Inspirion 6000

i just purchased dell's inspirion 6000 and it is terrbile... i dont know if it is the way it is suposed to be or i just got a factory mess up. it is extremely slow and takes a decent amount of time to open any daily used programs. i dont know if maybe i should have got a better processor becuase i kept it standard. please help. if there is any thing i can do to make it faster, i am up for suggestions, thank you.

 

how much ram?

if it's at least 512 and slow, reformat

 

i memory is ram then its 256mb... and what is reformating? .. should i just return this and go to a 600m and upgrade to a intel celeron m processor 750 and 1 gb of ram? or just upgrade my current notebook to 1 gb of ram if that is even possible? im lost in all this computer stuff so i appreciate the help.

 

you can't run 256 megs of ram with xp. 512 is the minimum.

you need to buy more ram. at the minimum another 256. 1 gb total would be peachy.

 

reformating means wiping your HD clean and reinstalling windows and your desired applications. this is recommended because OEMs ship their computers with lots of bloatware (unnessary applications, compressed executables, etc.).

there is a sticky on reformating in this forum that SouthernGirl made that is comprehensive and will help you step thru the reformat process should you elect to do so.

as i said above, running 256 megs of RAM with xp is an exercise in futility. you need 512 minimum and 1 GB will make you happy.

newegg.com, search for pc2 4200 200 pin ram to find a good deal.

 

thank you so much. so other then that the inspiron is fine? or do you think the 600m is a better choice?

 

yes, i have the 1.6 cpu in an i6000 and it runs just fine.

it's not the laptop or the cpu, it's your amount of ram that is making things unworkable

 

thats a big help .. thank you

 

no prob, good luck

 

one more thing.. i went to the website and under search i eneterd "pc2 4200 200 pin ram" and nothing came up... is that what i should be looking for and purchasing exactly.. i have no idea what this thing is, what it should look like, and where it goes....

 

clicky clicky

any of those are what you want

 

just an fyi

your notebook is capable of running RAM at either 400 mhz or 533 mhz. 533 is obviously faster. however, dell ships with 400 mhz ram. if you elect to purchase the 533 mhz memory (which is actually cheaper than the slower ram), and you install the 533 ram alongside the 400, then both chips will run at 400.

example, you have 256 right now running at 400. you buy a 256, 512 or 1 gb chip that runs at 533 and install it. you leave the 400 chip in there so you have 256 + 256/512/1GB, your RAM speed will default to the slower speed. if you take the 256 out and ONLY have the 533 chip in there, it will run at 533. you have to decide whether you want the "extra" 256 that came with your laptop and sacrifice some speed or whether you want faster, but less ram.

another note is that if you purchase 2 identical chips, your laptop will run in 'dual channel' mode which gives a performance boost. example, you buy 2 512 chips for a total of 1GB, remove the 256 (you have to anyway since you only have 2 ram slots), then your 2 x 512 will run faster than just a single 1 GB chip.

again, you have to decide if the costlier purchse (2 x 256/512/1GB) is worth the performance increase or if the cheaper solution of just 1 512 or 1 1GB chip is enough for you.

arguably, the performance increases (either the 400 vs. 533 and/or 'dual channel' performance increases) are not that noticeable in daily tasks.

 

so your saying that 2 512 mhz are better then 1 gb and will run faster...

 

yes, 2 512 chips running at 533 will run in dual channel mode and will be faster then just a single 1 gb chip running at 533. again, it's costlier to buy 2 512 chips, so you have to decide if the speed difference is worth the cost. if you're running a total of 1 GB of ram (with either 1x1GB or 2x512GB), it's going to be plenty speedy and any speed gain on top of running 1GB total will probably not be noticeable to you.

so, it's cost vs. performance, although probably not that much more performance since 1 GB is a pretty good amount of RAM. the decision is yours.

 

and what should i buy to make it run at 533 mhz of ram instead of the 400 mhz?
and if i keep it at 400 and buy the 2 512 will it be that big of a difference or is it worth making it run at 533?

 

in order to run @ 533, you have to physically remove the existing 256 chip that's in your computer and run only 533 ram.

if you want my recommendation, i would say get a single 1 GB chip from newegg and get rid of your existing 256. you'll be running 1 GB at 533, but not in dual channel mode.

it'll probably set u back about 110ish.

if you want to go on the cheap, get less (like 512 or 256) and just add it to your existing ram, then you'll have a total of 512 or 768 running @ 400.

edit: note that you only have 2 slots for ram, so you can only have a total of 2 chips in your laptop at a time.

 

ok thank you so much. you were a huge help.

 

Real quick question... does the 533 mhz thing apply for the Inspiron 9300 as well? I just purchased a 9300 with basic 256 MB of RAM, but I also bought a 1 GB stick from newegg.com. Should I take out the existing 256 stick of RAM and just replace it with the 1 GB or should I let them run side by side?

 

same thing applies to 9300

if you leave the 256 in along with the 1 GB chip, both will run @ 400...

your choice is between...

1. 1.256 GB running @ 400 mhz
or
2. 1GB running @ 533 mhz

your call

 

hi there!

just last week i went to a local shop that offers to upgrade ram and check right there if its working. i went for 2gb pc-4300. the ones from the manufacturer they had there did not work. now i ordered some other ones and waiting for those to arrive. i'll then go there again and check if they will run.

how can this be? i'm pretty much a noob with hardware..