Upgrading ram questions

soo i was thinking of getting a nice 1 gig ram stick for my semi new laptop but i relly have no idea what to get for it. So ill tell you guys what my owners manual says and, if you like, you can help me make sense of it.

memory connectors: two SODIMM connectors
memory capacities: 256, 512, 1gb ,2 gb
memory type: 1.8-v SODIMM DDR-2
min memory:256
max memory:2gb

Also its a Dell inspiron 6400 if that matters


Important points!
-What i need to look for that enshures the ram will fit my computer
-Im not shure whats brands are quality or best value vs quality brand


(oh if there is a thread that explains this please point it out to me. I dont know how to search the forums old posts with out actually looking through all them)

 

how much ram do you have now?

you need to make sure you are buying "laptop ram" it is smaller than the regular ram and goes in at a 45 degree angle... i think. I'm also new to the laptop world, but heres an example of laptop ram.

You need to figure out if you can handle DDR2 ram and whether or not 667mhz is right for you.

http://www.milestonepc.com/canada/index.php?cPath=132_193_211

 

Your laptop supports up to 2GB of RAM between the two slots that it has. That means a max of 1GB in each slot, making 2GB, or 2GB in one slot (although this option is more expensive and pointless).

Start off your researches at newegg.com. They have a search system that allows you to narrow down products according to specs (notebook/laptop memory, DDR2, 1GB are your starting criteria). I can't tell you for sure what speed your RAM operates at, but you can try DDR2 400 (PC2 3200) or DDR2 533 (PC2 4200). Since you said your laptop is semi-old, it's probably the slower of the two.
Here are the criteria you need to match when searching:
slot type (200-pin in this case)
RAM type (DDR2 in this case)
RAM speed (400/533MHz depending)

Watch out for what brand you buy - quality assurance is hit-and-miss in this game, but manufacturers such as Crucial, Kingston, or Corsair tend to test theirs more and thus charge more. Disregard the price if it's just a $30 difference for the brand name.

 

id perfer to get the best ram speed if the price is resonable but as it stands i can only get one or the other depending on the motherboard? or does it rely on what ram i already have with my system?

oh the computer is not relly old, somewhere along the lines of 6-8 months but not relly new
(thanks for your replys guys!)

 

Run PC Wizard or some other diagnostic to find out the speed of your RAM. It's best to buy a chip of the system recommended speed.

 

ok that PC Wizard is awesome, according to it

RAM max. Support : DDR2 (667 MHz)

but my current Ram is
2X 256
Type : DDR2-SDRAM PC2-4300 (266 MHz)

so how does this change my shopping are your previous 2 suggestions still good ideas and will they still work with this or should i go for a ddr2 667MHz thingy, heh.

 

Your machine will be fastest if you use two identically timed RAM sticks in each socket, at 2 x 1GB. Definately go for DDR2 667Mhz, even you go with a lower about of memory than the full 2GB. Keep in mind that using two sticks rather one than one increases performance (marginally).

 

You need to bear in mind what applications you run on your laptop. If you run memory intensive programs (programs which you feel are running slowly on your computer at present) or that you know are intensive such as CAD Modelling or Video Editing, then I would go for 2GB. If all you do is basic tasks such as Music and Microsoft office, then I would just upgrade to 1GB as you won't notice a huge difference in speed, running basic programs between 1Gb and 2Gb of RAM.

With Intensive programs, there will be a significant difference in speed.

A 1GB kit of RAM from Crucial costs $162.99.

The 2GB kit of RAM from Crucial costs $333.99.

You need to decide for yourself wether you are prepared to spend the extra money on the 2GB kit. It sounds like you don't need the 2Gb kit though and if I were you I would go with the cheaper option.

Both the RAM kits I suggested run at 667Mhz so buying the RAM will not be a bottleneck in performance for your laptop.