M1710 - new drive / more RAM

The prices for RAM are pretty cheap these days.
My notebook has two 512 chips. I was thinking of pulling one and adding a 2GB chip.
Would the remaining 512 add anything, or would it slow it down?
Would two 2GB chips be significantly better than 1 2GB? I know Windows can't use the full 4GB.

Also, on the Dell site I saw a 100GB 7200RPM hard drive. Currently I have a 60GB 5400.
Would this new drive be a significant improvement?
Also, is there any way to move the current files to the new drive? I just finished rebuilding it and it has a lot of programs on it.

Tanks in advance.

Cliff

 

2.5gb of ram will always be better 2gb. The single stick of 512mb ram shouldn't slow anything down (unless the speed of the 512mb stick is significantly lower than the 2gb stick). Make sure they both run at the same speed.
As for the hard drive, yes, the 100gb 7200rpm will be much faster than your current 60gb drive. However, keep in mind that a 250gb 5400rpm will perform much better than the 100gb 7200rpm
To transfer files, I find using an external hard drive the easiest option. Simply slip your old hard drive into a 2.5" enclosure (you can get it from newegg for for about $10-20) and start copying to your new hard drive.

 

Is the M1710 the laptop that cant use 2gb sticks? I don't remember on that...but saying it does, 2x1gb chips would be faster than 1x2gb but 2x2gb would be best even though it cant use it all. It may or may not be noticeable to go above 2gb depending on what you do on your laptop but for me where i have no less than 10 applications open at a time its nice to have.

7200 rpm drive are faster than 5400 ones. YOu can buy they possibly cheaper elsewhere such as tigerdirect or newegg also. It just has to be a 2.5" sata hard drive and it will work in your laptop. THe lager the drive of the same rotational speed the faster it will be. (250gb 7200rpm is much faster than a 100gb 7200 and yes you will notice the difference greatly buy upgrading your hard drive.

Edit: you can not transfer installed programs...just your personal documents/music/movies and the like. You will need to reinstall windows, your drivers, and programs on the new drive. It will be worth it as your computer will be much faster.

 

Wow, you guys are awesome, terrific replies and so fast.

The M1710 can take two 2GB, so that may be the way I go.

I looked at the Seagate Momentus 7200.2 on newegg. It looks pretty nice, and a couple of the reviews talked about using DiskWizard from Seagate to clone the existing drive onto the new one. Is this a good idea, or is it better to start all over (again).

Is this a decent drive?

 

I would start over. It will get rid of all the garbage that has accumulated over time.

That drive looks great.