Latitude D420 - Max memory?

Hi,

I have Dell D420.
I was going to upgrade the memory with a 2gb stick.

I was wondering if I was going to actually get 2gb of memory and the dedicated 512mb would go to the video, or if I would get 2gb minus what the video card needs?

Thank you

 

What do you mean by "the dedicated 512mb"?

You'll get 2 gb minus what the video card needs... BUT the video card doesn't need much. For normal desktop use, the video card needs about 8 mb (or maybe less). For a flashy desktop like Vista Aero, it may use more like 64 mb.

Yeah, it CAN use up to 300 mb if it needs to, but for normal desktop application use it doesn't need to. And I don't think you'll be doing that much 3D gaming on a D420 anyway.

1280 * 800 * 4 = 4,096,000 = about 4 mb. So that's about how many bytes of RAM are needed to display a 1280 x 800 desktop in 32-bit color (4 bytes per pixel).

If you set it to 16-bit color, it'll only use 2 mb, and you'll never notice the difference on an LCD screen.

 

On the D420, it has a dedicated 512mb memory stick and one expansion slot.
But I've read that the only way to get 2gb of memory was to actually use a 2gb stick, but the computer would only see 2gb, and not 2,5gb.

I just wanted to know what would happen to the rest of 512mb of memory.

 

Oh I see... yeah I don't know. Apparently the integrated ram goes unused. Whether the video chip could use it or not, I'm not sure, but the amount of RAM used by the video chip is negligible anyway.

 

I could be wrong, but I thought I saw somewhere that the max RAM a D420 could have is 1.5 GB.

 

I've found specs that say either 1.5 or 2048MB, or both, such as THIS at Dell.

 

Hmm, looks like you're right!

 

It's clearly confusing!