Laptops RAM for notebooks

S

samatre

Disciple
Friends,

I bought a Compaq notebook recently. It came bundled with Vista Home Premium and 1GB ram (as 512 *2 sticks). I would like to upgrade the RAM to 2GB (1GB *2) in dual channel config mode. The HP dealer says that any other stick other than the HP ones will invalidate the warranty. He also refuses to take back the existing RAM and offer a rebate on that. I can exachange these 512 MB sticks outside for 1Gb ones but they will not have the HP tag and so will remove the 1 year warranty.

Btw the vista performance index is 4.6 for RAM, , 3.4 for Aero and 3.4 overall.

What is your take on this ?.
 
An HP dealer will always try to screw you. Compaq laptops AFAIK are easy to upgrade. If there is a panel at the bottom of your laptop, you can just go to a dealer and he will unscrew the panel and upgrade the memory.

Just detemine first what kind of memory your laptop uses i.e DDR1 or DDR2. Also check prices in different shops to get a sense of what the memory actually costs. IIRC, I paid 2.6K for a single stick 1GB DDR 333Mhz laptop RAM upgrade. I guess DDR2 is cheaper.
 
Am running 2 Compaq laptops. one with 1.2GB and the other with 1.5GB both laptops use mixed RAM (1 stick original, 1 stick from another company)... :) so don't worry..
 
Memory in notebooks are user replaceable AFAIK. Just get 2gb ram from where ever you can get it for lesser price. In case you have to send the notebook for any warranty related issue, just put back the older ones. This would be just bcse the dealer said that it would invalidate the warranty. As per HPs terms, I dont think replacing ram would be an issue as long as you are putting in compatible modules.
 
sydras said:
An HP dealer will always try to screw you. Compaq laptops AFAIK are easy to upgrade. If there is a panel at the bottom of your laptop, you can just go to a dealer and he will unscrew the panel and upgrade the memory.

Just detemine first what kind of memory your laptop uses i.e DDR1 or DDR2. Also check prices in different shops to get a sense of what the memory actually costs. IIRC, I paid 2.6K for a single stick 1GB DDR 333Mhz laptop RAM upgrade. I guess DDR2 is cheaper.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's true - there is a panel which can be unscrewed and the job of replacing the existing RAM with new modules is just to eject the module by pinching on the retaining clips and then to insert the new ones !!. I would have attempted to do this but for the dealer's talk of the warranty being null and void.

The laptop uses a 20 pin DDR2 667MHz RAM. I've got a 1GB stick from Transcend for 1.8k.
 
imoen said:
Am running 2 Compaq laptops. one with 1.2GB and the other with 1.5GB both laptops use mixed RAM (1 stick original, 1 stick from another company)... :) so don't worry..
Click to expand...

Ok !! but don't you feel that you need to exploit the dual channel configuration by having
2 identical sticks (same capacity and make and clock frequency). What OS are you running btw...
 
random2 said:
Memory in notebooks are user replaceable AFAIK. Just get 2gb ram from where ever you can get it for lesser price. In case you have to send the notebook for any warranty related issue, just put back the older ones. This would be just bcse the dealer said that it would invalidate the warranty. As per HPs terms, I dont think replacing ram would be an issue as long as you are putting in compatible modules.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a good idea !! :)
 
What do all of you feel about running vista on 1GB. Do I really need to double up ..
The laptop is used by my OH - for word, excel, browsing and playing music
 
no, I think 2gb should be good enough. Actually, you might be just be able to work with 1gb. But im pretty sure you will hit the physical mem limit as you multitask.

For your use as you have mentioned, I would suggest 2gb. You will be happy with it for quite a while.
 
Back
Top