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    a stupid question

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by zemir, Aug 12, 2011.

  1. zemir

    zemir Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, i have a very stupid question:
    after some years, finally i have found some old nec laptop models that have a outdoor readable screen; good choice for me. However i have seen one other particular feature on these laptops: it seems they have memory installed on the motherboard; if the memory slot does not have any memory module, the pc has always 256mb ram. This is the first time on my life that see this feature........... i ask you:
    there are some other models of different brands that have this feature?
     
    zemir, Aug 12, 2011
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  2. tijo

    tijo Sacred Blame

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    Not that i know of, anyways, why would you want that. You'd be stuck at the operating speed of that RAM. Let's say you have a laptop that came with 1066MHz RAM and you want to upgrade to 1333MHz, if there was some RAM soldered on the mobo, then you would still operate at 1066MHz. I see no reason what so ever for that feature honestly. Add to that that if a RAM chip soldered on the mobo decides to go bonkers you have to replace the whole board for something as simple as bad RAM.
     
    tijo, Aug 12, 2011
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  3. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    It seems like a decent idea in theory but in practice could go really poorly. Not only could you not upgrade, if the RAM on the mobo was ever damaged it would be a lot harder to replace.

    These days it's either just all teh RAM is soldered on the mobo (like the new macbook airs) or just slots as per most other laptops.
     
    NotEnoughMinerals, Aug 12, 2011
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  4. zemir

    zemir Notebook Enthusiast

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    The video memory usually is soldered on motherboard and it seems to be a good thing. However, i am also agree about standard ram soldered on mother board it is not a good idea, it may be hard to replace if damaged; i hope do not have any problem in the future. I do not know its speed and it seems to be shared with video chip. On the bios i can set video memory 8 or 16 or 32 mb and my standard memory decrease at 248, 240, 224 mb. The video chip is S3 Twister.
    Another thing: its processor is 800 Mhz but windows says 533 mhz, i think it is outclocked but on bios it does not seem to be possible to increase it.
    However i think because these laptop are very energy saver and they want only 2,64 Amph to work properly. Good choice for me........
     
    zemir, Aug 13, 2011
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  5. Dufus

    Dufus .

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    My last laptop (~9 years ago) used onboard memory and had one slot for expansion. Something like here

    RAM still works fine today although keyboard, CDRom and Battery have taken their toll. Frequency changes were done by dip switches located below the keyboard, not by BIOS.
     
    Dufus, Aug 13, 2011
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  6. zemir

    zemir Notebook Enthusiast

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    I think to have seen on bios the choice about cpu frequence; i select it and turn-off the PC (no reboot), therefore it works at selected feature.

    In all my life never i have seen ram damaged; always i have used ram modules on various pc models but never they were damaged......... i hope to see never them in the future ;-)..............
     
    zemir, Aug 13, 2011
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  7. R3d

    R3d Notebook Virtuoso

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    Sony SA/SB has memory soldered on the moherboard.
     
    R3d, Aug 13, 2011
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  8. naton

    naton Notebook Virtuoso

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    The Asus Z35F has 256MB or 512 MB RAM soldered to the mother board and only memory slot. It has an intel GM943/945 chipset and can support Core 2 Duo all the way to a T7600
    This laptop was a barebook an sold under other brands.

    The advent laptop I'm using to write this reply has no built-in memory and only one memory slot too.
     
    naton, Aug 13, 2011
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  9. zemir

    zemir Notebook Enthusiast

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    Another good feature i see on bios:
    it is possible to select the usb port speed to 1.1 or 2.0

    However, thanks for the answers!
     
    zemir, Aug 15, 2011
    #9