What Ram do I need?

Hey guys,

I want to upgrade my netbook to 2gig of ram, but there are so many specifications for ram that I'm not sure what one I need.

This is the netbook I have (hp mini 5103, n475):

HP Mini 5103 (ENERGY STAR) (XP881PA) specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products


All it says about the stock memory is this:

1 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
All memory modules operate at the maximum system supported speed of 667 MHz

1 SODIMM

When I've looked on the websites of various hardware places I've encountered a lot of specifications that I don't know the meaning off (e.g. non-buffered, non-ECC, 200 vs 204 pins, etc.).

I'm just not sure if all these specs are important or not or if anything that says ddr3 and sodim will be fine. Any help anyone can give me would be much appreciated, I've googled for ages but haven't been able to find anything useful clear this up for me.

Cheers!

 

The most important spec is 'DDR3' and 204pin Sodimms - just find the cheapest lifetime warrantied RAM module you can buy and it will work.

I'll guess that the cheapest will be the 1333 MHz modules at this time, but I wouldn't hesitate to purchase 1067 or 1600 MHz modules if the price (shipped) was markedly cheaper.

Good luck.

 

Thanks,

Do you happen to know if it makes any difference whether it's for PC or Mac? I can get a 2 gig stick of this cheap at a place just down the road. It says it's for Mac, but does it really make a difference?

G.SKILL-Products

 

In my experience, no.

But make sure they have a no fee return policy if you do try it.

Also, with any new component, make sure to run a stress test (Memtest) on it overnight to be sure that it is working error free before you miss any return/exchange window opportunities.

 

Thanks for the tip, Is there a memtest utility would you recommend? (I've never done it before)

 

While most recommend this:

See:
Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic


I prefer running multiple versions (instances) of this inside Windows:

See:
MemTest: RAM reliability tester for Windows


The difference is that not only are you testing your RAM module(s) you've just purchased, but also the interaction with the Windows drivers too with the second link.

Hope this helped.

 

Yeah that's great, thanks! Really appreciate all the advice.