Perhaps youve heard that upgrading your memory is important. Or maybe youve heard about upgrading the processor, motherboard, or graphics card. There are many upgrades that are possible for most computers, its just a matter of getting the best bang for the buck.
The fact is that upgrading the memory on your computer is one of the cheapest, most effective upgrades you can do. It generally provides for faster processing of all essential tasks. Swifter and more efficient multi-tasking. You can do more than one thing at a time without the computer grinding down to a halt.
In todays computing world, you need at a very minimum 512MB of memory, and if youre going to be using Windows Vista, youd be better served with at least 1GB of memory. While youll find high-end systems with 2-4GB or more of memory.
What you must keep in mind is that sometimes its difficult to match the memory you need with the computer. You have to have the right size, and picking the right speed memory makes a difference as well. When you have a laptop the problem is especially apparent. Laptops are notorious for not having much space for memory, and being picky about the memory that will run in them. Usually the users manual or the website of the computer company can help you determine what type of memory you need to upgrade.
What youll also need to find out is how many slots are used and how many are available. Some PC Manufacturers use all of their slots out of the factory, while others conserve space. For instance, a PC that has 512MB of memory and two slots could have one 512MB stick of memory, or two 256MB memory sticks. So, if you were to buy another 512MB stick of memory, youd have 1GB in the optimal setup or 768MB in the two slot PC.
Typically you can find much of this in your users manual, or the manufacturers website. If not many of the memory manufacturers such as Kingston and Crucial have excellent websites that have the specs for most of the computers made in the last decade or two. Thats an excellent backup source of information.
Dollar for dollar, buck for buck upgrading the computer memory is the most efficient upgrade path for most computers. And rather than going out and buying a new computer every few years, a good defrag and an increase in memory is often enough to do the trick.
Just to be clear, we are talking about computer memory or RAM. The day is not quite here where we can upgrade our own memory with cybernetic chips. Or at least not that "they" are telling us.
Not only is installing more memory pretty cheap, most people can get it done for between $50-200. But, its also the most effective as well. It can improve your entire computing experience. From browsing the web, to doing multi-tasking, having more than one computer program running. Its especially important in families where the computer is used by different users. As that can be very memory intensive.
In todays computing world, you need at a very minimum 512MB of memory, and if youre going to be using Windows Vista, youd be better served with at least 1GB of memory. While youll find high-end systems with 2-4GB or more of memory.
What you must keep in mind is that sometimes its difficult to match the memory you need with the computer. You have to have the right size, and picking the right speed memory makes a difference as well. When you have a laptop the problem is especially apparent. Laptops are notorious for not having much space for memory, and being picky about the memory that will run in them. Usually the users manual or the website of the computer company can help you determine what type of memory you need to upgrade.
What youll also need to find out is how many slots are used and how many are available. Some PC Manufacturers use all of their slots out of the factory, while others conserve space. For instance, a PC that has 512MB of memory and two slots could have one 512MB stick of memory, or two 256MB memory sticks. So, if you were to buy another 512MB stick of memory, youd have 1GB in the optimal setup or 768MB in the two slot PC.
Typically you can find much of this in your users manual, or the manufacturers website. If not many of the memory manufacturers such as Kingston and Crucial have excellent websites that have the specs for most of the computers made in the last decade or two. Thats an excellent backup source of information.
Even if it looks complicated, in many cases upgrading the memory in your computer is the best way to improve the performance of your computer. It can delay the need for a new computer by months or years. Dont feel hampered by slow performance, upgrade today.
Perhaps youve heard that upgrading your memory is important. Or maybe youve heard about upgrading the processor, motherboard, or graphics card. There are many upgrades that are possible for most computers, its just a matter of getting the best bang for the buck.
The fact is that upgrading the memory on your computer is one of the cheapest, most effective upgrades you can do. It generally provides for faster processing of all essential tasks. Swifter and more efficient multi-tasking. You can do more than one thing at a time without the computer grinding down to a halt.
For the most part its best to start with at the very least 512MB, and with memory as cheap as it is these days, and with the future in mind, 1GB should be your goal. Especially if youre going to run Windows Vista or be using the computer for games or anything more than just simple web browsing and word processors. Its not uncommon today to see two to four gigabytes in your high-end computers.
However, knowing that you need memory is the easy part. Finding what memory you need for your specific computer is the hard part. It would be much simpler if it was like DVDs, every DVD runs in every DVD player. However, memory comes in different sizes, speed ratings and they are not all compatible with each other. Take note that laptop memory is generally a different size than what you can find in desktops. So, you wont find it interchangeable. The first place to look is in the users manual or any documentation you have with the computer, or on the manufacturers website.
What you must keep in mind is that sometimes its difficult to match the memory you need with the computer. You have to have the right size, and picking the right speed memory makes a difference as well. When you have a laptop the problem is especially apparent. Laptops are notorious for not having much space for memory, and being picky about the memory that will run in them. Usually the users manual or the website of the computer company can help you determine what type of memory you need to upgrade.
There are numerous websites that give detailed requirements of many of the computers and the memory requirements of each. Most of them are provided by the leading memory manufacturers like Crucial, and are very good resources. .
Even if it looks complicated, in many cases upgrading the memory in your computer is the best way to improve the performance of your computer. It can delay the need for a new computer by months or years. Dont feel hampered by slow performance, upgrade today.
By: David Smith