Inspiron 1300/B130 RAM optimization?

I have an Inspiron 1300/B130 with the Centrino 1.7 ghz and 512k ram. I recently saw a good deal on a 1gb RAM and bought it so I know have about 1.5 gb RAM but I don't really notice any significant speed increase, not that it was so bad to begin with. I mostly use the laptop for internet, email and some office applications. How can the optimum amount of RAM be determined for these requirements on this laptop. Am I ok with the 512, 1.0 gb, higher or is there a break even point where any increase won't make any tangible difference?

 

Considering your uses, you have plenty of RAM. Most likely you aren't going to notice a huge difference in speed because that is more related to your processor, not the RAM. More RAM allows you more memory to run programs, so you can run several programs at once with out causing problems on your system. I like to use the traffic jam analogy - if you use too many programs, and don't have enough memory, then you get a traffic jam.

For most users that use their laptops for email/internet, normally 1gb is plenty for RAM. Gamers and some other applications (like Adobe Photoshop CS) require 2.0gb of RAM, but it doesn't seem like you would gain any benefits with 2.0gb.

I have 1.5, and I rarely use more than 1gb of RAM at a time. XP takes about 512mb depending on your setup, so you'll probably be using around 750mb of RAM on your normal day to day tasks.

SG

 

Thanks for the reply. How do you know how much RAM your system is using? As I am typing, task manager shows 538MB as Corel working in the background but is there an average somwehere? I read about pairing up ram yesterday for optimization, don't know how much that really matters. Oddly enough, Dell states that the max ram on this system is 1.0 gb when it really seems to be 2.0 gb. Maybe they know something we don't. So am I better off pairing up another 512 or just leaving it a 1.5gb?

 

Anyone have any experinces with the B130 using 1.0 GB and then 1.5 GB of RAM. If so, is there a difference or is the 1.0 GB sufficient for most tasks? Any reason Dell specifies 1 GB is the max when it appears that it is 2.0 GB?

 

If you are doing just basic stuffs, like Word, Internet, email, etc. 512 MB is enough. When I went from 512 MB to 1 GB, I did not any chances in performance when I was doing basic stuffs. I need 1 GB because I am doing some video and audio editing.

Oh, my sister got a B130 as well, she is fine with 512 MB.

JC

 

Thanks NetBrakr. I have been using 1.5 GB for the last 4 days. Starting tomorrow I will try using just 512K afor the next couple of days to see if there is any difference but I think you are right. I have been tryng to figure out why the PF usage is showing 687 MB, I though that was the RAM usage and if so then I was thinking that 512 was not enough.

 

Well tunrs out I didn't really see any significant difference between using 1.5GB ram and 512 in terms of speed. If anything, perhaps it may be even faster for internet use with only 512k, at least at start up, seems that the websites start loading quicker although this could also be linked to the wireless reception at any given time. Perhaps the dual channel 512k could be the sweet spot as some have mentioned taking this unit to 1.0gb.

 

Ok please note the following. You keep on referring 512k.

1000 bits = 1 byte.
1000 bytes = 1 kilobyte
1000 kilobytes = 1 megabyte
1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte

So, I know youre referring to 512 MB, not 512K, or else, your computer is gonig to be INSANELY slow.

JC