How to upgrade ram on Z12?

Hi,

I am just wondering if the RAM slot on the Sony Z12 is easily accessible by just opening a cover at the bottom of the computer.

And I just want to be sure that BOTH dimm's are accessible by the simple bottom cover..

I just ordered two Sony Z12 (one with 2GB and one with 4GB) and I have the intention of upgrading one of them to a 8GB configuration..

I tried searching online but it only shows images of previous generations which shows that the ram slot is the only part that's easily accessible by user for uprgrade.

Thanks

 

and I also want to make sure the ram is not soldered on

 

On the bottom of the laptop, you find a cover with two philips 1 screws. Open it and you will see both DIMM slots where you can put your DDR3 memory up to 8 gb. Altogether, changing the modules is done in less than 5 minutes.

 

thanks, that's all I wanted to know.

 

On a semi-related note, can someone recommend some good RAM for the Z12? Maybe post some links to purchase? I'm looking at upgrading to 8 GB but want to make sure I get the right kind.

 

You just need two modules of ddr3 RAM with 1066mhz (ddr3-8500).

 

Is it important to have two matching modules or can one simply insert a 4gb module to get a total of 6Gb?

 

If my z12 has core i7, can I use RAm that has a higher speed? Like 1333mhz?

 

Yes, but the current capabilities of the z12's i7 can only use 1066mhz. You can still use the 1333mhz ram but it will be clocked down to 1066mhz.

 

Yes, there are also 6gb versions of the z. You can mix the modules as well.

 

That would probably decrease memory performance slightly as some of it won't be dual channel. Admittedly, the performance hit is unnoticeable outside of benchmarks.

 

is it not important if the ram have CL7, CL8 or CL9?

 

Yes, it is. Latency is especially important for random access of small amounts of data, but less important for sustained transfers of large amounts of data.
Just make sure you compare the cache latency at the same speed, because faster rated RAM with a higher latency at it's rated speed might run at a lower latency at lower speeds. Also, the latency is relative to the clock speed, so CL 9 at 1333 is comparable to CL 7 at 1066.

But yeah, latency matters, depending on use. Which is why I use 4 GB of 5-5-5-15 clocked RAM instead of 8 GB of 7-7-7-20 clocked RAM -- for my use, which for a large part consists of compiling, access speed matters more than more memory.
(My file server, on the other hand, got more memory even though I had to run the RAM at higher latency to be able to fill all the slots.)

 

I've never seen DDR3 to run at 5-5-5-15, 6-6-6-18 is the lowest it can do.

 

Is it? My Kingston Hyper-X memory begs to differ.

 

I stand corrected