The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Upgrading RAM on FZ... easy or hard?

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by Paticle, Feb 9, 2008.

  1. Paticle

    Paticle Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I was thinking of getting one of the discounted FZ's on sonystyle and added the RAM myself. I was thinking of just getting a FZ with only 1 gig of RAM and then buying 4 gigs to put in myself. It would be much cheaper this way.

    Is it hard? Is there a high chance of breaking something? Does it void the warranty? Is there a writeup on it? I want to save money, but I rather wouldn't take any unnecessary risks.

    TIA
     
    Paticle, Feb 9, 2008
    #1
  2. webbuzz

    webbuzz Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    14
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    webbuzz, Feb 9, 2008
    #2
  3. Woodgypsy

    Woodgypsy Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    75
    Messages:
    527
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I did, and it was very easy. And no, it won't void warranty. Actually, even Sonystyle employee recommended to me do so because their official RAM upgrade was expensive at that time. ;)
     
    Woodgypsy, Feb 9, 2008
    #3
  4. Paticle

    Paticle Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Nice, thanks guys.

    Here's what I think I'll get...

    T7500 (2.2GHz)
    1 GB RAM - which I'll upgrade to 4
    200 GB HD 5.4k
    I'm getting the HiColor
    and the 8400M GT

    $1008. + $100 for 4 GB of some nice RAM = $1100

    Not a bad deal, eh?

    It's not my ideal setup, but I just couldn't get myself to pay $600 for a Penryn chip when the T7000's are on sale.
     
    Paticle, Feb 9, 2008
    #4
  5. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    805
    Messages:
    4,679
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    106
    You should get the vista 64 bit for the OS to recognize more than 3 GB of RAM.
     
    coolguy, Feb 10, 2008
    #5
  6. Paticle

    Paticle Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    32 bit Vista won't recognize 4 gigs of ram? I don't think Vista 64 is an option for me...


    Can the extra ram be accessed by the video card and boost performance?
     
    Paticle, Feb 10, 2008
    #6
  7. Woodgypsy

    Woodgypsy Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    75
    Messages:
    527
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Yes, 32bit Vista can only utilize about 3.3gbto 3.5gb of RAM. You would need 64bit OS to take full advantages of 4gbRAM. However, FZ, like most consumer laptops, only support 32bit OS...So, yeah, short of using 64bit nix, you cannot take full advantage of 4gb RAM. That being said, with price difference between 3gb and 4gb of RAM, imo going for 4gb doesn't hurt.

    You did get very good deal, it is much less than what I paid about a half year ago (although I did get 3 year accidental warranty).

    And yes, if you are to get FZ, you need to get HiColor- great choice. :)
     
    Woodgypsy, Feb 10, 2008
    #7
  8. neof1z

    neof1z Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    8
    Messages:
    46
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    If you install sp1 (i have fz21m with Vista Business edition SP1 RTM 32bit) you can see 4gb.
     
    neof1z, Feb 10, 2008
    #8
  9. Sponsi

    Sponsi Badibade

    Reputations:
    478
    Messages:
    1,869
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    SP1 does show all the RAM installed, however it does not use it.
     
    Sponsi, Feb 10, 2008
    #9