RAM for x220 and x200s same/different?

Quick question: does x220 have exactly the same memory chips as x200s?

Also, if I have 2x2GB in x220, is that enough for common applications (no games)?

 

In so far as whether they are interchangeable, yes, they should be, as they are both DDR3 SODIMMs Their speeds, however, are different. The X220 comes stock with 1333MHz RAM (PC3-10600), while the X200s comes stock with 1066MHz RAM (PC-8500). So, if you take a stick of RAM from an X220 and put it in the X200s, it will simply downclock. If you put a stick of memory originally from the X200s in the X220, the RAM speed will be the maximum that the stick is rated for, which would be 1066MHz.

Yes, 4GB is more than enough memory for those purposes.

 

Thank you so much! You are always helpful.

 

if you run 64 bit OS then 4 gigs is a good investment.

 

At the current pricing, I'd put 8GB in just for good times
G.Skill DDR3-1333 4GB modules are under $20 each.

 

8GB RAM is over-kill for most users. It also increases the hibernation and resume time. I've settled on 6GB as being a compromise between occasionally needing more than 4GB but not needing 8GB.

John

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but running 6GB would mean that you only have 2GB x 2GB running in dual channel mode while the remain 2GB on one of the DIMM sticks is running in single channel mode. From what I know, to have true dual channel operation, you need to have matching sizes.

Have you noticed any slow downs with your setup?

I'm particularly curious as from what I've been reading, Windows 7, when set to hibernate will dump the entire 8GB of RAM onto the hard drive. This is especially bad news for those of us with SSD's as the SSD takes a 8GB thrashing. Most info online seems to recommend that an SSD should not greatly exceed 40GB of writes per day as you greatly reduce the life of the SSD in doing so...

RAM size just adds more to my confusions as my T420s should be here by the end of the month, and I can't even figure out of 1600Mhz RAM will work with the T420s (i5 2540M) or if it's even needed.

 

I've not noticed any performance hit in everyday usage.

In SiSoftware Sandra's memory bandwidth benchmark on my T420s, 6GB has a bandwidth of 16.7GB/s while 8GB gives 18 GB/s. 3DMark06 has a difference of 4381 vs 4719 while in PCMark Vantage the scores are 10859 and 11299.

John