Actual RAM max for Travelmate TM1872T?

I was reading a thread in another forum section about how some people have found that their notebooks actually will accept and use a larger amount of RAM than the manufacturers' specs specify.

As in my sig, I have an Acer Travelmate TM1872T, and although I can no longer find Acer's own specs for it, ISTR the maximum RAM was specified as 4GB. I downloaded Crucial's CrucialScan and that bears out a 4GB max.

I'd really like to bump up the RAM to 8GB, but don't want to lay out the cash for new 4GB DIMMs just to find the max really *is* hardwired at 4GB.

I live in Thailand and don't have what seems to be the luxury you guys have who routinely buy things from NewEgg and simply return them on a whim. Here, once you buy it, it's YOURS, unless of course it's defective, in which case it is replaced...

So. Has anybody tested running 6GB or 8GB on a TM8712T?

 

Well, as far as I was able to determine, with the introduction of Core i series, the maximum amount of RAM is no longer tied directly to the type of chipset, but rather the CPU you have/use.

According to Intel's information, the i3-380UM cpu supports maximum of 8GB... and since we are talking about DDR3 RAM, the price shouldn't really be large (around $50 if I'm not mistaken).

So, unless Acer made an artificial BIOS limitation in order to 'hardwire' the TM8172T to 4GB, you should be able to upgrade to 8GB (but I think the likelihood of this is quite slim).

Furthermore, Acer also said that the max. RAM capacity for my laptop was 4GB (along with various other websites), and I'm using 8GB comfortably (just installed it today) - and I knew the likelihood was good because my chipset supported it.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I'd read that reasoning on the other thread, hence my question if anybody has actually tried it on a TM1872T. That $50 is $50 that I'd probably rather not see go down the drain. That's a lot of som tam or phad thai.

 

Well, in regards to maximum ram support, I rather pay attention to what the cpu/chipset manufacturer (in this case, Intel) says, rather than the laptop manufacturer - although there have been cases where Intel themselves was wrong (at least in regards to successfully installing more RAM than even what they wrote in their datasheet).

Granted, there have been cases where BIOS was artificially limited in-spite of the hardware support, rendering a certain component useless.. but this was predominantly 'contained' within the CPU/gpu department.

Acer to my knowledge didn't really employ policy of artificial RAM limitation in their BIOS.

Furthermore, you could order from ebay and return the item if it doesn't work.
Here's the 1066 version:
8GB PC3-8500 1066MHZ DDR3 SODIMM 204-PIN MEMORY RAM | eBay

And the 1333Mhz version:
8GB PC3-10600 1333MHZ DDR3 SODIMM 204-PIN MEMORY RAM | eBay

Price-wise they are both identical, and this seller accepts returns (plus, I just got my DDR2 8GB RAM 800Mhz from that person yesterday - works excellent and was cheap).

Alternatively, you could get a 4GB stick in a regular store (or via ebay), remove 2GB stick from the laptop and see if it works with 6GB RAM.
If it does, just get another 4GB stick to upgrade to 8GB.
And if it doesn't work with 6GB... then put the new stick up for selling and that's it (plus if you get just a 4GB stick instead, you will likely spend less money... although sometimes getting a combo kit can be cheaper - depends on the store/seller).
It's your call really. I think it might be worth the 'risk' - and you can always sell it if it doesn't work.

 

I need to see how ebay works from Thailand these days, I guess. Last time I tried to set up an account (admittedly several years ago), there was some problem using a USA-issued credit card with an overseas billing address.

I did realize after the first post that I could get by with risking "only" $25 and buying one DIMM. I think I might do that.

I just went to the ebay links again, and realized the price for the RAM is the same as here in my little town in Thailand! Usually things are pricier here, even those that are manufactured here in Thailand. Something about they are only built for export, so they have to be shipped overseas, and then re-imported to Thailand, incurring not only shipping costs but customs duties.