Laptop memory - is 1gb enough

If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing if
I add an extra 1gb?

I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.

What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would need
to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.

(The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)

--
Michael Chare

"Michael Chare" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
> enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing
> if I add an extra 1gb?
>
> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
> memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
> typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would
> need to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)

1GB is fine for e-mail and web stuff. Personally I'd spend a bit of extra
money and get a system with 2GB just to really future proof it. Laptops as
they have slower hard drives do start to crawl if they need to go back to
the page file.

But I've tolerated machines with 1GB of RAM for light usage. :-)

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

"Michael Chare" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this enough or would I
> see a significant improvment for email and web browsing if I add an extra 1gb?
>
> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the memory usage with Task
> Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb typically have two
> memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would need to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no
> further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)

Vista will perform much better with 2GB . Vista on laptops is
where many of the complaints come from. Mainly because
of RAM, the processor "stepping down" that laptops do and
usually hard drives that are slower than desktops.

Yes, go for the 2GB of RAM.


-Michael

It's enough for email and web browsing. If you plan to use memory intensive
programs like photo editing you'll need at least 2GB .

"Michael Chare" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
> enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing
> if I add an extra 1gb?
>
> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
> memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
> typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would
> need to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)
>
> --
> Michael Chare

For basic browsing and email it would be OK. I'd be cautious about
loading too many memory-resident apps though.

"Michael Chare" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
> enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing
> if I add an extra 1gb?
>
> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
> memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
> typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would
> need to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)
>
> --
> Michael Chare


I recently bought a laptop. My 'mantra' was 2GB RAM, 2GHz processor and
200GB hard drive.

It's a good machine. Wouldn't want to cut down on the RAM though.

John

Laptops need 2gb RAM to make up for the shortfall in overall hardware
performance brought about because of overheating were they to have the most
powerful processors and video cards fitted.

Go for 2gb..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx




"Michael Chare" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
> enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing
> if I add an extra 1gb?
>
> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
> memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
> typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would
> need to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)
>
> --
> Michael Chare

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:16:46 -0000, "Michael Chare"
<> wrote:

> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
> enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing if
> I add an extra 1gb?


Although there's no way to know for sure, I would think that if all
you do is E-mail and web browsing, you can get away with 1GB. Be
aware, though, that, depending on what apps they run, many people see
a significant performance improvement by going to 2GB


> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
> memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
> typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would need
> to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.


I that case, I would definitely go with 1GB, and see how it performs.
You can always add the extra GB later if you need it, and it won't
cost any more than buying it up front.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

If the laptop shares the video RAM from main memory then get 2 GB. If the
video chip has it's own RAM 1 GB would be OK for light use. More RAM is
always better.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/


"Michael Chare" <> wrote in message
news:...
> If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
> enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing
> if I add an extra 1gb?
>
> I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
> memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
> What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
> typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would
> need to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)
>
> --
> Michael Chare

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:16:46 -0000, "Michael Chare"
<> wrote:

>If I buy a laptop with Vista it will likely come with 1GB memory. Is this
>enough or would I see a significant improvment for email and web browsing if
>I add an extra 1gb?
>
>I should add that my Vista desktop PC has 2gb, usually when I view the
>memory usage with Task Manager it shows less than 1gb being used.
>
>What frustrates me about upgrading a laptop, is that laptops with 1gb
>typically have two memory slots with 512kb in each. To upgrade I would need
>to buy two 1GB SODIMMs, and have no further use for the 512kb ones.
>
> (The particular laptops are an HP 530 and an Asus F3F)

Get 2GB if you want Vista. If you would rather buy a 1GB system, I
recommend XP.