Will upgrading from 1GB RAM to 2GB make a difference?

Hi, I have an hp dv4000 (integrated video and Intel centrino 1.6). I upgraded it from 512MB to 1GB shortly after I bought it. That made a big difference. I was wondering if anyone has experience with going from 1GB to 2GB? I don't play video games. I mainly use this laptop for work. So I often have my email client open (which has tons of emails on it), IE7 (with multiple tabs), Firefox, AIM, OpenOffice, and sometimes Photoshop elements too and maybe ftp.

From my experience there seems to be sort of a RAM sweet spot for every platform and going over that doesn't really make a significant performance improvement.

What do you all think?

 

Yes id estimate about 30% increase which is very noticeable

 

Definitely makes a difference. Go for it.

 

I agree with above you will likely see improvement. Especially because you have integrated graphics. Does your HDD light blink much (Page File hits) that indicates more RAM could help. If XP 1GB I believe used to be the "sweet spot" but with 2GB costing $40 kind of makes it easier to justify even for small improvement.

 

If you have Windows Vista, yes it will definitely make a difference. If you have Windows XP, I don't think there will be much difference in your usage. Of course it also depends how much stuff you load up into memory at the start up (or how full your memory is to begin with before apps start to fill it).

 

Certainly.

 

Thanks guys!

 

When your working with such a low amount of RAM such as 1gb. A 100% increase in RAM will DEFINATELY be noticeable as everybody said. However when you upgrade from say 3GB to 4GB the difference will be much LESS noticeable

 

It'll make a difference if you're actually running out of RAM - otherwise it won't.

If you're running XP it's easy to tell, just open device manager (windows key + BREAK) and click the memory tab. This shows you the amount of RAM in use, and if it's not close to 1GB then any extra RAM is unnecessary.

You can also easily tell by checking how much HDD activity you have when you're working. If there isn't much, you have enough RAM, whereas if the disc grinds away every time you switch between apps, then you don't.

Sometimes I get the impression people think that more RAM automatically makes things faster, like having a faster CPU would. It doesn't.

If your bookshelf is big enough to hold all the books you ever need, then you never need waste time going to the library to return some and check out others - and having an even bigger bookshelf won't help you work any faster. Same goes for RAM.

 

I had 1.25GB, and on occasions it did run out which was rather annoying, 2GB for me is kind of a safe bet, no chance of it running out in XP.

 

Great post. I agree whole heartedly.

If you are running Vista, you can also put a widget (or is it a gadget) on your desktop that monitors CPU and memory utilization.

 

What Tab are you talking about in Device Manager? Do you mean Task Manager? Still does not offer what you say. So as already mentioned, yea HDD activity is not good. Please elaborate.

 

AndyC_772 is correct. If you aren't using all the RAM you already have, more won't give any additional benefits. The easiest way to check is to open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Escape), go to the performance tab, and see what "Available" reads under "Physical Memory (K)". If this is below 25,000 or so at some point, you probably would benefit from more RAM. Otherwise, you won't get any benefit.

Note that you should test this when your system has near the maximum number of programs that you use at once running. Hard drive activity is a less reliable indicator - it will be much higher if you're running out of RAM, but it also will be high when you've got anti-virus scans or something like that running.

 

Theoretically yes, but have you practically tried upgrading your ram by 1 gig? It really does make a difference all around

 

I upgraded and it didn't make any difference.
I only did it because it's cheap and eventually one day i'll change to vista (or not).

 

Sorry guys, I was running Ubuntu at the time and didn't have XP to hand to double check. The tab I meant was in task manager (not device manager) - so CTRL+ALT+DEL and click the 'performance' tab; there it shows the amount of physical memory in the system, and the amount still available for use. If there's still plenty available, you don't need any more.

On my office desktop right now I have 1.5GB total, with 1GB still free. So, right now, adding more memory wouldn't make the slightest difference to performance (other than, because I have an 'odd' amount with two mismatched modules, it's not all running in dual-channel mode).

 

Maybe no difference in XP but in Vista you will need more RAM as 2gb is the minimum

 

2GB on Vista Aero is ideal. The Aero interface requires gobs of memory.
You can run pretty fast on 1GB if Aero is turned off.