Ram Question

SO, I have an i-5 m11x on the way. It is being shipped with 2 bg of ram. I assuming this mean 2, 1 gb sticks of ram. If I want to upgrade to 4 gigs is it better too buy one 4 gig stick (so that I can later add another 4) or 2 2 gig sticks, and then have to buy two more 4 gigs for future upgrade?

this is what I was looking at

Newegg.ca - AllComponents 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model AC3/SO1066X64/4096

 

Yea its going to be two 1gb sticks. Correct me if im wrong but you need to have two sticks ? so go with two 2GB sticks. OR if your playing on upgrading later just save and get two 4gb sticks !

 

Well I don't NEED 2 sticks, but would 2 2gig sticks be just as good as one 4 gig stick?

 

You want to use matched pairs of RAM modules. 2x2GB is superior to 1x4GB sticks, because of dual-channel mode.

 

Test Results: Single Vs. Dual Channel RAM : Parallel Processing, Part 2: RAM and HDD

Slightly superior at the cost of more expensive upgrade in the future since you'd have to add 2x4gb RAM instead of just a single 4gb stick.

Up to you to decide which is more important.

 

Well according to those results the increase in performance is only slight.. I am thinking of just getting a single module of 4gb, and then later get another 4gb...

 

why wouldn't you want to take advantage of the dual-channel mode? you'll never use the 4gb anyways. It would be best to have the two 2gb sticks working together.

 

Just buy a used 2x 2GB kit from someone who recently upgraded to 2x 4GB.
Someone like me, except in Canada.

 

Agree.

Most people are not going to use more than 4GB of RAM on any computer you own for the next few years. The only exception to this rule are people who run databases or Virtual Machines on their laptops.

Going 1x4GB stick is just getting yourself ready for an upgrade that will never happen. Just stick to the 2x2GB, to get the speed boost of dual-channel mode.

 

If your planning on using the 8gb RAM, then just get two 4gb sticks. no use dogging down your system with a single stick to just later get another. another issue you could run into is that if you get one model of the 4gb stick ( brand, size, speen, etc.) when it comes time when your ready to buy another 4GB stick, you might not find the extact stick again = not good lol

 

another problem with buying another 4gb later is you can run into trouble since it won't be matched.

 

There's also an exception for those of use that use laptops for audio or video editing. I use mine frequently for digital audio production and DJing. The more clips or samples I can have loaded up in RAM and ready to go, the better.

On that note, just ordered two 4GB Crucial modules from Newegg. Pretty stoked.

 

this is what i was trying to explain. this is a no no

 

Yeah, well one of the things I wanted to use the laptop for was running both windows 7 and mac os in virtual machine. Give both 4 gigs to each. That way I can do some recording with logic, and still have all the features of windows.... But maybe going 2x2gb would be fine for at least a year or two

 

2x 2GB ain't bad. That's how my first machine was running, and how I purchased this one.
I just max'ed my out at 8 while it's cheap.
I will end up w/ VMs on this machine, so 8GB will become more necessary down the line.

 

You cant physically dedicate RAM to things.

 

Don't know why we need to be "delicate" about RAM , but most VM environments will let you set how much RAM to provide to a Guest OS.

 

***dedicate /
\
right but just because you havee two 4GB sticks dosent mean 4Gb is going to go too one OS in the VM, and the other on the native OS.

 

The amount will be split, but not the physical memory.

Is that what you/we are getting at?

 

This is what I mean, Just set 4 for each...........