Which Memory Upgrade for XPS m1210?

Hi all,

I got my XPS m1210 at the end of last year (in LARGE part thanks goes to the community on here!). Love it...especially for travel!

Anyway...I initially got 1GB RAM. But so far, the laptop is running close to my 3 yr old 600m in speed - just feels a little sluggish. I figured a bump to 2GB RAM would be the biggest change I could make (unless anyone disagrees).

However, on Dell's site...they offer TWO different 1GB sticks:

1GB PC2-5300/667 MHz, DDR2 200-PIN SODIMM
and
1GB, PC2-4200 / 533 MHz, Standard SODIMM

For some reason, the 5300 is $20 CHEAPER than the 4200. But shouldn't that be the "better" memory to get? What am I missing? Not really sure which option I should be going with. I'd assume the higher numbers are better mem?

Thanks in advance!

MM

 

It's possible that latency and other specs are abysmal on the cheaper (but 'faster') stick(s). The other thing is that generic brand memory is a lot cheaper to buy than name brand ones.

Why don't you post the link(s) to those two sticks, and we can tell you exactly why the 'better' one is cheaper?

 

Buying from DELL is generally much more expensive than buying outside. You can buy 2GB (2 x 1GB sticks) from newegg starting at USD 134; a very good branded 667MHz pair for around USD 190. A single 1GB stick from DELL costs close to 130 , isn't it ?

 

Thanks for your feedback guys. Here are the two Dell offers:

$84.99/1GB
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?ref=myaccount&sku=A0913194&c=us&s=bsd&l=en&cs=04


$139.00/1GB
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?ref=myaccount&sku=A0743854&c=us&s=bsd&l=en&cs=04

Not sure which specs are the best ones to go with. Not as concerned with price as speed/quality.

Thanks!

 

When you say that latency might be abysmal, are you talking about the CL number?

I just bought 2 GB of Hynix PC5300 RAM for my M1210 for 20000 yen (roughly 180-190 USD) which is a great deal here in Japan, and the CL # is 1.

How much of a difference will it actually make?

 

CAS latency, for DDR2 667 is usally 5 to 5.5, I've seen some high end desktop modules with CAS of 3, and it makes a fairly dramatic performance impact, the lowest notebook module I've seen has had a CAS of 4, and benchmarks didnt differ very much from the run of the mill.

It often times doesnt matter to terribly much for notebooks, as your hands are usually tied in the bios, the timings are usally factory set, and they are far from aggressive.

 

... plus laptops use dividers most of the time for memory so it almost never runs at full speed.
I would get the lowest price memory I could find. It won't make a difference. In fact I might suggest to go for 2GB SODIMM hunting if your laptop supports them. Bought mine for around the same price as 1GBX2. You will loose the dual channel if you don't upgrade to 4gb at once but at least you will be future proof and you can always get another 2gb later.

 

So which of those two links above would you buy?

Thanks!
MM

 

looks like there is only a couple dollars difference

 

Look when that post was...

 

Damn, what a difference just a couple months make