memory upgrade

[Colin Italia]

Not very good with the workings of computers so here goe's.
I have windows XP home edition pack 3 on a 32 bit sony vaio laptop. Its
running on only 512 of memory and I want to upgrade to a gig but have been
told this version won't support that amount of memory. Is this true and is
there anything I can do or install to allow me to upgrade my memory. Thanks
in anticipation.

 

[Rich Barry]

Go to Sony's website and look for your make and model laptop. Then
look at the specs. It will tell you the Max on Ram. You are not going to
notice much difference if you go
to 1G. 512MB of Ram is plenty. Now, if you had Vista there would
be a big difference and 2G would even be better.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Not very good with the workings of computers so here goe's.
I have windows XP home edition pack 3 on a 32 bit sony vaio laptop. Its
running on only 512 of memory and I want to upgrade to a gig but have been
told this version won't support that amount of memory. Is this true and is
there anything I can do or install to allow me to upgrade my memory.
Thanks
in anticipation.

Go to the Crucial website www.crucial.com where it will tell you what is
installed and what memory upgrades you can make..

 

[LVTravel]

Not very good with the workings of computers so here goe's.
I have windows XP home edition pack 3 on a 32 bit sony vaio laptop. Its
running on only 512 of memory and I want to upgrade to a gig but have been
told this version won't support that amount of memory. Is this true and is
there anything I can do or install to allow me to upgrade my memory.
Thanks
in anticipation.

We would need to know the model of the Sony Vaio laptop. Without it we
could not possibly know as Sony made many different versions of the laptops
with many different configurations.

I would recommend that you go to the following web site
http://www.crucial.com/ and click on the make and model (can be found on the
sticker on the bottom of the laptop which lists the serial number (S/N)) and
let it tell you how much memory can be installed. If you don't want to do
that you can click the line for the Crucial System Scanner Tool just below
the advisor tool and download and install the scanner. It will probably
find the information you need to know.

One other location to check may be the manual that came with the laptop or
that was installed on the laptop's hard drive.

 

[db]

windows supports well over
1 gig of memory.

so the question is whether
your laptop has the ability
to use more than 512 megs
of ram.

my guess is that your laptop
can accept more memory.

so whether you add another
512 chip to your laptop or
simply substitute the 512
you have with a 1 gig chip,

you will ascertain improved
performance with more ram.

my suggestion is to ensure
you have either one chip that
is 1 gig "or" you have two
identical chips from the same
maker that are 512 each.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Not very good with the workings of computers so here goe's.
I have windows XP home edition pack 3 on a 32 bit sony vaio laptop. Its
running on only 512 of memory and I want to upgrade to a gig

Why do you want to do this?

How much RAM you need for good performance is *not* a
one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the amount of
RAM you have keeps you from using the page file significantly, and
that depends on what apps you run. Most people running a typical range
of business applications under XP find that somewhere around 512MB
works well, others need more. Almost anyone will see poor performance
with less than 256MB. Some people, particularly those doing things
like editing large photographic images, can see a performance boost by
adding even more than 512MB--sometimes much more.

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory
will decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance.
If you are not using the page file significantly, more memory will do
nothing for you. Go to
http://billsway.com/notes_public/winxp_tweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your page file usage. That should
give you a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how
much more.

but have been
told this version won't support that amount of memory. Is this true

What do you mean by "this version"? If you are asking about windows XP
home edition SP 3, it is emphatically *not* true. It supports 4GB, of
which you can use about 3.1GB.

If you are asking about your computer, since you haven't told us the
model, nobody here can answer that question for you. Either provide
the model number, or (the best way) check with Sony to find out.

By the way, it's unlikely that your computer is limited to only 512MB.

and is
there anything I can do or install to allow me to upgrade my memory.

No. If your computer is limited to 512MB, there's no way you can go to
more.

 

[Jose]

Not very good with the workings of computers so here goe's.
I have windows XP home edition pack 3 on a  32 bit sony vaio laptop. Its
running on only 512 of memory and I want to upgrade to a gig but have been
told this version won't support that amount of memory. Is this true and is
there anything I can do or install to allow me to upgrade my memory. Thanks
in anticipation.  

Don't guess.

Check the manual and/or visit www.crucial.com as indicated. Memory
upgrades is what they do.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Not very good with the workings of computers so here goe's.
I have windows XP home edition pack 3 on a 32 bit sony vaio laptop. Its
running on only 512 of memory and I want to upgrade to a gig but have been
told this version won't support that amount of memory. Is this true and is
there anything I can do or install to allow me to upgrade my memory.
Thanks
in anticipation.

XP Home "supports" a total of 4 gb RAM, though in reality, as is the case
for other 32-bit OS's, it can't acutally use more than about 3.2 gb RAM.
Between that point and 4 gb, the memory addresses are mapped for other
system purposes, so those addresses are never available for RAM.

The real question is how much RAM the hardware on your system supports.
Some older systems don't support more than 512 Meg, or 1 gig, etc.

If you have a system like that, the only thing you can install to get around
this - because you're looking at a motherboard design limitation - is a new
system.

HTH
-pk

 

[Unknown]

You are not going to
notice much difference if you go
to 1G. 512MB of Ram is plenty.

How can you make such a statement when you have no idea what the computer is
used for?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Going from 512mb to 1gig will make a difference. From past experience,
1gig is the "sweet spot" for XP. 2gig is also a great bet if your machine
will go that high.
The first upgrade to a computer, is to add the highest amount of ram your
computer can handle.
Doesn't every upgrade site recommend that ?????????? before anything else
???????

I don't recommend that, and as far as I'm concerned there's no such
thing as a "sweet spot" that's correct for everyone.

How much RAM you need for good performance is *not* a
one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the amount of
RAM you have keeps you from using the page file significantly, and
that depends on what apps you run. Most people running a typical range
of business applications under XP find that somewhere around 512MB
works well, others need more. Almost anyone will see poor performance
with less than 256MB. Some people, particularly those doing things
like editing large photographic images, can see a performance boost by
adding even more than 512MB--sometimes much more.

If you are currently using the page file significantly, more memory
will decrease or eliminate that usage, and improve your performance.
If you are not using the page file significantly, more memory will do
nothing for you. Go to
http://billsway.com/notes_public/winxp_tweaks/ and download
WinXP-2K_Pagefile.zip and monitor your page file usage. That should
give you a good idea of whether more memory can help, and if so, how
much more.

 

[Daave]

Going from 512mb to 1gig will make a difference.

For some people. it will make a very noticeable difference. For others,
it will make no difference whatsoever.

From past experience,
1gig is the "sweet spot" for XP.

That may be true for *you*. But this is only based on your personal
experience.

2gig is also a great bet if your
machine will go that high.

For some people. 2GB will make a very noticeable difference. For the
majority of XP users, 2GB will make no difference whatsoever.

 

[db]

I would tend to agree with the term "sweet spot"
but the term "equilibrium" may be better.

when memory is in a state of equilibrium and
computer stability,

then this implies that memory consumption is
no less or no greater at a certain point while
idling.

however, in order to ascertain a truer number and
not solely based on the startup processes that
load with the desktop,

one should run most of their major programs so
that their processes can load into memory.

then by rounding upwards at par by a nominal value
of 512 megs from the point of equilibrium will determine
the "ideal" amount of memory for that the particular
computer configuration

in my opinion, while 256 megs is the minimal amount
of memory required for windows on a system that
has no other programs installed on it,

the equiliberium should be increased / rounded upwards
by a nominal factor of 512 megs due to the fact that most
systems have installed additional programs into their
operating system and those programs have their own
memory requirements.


--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com

"share the nirvana mann" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~