New Laptop, upgrade RAM before or after initial boot?

I just bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad T61 and I plan to upgrade its RAM to 4GB (from the factory installed 1GB).

Should I install the new RAM before I first boot the laptop or after I first boot it (to make sure that the T61 works)?

I kind of want to avoid having Vista gather the serial number from the old RAM sticks for activation purposes and instead have Vista activated with the serial numbers from the new RAM so that I can perform other upgrades in the future without having to reactivate Vista because my computer's hardware has changed too much.

So does anyone know if Windows is activated and serial numbers gathered for the activation key at Lenovo's factory, when I first boot the computer, or when I go through the official activation process?

Thanks in advance for any help. I apologize if this question sounds trivial.

 

Just because you upgrade the RAM doesnt mean youll have to reactivate.
As for before or after the in initial boot, it doesnt much matter.

 

Before. Having 4GB will be useful for installing everything. If something goes wrong, you can swap back to the old RAM.

 

I don't think it really matters. Not sure what you mean by the serial numbers from the RAM. Just plugin and go. I would just do it before and get it out the way

 

It don't matta!

 

i personally would install AFTER...

just to verify the laptop is functioning properly from the factory with thier RAM... i've seen a few machines that have problems booting when 4gigs is installed..

so i'd get the machine up and running..... then shutdown... remove AC and battery... press power to drain power.... discharge static... then replace the factory RAM with the new stuff

the serial #s of the RAM should have no effect on anything.

 

Install RAM before turning on the laptop.

 

After the initial boot.

 

You decide.

[off topic]
haha have you got enough opinions yet?