HP DV9000t 4 gig ram?

Hi everybody, I recently bought an HP DV9000t laptop. I have 2 gigs ram in it right now. I saw specs online on different sites and some say the maximum memory is 2 gig's while others say it's 4 gigs. Can someone clarify how much the DV9000t can actually handle. One more thing, I here alot of people saying at least 3 gig's of ram is needed for Vista to run smoothly. If this is true I don't see why the company's would put Vista on them.{Well profit of course} but besides that everybody will have to buy new laptops in a year when 4 gig's of ram will be standard probably. Thanks for any reply's

 

Some notebooks can support 4 GB, but they require a BIOS update to reach that high amount. The same may be true for the DV9000t. Windows Vista doesn't need 3 GB to run smoothly. 2 GB is more than enough, and even 1 GB is enough to run it quite well. Obviously, more RAM is always helpful, however, you should make sure that more RAM will be of help to you.

 

Thanks for the clarification Zero, I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm still trying to find out if it 4 gig's will be overkill for the application I plan on using. {Sonar 6} I know it would be more than enough in XP but running on Vista I was thinking it might be different. Thanks again.

 

If you go by the minimum of running XP well being 256MB and Vista being 512MB then 2GB should be more than enough for what you need, but also do u know if this sonar 6 will work under vista, some programs do not.

 

Yes, SideSwipe brings up a good point. If Sonar 6 cannot run on Windows Vista, then you might aswell just get a notebook, and upgrade it with 2 GB or RAM, if that is cheaper than buying it from the manufacturer. Also, even if it does work with Windows Vista, I would hold off, as driver support isn't quite fully sorted out yet with some notebooks. It may also have some bugs in it, and this may take a few months to sort out.

 

Hey thanks guys that's good advice. The program has drivers ready for Vista, but I know what you mean about the drivers. I figure by the time I get enough money to buy a midi/audio interface for Sonar so I can actually use it for what I'm trying to do, the drivers will have been updated enough on Vista and the program itself so that it should run smooth enough to use without to much of a headache. The Audio interface also has drivers for Vista.

 

Sonar 6.2 is redesigned for Windows Vista, and works VERY WELL on it, making use of the new Vista audio features. It is also 64-bit enhanced, so keep that in mind when upgrading to Vista. As for memory, I wouldn't even think about getting more than 2 GB of RAM for your system yet. 2 GB is plenty for most Sonar use on Vista, and the cost of 2 GB DDR2 SO-DIMMS for notebooks is about $700-800 a piece, if you can even find them. And you'll need two to get you to 4 GB (there's two memory slots, so you have to replace your existing memory). Also, HP hasn't qualified any of the 2 GB SODIMMS for use in the system yet, so you'd be taking a big risk that the notebook wouldn't boot with the modules after dropping that much money. In all, stick with 2 GB for now -- in a year or two, when the cost goes down and the modules are more available, decide if its worth the upgrade.

Hope that helps.

 

Hey jadedraverla, that helped alot, I needed that like a shot of whiskey lol. I hoard on the advice and knowledge.

 

For my understanding the dv9000 will only support 2gig max. A guy on short-media tried sticking 2 gig chips in his and it failed to work.

 

I would think in the future 4 GB will likely be supported, but it might require a BIOS update, and it definitely won't with the few current 2 GB sticks out there, which are primarily designed and tested for MacBook Pros.

 

Do macs run the same type ram as pcs?

 

Yes, but Apple is pretty much the only company testing and qualifying 2 GB RAM modules for notebooks.

 

Ok I was gonna say I have seen chips of the type thats in our systems now. Just 650 a pop lol

 

Listen to me because i actually own a dv9000. absolutely do not buy it.
do not buy a hp dv9000!

yes, it comes with 2gb of ram, but you cannot go beyond that. seemed ok to me. 2gb has always been fine.

that was until i realized i can only use about 600mb of that 2gb! yes, it's true. terrible. OMG!

Why, well, as i have gone to highest levels of hp support and am a professional software developer (not new to pcs), i sadly found out that a huge chunk of that ram is used by the laptop hardware. that's why i always see 1200mb in use, seems 800mb free, BUT apps stop opening, right click menus fail, etc.... because vista takes 700 on clean start, the hardware has already gobbled 700 or more, and i can barely do what i used to with a 512mb old xp pc. oh, and i can't go past 2gb limit to add insult to injury.

it is truly sad and even disgusting that a product like this was sold to me .
they won't give me a free copy of xp. not even after half a dozen calls.

i am going to get a xp pro cd, and only hope that the hardware won't take 700mb of ram from me under xp, though that seems illogical.

which brings me back to do not buy this laptop.

this laptop should never ever have come with vista. I think HP is criminal in it's choice of vista and also in not giving XP for free to me.

I will never ever buy another HP laptop.
I especially recommend you avoid vista and hp dv9000 laptops.