Inspiron 1720 Vista Ram Upgrading ??

Ive had a little search and read various threads and im researching what and how i upgrade the ram and whats best and what i need, im just not 100% clear on this and would appriciate some help please

i read someone say somewhere if you had 2gig on xp, then thats like a gig on vista ? rams only cheap anyway so i wanna just upgrade it so im running the optimal/best for vista and gaming etc

do i need any more than 3gig really for vista 32 ?

i have 2 x 1024 in mine, would that be 1 stick in each slot and theres 2 slots ? 1 in the back (where is this ??) and 1 under the keyboard , is that correct ? or can i buy another 1 gig stick and put it in somewhere ? or do i have to buy a 2gig stick and replace one of the 1 gigs ?

also im in the uk, what is the exact ram i need and is there a difference between brands in terms of performanmce and quality of the ram or anything like that ??

thanks folks !!

 

Vista has a very high resource overhead, so a computer with 2gig of RAM running XP will almost always have less RAM free under Vista. You cant have any more than 3.2gig of RAM on Vista 32 anyway so upgrading any higher than that is pointless unless you're willing to invest in a 64-bit operating system. I have never seen or heard of a laptop with more than 2 RAM slots so to upgrade your machine you will have to remove one of your existing sticks. I've also never heard of a laptop with RAM slots in different places, try looking for the service manual for your machine to find out where the RAM cover is.

Grand Admiral

 

I'm about to get my own 1720 too and I think 3gb is plenty for vista.

I'm pretty sure there's only 2 slot in the 1720. That means that if u want 3 gb RAM u'd have to buy a 2 gb stick to replace one of the 1gb it came with. About the location of the RAM slots, I think someone posted pictures on *exactly* how to change the RAMs. It's in the stickied thread I think.

Not sure about UK but for starters, I recommend looking on newegg.com for RAM.

Hope this helps!

 

thanks for the replies

im pretty sure it is only 2 slots, so if i have to replace a 1gig with a 2, thats a shame but to be it, il just put the stick on ebay anyone from here in the uk got need for it drop me a IM, 3gig will be fine anyway just to have that extra oomph, having 2gig with my old atix700 improved gaming a lot, so im hoping an extra gig in here will give me some extra power too

the manuals are in the box and ive stashed it away which is pants, but i have the pdf manual im just gonna look through in a min

does anyone know if theres a difference in performance in brands ? and anyone know the best 2 gig stick deal to buy in the uk ?

 

I'm running 3GB in my 1720 and it seems to run really well. One of the Memory slots is under the panel marked M on the bottom, that is the one I swapped out so I didn't have to remove the keyboard. In theory there is a slight memory speed penalty for running mismatched sticks (not running in dual channel mode). I know on older mobile chipsets it didn't seem to make a difference I haven't seen any comparisons on the current chipset.

 

^^^
Thats why I upgraded my current laptop to 4GB - just so the pair wouldnt be mismatched - then again I got the RAM for free anyways!

I always like to upgrade the RAM under the keyboard TBH - it means that any future upgrade will be quick and easy

 

4gig will cost me around £90, and i could sell the 2 gig sticks i have for maybe £40 , so thats not too bad really

id rather just put 1 gig in the bottom easy access slot tho n save messing about taking the keyboard out etc

so is there any way i can check what exact ram i have so i can get a perfect match 2gig stick ? is that what your saying so theres no loss in speed ?