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    Upgrading RAM -- before vs. after purchase

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by gd-student, Apr 21, 2006.

  1. gd-student

    gd-student Notebook Consultant

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    Having roamed around these forums for a week or so I have learned that laptop vendos overprice the RAM they stick into your customized or a pre-configured notebook.

    This begs the question: does one select/customize his notebook with minimum amount of RAM (e.g. 512mb today) and later upgrade as needed (e.g. up to 2gb as I would)? Or, is it in some ways better to select a near perfect to the desired amount upon buying the computer (say 1gb) and perhaps later upgrade to amount desired (2gb)?
     
  2. ejl

    ejl fudge

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    i would say get the lowest configuration and then upgrade to what you want.
     
  3. titaniummd

    titaniummd Notebook Deity

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    This will depend on the number of slots you have for RAM. Ideally the fewer slots you take up the easier it would be to upgrade. It is more economical to upgrade with 3rd party RAM.
     
  4. gd-student

    gd-student Notebook Consultant

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    Say the usual count in Sager's notebooks (e.g. NP5320C or NP5720C models) -- whatever that number may be. Aren't two slots the standard for notebooks?
     
  5. titaniummd

    titaniummd Notebook Deity

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    Yes, in most cases there are only two. If you got 512 MB of RAM on two DIMMS/SIMMS then you can only go up to 1.3 GB if you took out one stick.

    It's alway best, if economically feasible, to get one DIMM/SIMM. The difference between 1 DIMM and 2 DIMMS on the D620 was $10; stroke of luck for me.