2 gb of RAM vs 4

Does having 4 gb of RAM make windows any faster?

 

If you run many process-intensive applications, yes. Otherwise, I doubt it. 2GB is enough to run Vista with all the eye candy turned on.

 

What will you be running? Its you're editing 100 8MB photos in Photoshop, then yes. If you're just browsing the web, then no. If you do get 4GB of RAM, make sure to get a 64bit OS

 

1 GB on XP is decent, 2 GB on Vista is decent. So 4 GB for either is overkill unless you are running many powerful apps at the same time or demend that sort of power.

Frankly, if I were getting an XP system 2 GB would be enough for me and I consider myself to be a pretty average user I usually have WarCraft 3 running as well as iTunes and Mozilla Firefox with 4 - 5 tabs open and Ventrillo(voice communication app) and 1 GB RAM does fine with that.

 

4gb with a lot of stuff run (HUGE amount of stuff)

as stated above get a 64bit OS with 4gb of ram... 32 bit can't use it all.

 

get 4GB RAM if you can. it is a lot of fun and you will surely have confidence running many/large apps. also you will in better position if moving to 64-bit later.

 

I just got 4GB of OCZ for $159. Why not just get 4GB at that price!

 

Mine 4GB is Patriot.

 

Because 2gb is less than half that price?

I got 2gb of Corsair for $72.

 

Sure but if you want to get 4GB let's say next year, how much is 4GB gonna cost you? Maybe another $72 if you are lucky enough for the price to come down that much. $72 now + $72 later... might as well just enjoy 4GB now.

 

Or, you could get the 4GB and use, like 2-3GB of it for a RAM drive. Here's a couple of vendors that sell software to do that:

http://www.superspeed.com/ramdisk.php
http://www.cenatek.com/product_page_ramdisk.php

For apps that tend to read/write to a lot of files (ex. Trillian likes to load up a lot of XML files- this can turn a 3-5 sec. startup into <1sec.) this is an easy way to boost your performance. Apps like Photoshop might also be able to make use of your RAM disk as well, as I sorta recall it asking for a 'scratch disk' the first time you fire it up. And I guess you could install a game to it, assuming it would fit. That'd help your level-load times a bit, but probably not much else.

 

Unless you use it as a server 2GB is plenty for the laptop.

 

i have 1gb on a vista ultimate machine and it runs well in my opinion. My extra gig is coming in on monday, so i guess i will be able to provide a better answer by then.

 

I got my additional gig before I got my laptop

 

Haha, I was almost tempted to do that, but with all the backorders lenovo went through, I had no idea when it was going to come. When i finally got a tracking number, the prices of 1gb sticks were just plain nuts.

I got in on the 4th of july sale at fry's where they had a Crucial 1gbX2 kit for 45 bucks after a 30 dollar rebate, no tax or shipping

 

Yup, I got mine from ZipZoomFly for $45.90. Kingston stick, of course Made in China

 

Setup 2GB of memory + 2GB of readyboost.

 

where didu buy that from?did u install it yourself?does that not void the warranty?

 

As for now, it seems like 1GB SO-DIMMS are a little bit faster than 2GB SO-DIMMS. We have found out that Samsung currently have the fastest 1GB SO-DIMMs (we have tried Hynix, Samsung, Infineon, Corsair, Nanya, Kingston and Crucial). There may be faster SO-DIMMs on the market, but the mentioned brands are the only ones we have tested.

Now, if you _know_ that you will not use more than 2GB RAM (1+1GB DIMMS), I would say that you go for the 2GB option. It will give you a little bit faster system (hardly anything you will notice, but the benchmark proggies will show somewhat higher values)

If you intend to use your computer for MORE than browsing on Internet/chatting and running Photoshop in the background (or maybe you play some game), then I would recommend 4GB RAM. If you run some virtual machines with maybe SQL, Visual Studio or other development tools in Windows, not even 4GB will be enough (I think people out there developing with MOSS-VM know what I am talking about ;-) )

 

frys.com

The deal is over now, but it will probably be back. there are still alot of good deals. Check out the first page of this thread.

The first page is updated daily: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=121363

RAM is very easy to install. It looks a little more difficult on some Dell laptops, but in general it just involves removing a couple screws from the bottom of the laptop to open a small plastic cover (usually labeled RAM) and inserting/replacing the RAM. Always good to touch something metal before you touch the RAM. Static electricity will zap the RAM.

No, it doesn't void your warranty. The laptop manufacturer will cover your entire laptop except for the RAM. But, you actually will have a better warranty for the RAM since almost all RAM manufacturers provide a lifetime warranty.

 

Another use for tons of ram is VMware. I'm planning on running Ubuntu on my T61 and having XP Pro run in a VM. Add something like Folding@home to the mix, and suddenly 2gb just isn't enough.