to do with address sizes, but that's a topic in itself.

You can "overload" your disk drive, at least in Windows (I'm not a Mac user). If your memory exceeds the spare capacity you have on disk, you will no longer be able to hibernate, as there's no room to dump the memory onto disk.

More memory can help prolong the life of your hard disk as well as improve performance. I'm not talking predictable longevity, but the fact that you are no longer paging memory onto disk as much will reduce the activity of the drive. In all likelihood, you'll outgrow the disk before you break it, so don't hang your decision on this point.