<p>I've heard buying memory seperately is cheaper, but is it a good idea to open up a laptop and install memory on your own? Also, anyone know where I can find a good deal?</p>
<p>RANDOM THOUGHT: There ought to be a Tech sub-forum. Computers are taking over "College Life".</p>
<p>good deals - newegg.com, froogle.google.com (remember to go to bbb.org to check the reliability of a vendor), or search your local paper's sunday ad section,.</p>
<p>opening your laptop to install ram is relatively straightforward. in most cases, it's simply a matter of unscrewing a panel on the bottom and inserting the ram (such as in <a href="http://www.laptopmemoryupgrade.com/laptop-memory.jpg)%5B/url%5D">http://www.laptopmemoryupgrade.com/laptop-memory.jpg)</a>. there should be details in your users manual :).</p>
<p>ditto, but i hope you arent doing much more than that..say adding an optical drive
hats off to ya if you know what ur doing</p>
<p>Memory is very easy to install in most laptops. Either there is a small trap door on the bottom, very easy. OR: You must remove the keyboard and install it somewhere in the heart of the machine. Thats a little tougher, but not as bad as it sounds. Newegg.com is the best place to go. </p>
<p>Also, minimum 512mb nowadays. 1GB (1024mb) recommended.</p>
<p>Buying memory on-line is much cheaper than having the laptop manufacturer install it for you. Still, you need to do some homework before you make a purchase. </p>
<p>How much memory does your laptop have?
What is the "speed" of the memory? PC 2100/PC2700/PC3200? DDR? DDR2?
How many memory slots does your laptop have?
How are those slots populated?</p>
<p>If your laptop has 512 M of memory, that should be enough for most Window applications. Gaming or photoshop type applications will benefit with 1 G of memory.</p>
<p>Many laptop manufacturers have 2 memory slots and come with 256/512 M of memory split up as 2 128/256 M "sticks". To get to 1 G, you have to purchase either a 1 G SO-DIMM stick or 2 512 M sticks. Either way, you will have either 1 or 2 extra sticks of memory that will end up going to waste. It pays to do your homework.</p>
<p>If you have problems understanding these issues, find a friend who does...</p>
<p>
[quote]
RANDOM THOUGHT: There ought to be a Tech sub-forum. Computers are taking over "College Life".
[/quote]
I had been thinking this for awhile myself, and I agree with you.
I posted this suggestion to the moderators on the Forum Issues board.</p>
<p>Oh, and on the memory the best tool IMO to use is <a href="http://www.pricegrabber.com%5B/url%5D">www.pricegrabber.com</a>. They are like Froogle, except that you can read reviews and rate retailers, plus they only have reliable retailers with reliable products listed.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.crucial.com%5B/url%5D">www.crucial.com</a></p>
<p>Check to see how much your laptop can support. Other than that, ram is very easy to install.</p>
<p>make sure when you buy the laptop you get 512 in one dimm.</p>
<p>If you get 512 split in 2 or a 256 dimm, you will need to buy two new sticks which will end up costing more (you have to replace the 256 sticks with 512).</p>
<p>Don't use Crucial's memory configurator! It will give you very pricey and expensive memory!</p>
<p>I didn't say buy from crucial, I use it as a reference to see how much a certain laptop can hold. I use newegg.com as my main source for computer parts.</p>
<p>Get the free cpu-z at <a href="http://www.cpuid.org/cpuz.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.cpuid.org/cpuz.php</a> and buy the specified chip from newegg. If you are adding a chip, using the same model and brand is your best bet.</p>
<p>i bought my rdram (which is usually uneconomically super expensive) from newegg.com. bought 256mb for 100$ which is not as bad as some other prices i saw.</p>
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