upgrading memory in a notebook

I have a hp notebook with 256 mb and would like to add 1gb of memory. I have been told that memory should be replaced with the same size or it will slow the machine down.

 

Running 2 equal size sticks will enable dual channel memory. This just increases the available memory bandwidth. Performance increase/decrease is minute and not really something to worry about. Only a few programs make use of extra bandwidth.

Some newer Intel chipsets can still make use of dual channel even without 2 equal sticks, so if this is true(there was a thread sometime back about this) it really does not matter if you use equal size sticks or not.

 

denmick,

I can think of no reason why using two SODIMMs of different sizes would have any mitigating effect at all on performance except for the case of a dual channel capable machine. If your laptop does not support dual channel access, then it would access a combo of 256MB and 512MB as quickly as it would two 256MB or two 512MB.

Of course the only way to know what your HP does or does not support, is if you post the machine's model/product ID so we'd know exactly what the discussion is about.

-john