Best memory for Lenovo T520?

Thanks to all in advance for your advice!
I just bought a Lenovo T520 with the minimum memory (because it didn't seem worth the price of the upgrade on their site):
VBB 2GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM
That's too little, of course.

If it's not too expensive, I'd love to max it out; even if it turns out to be more expensive than I think, I definitely want to upgrade.

To state the obvious, the fastest and most efficient memory that matches the machine.

Thanks again!

 

Theoretically all Sandy Bridge notebooks support 8 GB per DIMM, so your theoretical max is 16 GB. Of course it's still obscenely expensive, your best bet is to get a 8 GB kit and just be done with it. Any name brand with a lifetime warranty will do, Crucial, Corsair, Kingston, GSkill, etc. Avoid like those Wintec or no name RAM manufacturers.

 

Thanks, Tsunade.
Follow-ups, though:
Let's say I went for 8GB rather than 16.
Best to have 4 & 4, or 8 & 0?
Would 8 and one stick of what it comes with (1 or 2) be better or worse than 8 and 0 (or 4 & 4)?
And are there any other memory parameters I should be concerned about?

 

What type of programs are you running on your system? 8GB should be more than sufficient for majority of users, so no need to max out. I would just get a 2x4GB kit since that is the most cost effective for the performance. A single 8GB stick would cost easily 5 times the entire 2x4GB kit and providing less performance due to single channel operation (assuming you're running integrated graphics).

 

sgo, thanks!
But... how do I decide WHICH 2x4GB kit out of those that are compatible?

 

Also, the advantage of an 8GB stick is that, if I ever did decide to max the machine out, I wouldn't have to buy 2 8GB sticks and throw the 2x4GB sticks away.
But perhaps that's just not worth considering?

 

Considering DDR3 has been the standard, the 8 GB kit you buy wouldn't be in vain. 8 GB DIMMs have dropped significantly, you can get 32 GB in the Alienware systems for ~1800 dollars. Before Sandy Bridge, only the M6500/8470W/W701 offered 32 GB RAM for 8600 dollars.

Again any 8 GB kit from companies like Crucial, Corsair, Kingston should work. As long as it POSTs and passes several rounds of memtest. Sandy Bridge quad core i7's now support DDR3 1600, and the i3/i5 natively support 1333.

 

Tsunade, thanks again!
FYI, Lenovo says that the Sandybridge PROCESSOR supports 8/slot, but that the machine supports 4/slot.

I'm taking your advice and I think I'm going with the Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model KHX1600C9S3K2/8GX, then.

Does that seem like a good choice?

 

Yes, any 2x 4GB PC3-12800 (1600MHz effective) SODIMM kit whether by Kingston or Crucial will do the trick. No need to go buying directly from Lenovo. Sticking to even pairs means you'll get dual channel mode active on all your RAM - in practise this means you'll get a memory throughput boost over going with just one SODIMM. It's not a difference as in night and day but given a choice you should also make use of it.

I very much doubt you'll benefit with adding more than 8GB at this stage so 2x 4GB is your best choice.