8GB DDR3 SODIMM for an old laptop

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Hello!

I’m looking for a couple of 8GB DDR3 laptop RAM sticks to upgrade a 14 year old Sony Vaio laptop. (i3 2330m cpu). It’s currently configured with 2+4gb DDR3 RAM.

This is going to get handed over to the household help lady who needs it for her granddaughter.

I’m not sure if the laptop even supports 16gb RAM. Sony’s official documentation states 8gb as the max memory size. However, intel i3 2330m supports a maximum of 16gb (based on the official specifications page on the Intel website). If anyone has any experience here, please let me know.

If 16GB doesn’t work, then I’ll only need a 4GB stick to max out 8GB.

Please let me know if you have one to sell.

Thank You!

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i have Acer and lenovo laptops with i3 2130m and 2330m .. both support 16gb ram

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You also may need to check voltages - whether it needs 1.5V or 1.35V.

8GB should be fine, the system itself is not going to be able to do much.

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It’s only going to be used for getting someone pc literate. Windows 10 gobbles up like 4-4.5gb on its own :sweat_smile:

I’ll test it on my end first to see if I can perform some usual day to day tasks on it - MS office, browsing, multitasking, etc.

It supports 1.5V RAM. But shouldn’t DDR3L be alright too since it works with both 1.35V and 1.5V?

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since it is an old laptop you can install tiny10 instead of whole win10

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It will work fine.

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Been too long since I had worked with these older machines - if it supports both then great. The one Sony VAIO I had supported only 1

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Install Tiny Linux, Zorin, Ubuntu… REPLACE WINDOWS…
Linux with XFCE Desktop Manager would run great on 2+4GB RAM, eat less battery, and offer a very smooth interface.
If you are making someone literate (Great Job :+1:) then let them deviate from Windows as the OS has steadily deteriorated.

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I completely agree. However, knowing what will happen, they will still end up using windows regardless of what I install. I’ll look at installing tiny10 though.

Also, thank you!

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Install an SSD if it doesn’t have one. Will make a huge difference in usability.

Even a 128 or 256GB will work well for the use case