X301 Upgrade RAM to 4Gb

Would upgrading the RAM on a Lenovo x301 from 2 Gb to 4 Gb be beneficial in any applications?

The computer also has an SSD.

Thanks in advance!

 

If you're running Windows 7 (or Vista), Windows can take full advantage of available RAM to cache application resources (so-called "Standby Memory") to avoid slow access from disk or network. Of course, more RAM will reduce paging when applications allocate large buffers that overrun the 2GB your X301 currently has.

So, if you can afford 2 x 2GB RAM sticks (which have gone down in prices recently), it will be a worthwhile upgrade.

 

It's going to depend on how much RAM you're using. Plus if you have a 32 bit version of Windows, it could mean you have to install 64 bit to get the full 4Gb of RAM.(I believe 32 bit can take a little north of 3 Gb of RAM.)

 

that depends what applications you run? if you are consistently using over 80% of your ram, then upgrading ram to 4 gigs may help.

However, if you are using the 32 bit version of the OS, you can only utilise 3 gigs of ram. But you should get 4 gigs of ram to prevent graphic corruption in your X301 when running Win 7.

The X300 and X301 can be upgraded to a max of 8 gigs of ram (if you want 8 gigs of ram, then get the 64 bit OS).

 

What's graphic corruption?
What is the ideal amount of ram for using the internet/ms office on Windows 7?

 

For such "ordinary" tasks as browsing the web and preparing documents, you should be fine with 2GB if you mostly run a few applications at a time.

These days, most users open many application windows and many browser tabs concurrently. You can still "survive" with 2GB even when all these windows and tabs allocate a lot of memory buffers at the same time: Windows will swap those buffers in and out of "virtual memory" on disk. However, with more physical RAM, performance will definitely improve because "paging" is minimized.

If you use Windows 7 64-bit, I recommend spending around $100 (maybe less) to upgrade to 2 x 2GB RAM. Or, at least, replace one stick with a 2GB stick to make a total of 3GB.

 

Lenovo Support - Visual corruption - ThinkPad R400, R500, T400, T400s, T500, W500, X200, X200s, X200 Tablet, X301

 

Is there any benefit to reinstalling the operating system (the same one) after installing the RAM?

 

Nope, that's not necessary.

 

Is reinstalling the OS beneficial for any hardware changes?

Also, I think the x301 would be bottlenecked by its GPU in games and by its processor in anything computationally intensive. So the extra ram is useful for having many tabs open and a bunch of applications running at the same time, right?

Thanks for the help.

 

A few months ago one of the ram slots failed in the T400 (Win 7 x64). I used the laptop with only 2gb for a few days until the replacement motherboard was installed, and it was a really a massive difference in usability. Never expected it since my usage is mostly light too but everything was significantly sluggish compared to 4gb.

 

No, you don't need to reinstall the OS. Sometimes, when you add a new hardware device, you need to manually install a "device driver," which is a small piece of software that allows the OS to properly handle that particular device. Usually, the OS can detect the newly added device and automatically figure out what to do by installing the appropriate "device driver." In the case of new RAM sticks, it is the BIOS that detects the change in basic system configuration, does a scan of the new RAM, and keeps a note of the total RAM to report it to the OS when this latter comes up.

Yes and no. In addition to the case you mentioned, Windows 7 will proactively use the extra RAM as a kind of "RAM disk" to cache appplication resources in RAM. So, in a nutshell, a large amount of RAM offers 2 advantages: (1) the applications in many concurrent windows and tabs make request to the OS for buffers, and these don't have to be swapped in and out of disk-based "virtual memory" because they all fit in RAM. (2) the OS intelligently makes best use of the extra RAM to improve overall performance.

So, upgrading to 2 x 2GB RAM should be an easy (and relatively inexpensive) decision.

 

Will the extra ram also make the computer boot faster? Also, how necessary is a 64 bit OS with the 4 Gb?

 

No. The (higher speed of the) SSD can help with reducing boot time. Boot = Load the OS from disk onto RAM.

A 64-bit Windows 7 can work with 1GB of RAM, but v-e-r-y slowly. It works adequately with 2GB ~ 3GB. For reasons I have stated (in two earlier posts), Windows 7 can take advantage of more RAM to improve overall performance.

So, how necessary? If you care about improving performance: ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Anyway, less than $100 for 2 x 2GB RAM sticks, but you still sound reluctant and unsure! Why did you post your question in the first place?

@unreal25: Edit price! (Was thinking of my recent 2 x 4GB sticks.) Even more compelling reason!

 

Well, you'll be using max 3 GB with 32-bit OS. Btw where do you buy 2x2GB for $100? 2GB sticks can be easily found~ $20 on eBay.

 

Thanks everyone! I'll definitely upgrade the ram.
So, any reason to go beyond 4? Or will the x301 be bottle-necked by something other than the RAM at this point?

 

Although the X301 has maximum RAM capacity of 8GB (2 x 4GB), I see no reason to go beyond 4GB.

Bottleneck? Theoretically, the SU9400 1.4GHz/3MB CPU.

 

Unless you intend to run a x64 OS, there's no reason to go above 3GB. If you are going to run a x64 OS, then 4GB is sufficient for most people.

 

I looked at what type of RAM I have using SIW and by unscrewing the laptop open.

I have one 2GB DIMM. The other slot is empty. Out of curiosity I moved the DIMM to the empty slot, and booted the computer. It said that the memory is in the wrong slot. Why is that?

I also saw that my part number is M471B5673EH1-CF8. By searching M471B5673EH1-CF8 I found this Amazon.com: Used and New: 2GB PC3-8500 (1066Mhz) 204 pin DDR3 SODIMM Samsung M471B5673EH1-CF8 (CJT-S)-RAM.

Good idea to buy this?

 

Slot A filled first, then slot B. (Memory addressing logic.)

Lucky you already have the one 2GB stick. (Not 2 x 1GB sticks.) You only need to get a second one! Any module with spec "2GB PC3-8500 (1066MHz) 204 pin DDR3 SODIMM" is good.

 

Thanks!

Is there any benefit from memory faster than 1066 MHz (I will have to replace the first stick)?

Does RAM have other characteristics besides speed and size?

 

No.

Yeah, like packaging format (in your case, SODIMM), number of pins (204), module name (PC3-8500), interface type (DDR3, Double Data Rate version 3), data rate (1066MHz), memory clock rate, I/O bus clock rate, peak transfer rate, timings...

Just follow the spec "2GB PC3-8500 (1066MHz) 204 pin DDR3 SODIMM" of the first stick.

 

Can I have a 2GB and a 4GB stick in a computer?

 

Yes, although you should realize that there is a minor speed reduction versus a 2x2GB setup, as dual channel mode works best when the two sticks of RAM are of identical size/specs. That said. the difference is very minor, and you probably won't notice the difference (although you probably won't notice the 4GB to 6GB difference either...).

 

My brother is trying to get me to upgrade my laptop from 4 gb to 8 ... but I think i will let it be ...

 

2+4 GB is still better than 2+2 GB, right?

 

If and only if you consistently use up the vast majority of your current 4GB of RAM, 2+4GB will provide better performance.