If you need to add more memory to your laptop, don’t despair – it’s a relatively simple procedure that just about anyone can do by following a few simple steps.
In order to add laptop memory, you must first know what kind you need. Different brands of laptops use different memory types, and adding the wrong kind can stop your machine from working and may even damage it. Before purchasing new memory, get out your laptop’s manual or specifications and see what kind of memory it has (it will have letters like DIMM, DDR2, and so forth – be sure and write these down, as they are important) and how much capacity it can hold (this will be a number like 2GB). It may also say whether your laptop’s particular memory type must be installed in pairs or not. With this information in hand, you are ready to purchase new memory.
Once you’ve bought the kind of memory that’s right for your laptop, you need to install it. To do this, look at the manual or specifications again – adding memory requires accessing the insides of the laptop, and this is not something you want to do blindly, as it could seriously damage your machine. Use the manual to figure out where in the laptop the memory is located. This is probably under a cover on the bottom, but it could also be underneath the keyboard.
Be sure to remove the battery and unplug the power cord, then open up the cover or keyboard with a small computer-safe screwdriver. Now locate the currently installed memory; it should look a lot like the new memory you bought. Next to it should be at least one open memory slot. Holding your new memory by the corners, place it in this slot at an angle, making sure it’s oriented so that the gold pins are facing down and the notch in the bottom lines up with the slot. Now press it into the slot snugly, then press it down flat until it clicks into place. If it doesn’t fit, turn it around and try again. Repeat for any more memory you are installing.
Replace any hardware you removed and turn your machine back on. The new memory should be installed and working; you can check this via the Windows Control Panel if you like. Congratulations – you’ve successfully added memory to your laptop!
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It has been quite a few months I am using laptop…I always wanted such a place that will solve my newbie doubts and help me in the stuffs that I cant ask to my friends…I must say, got it! Many thanx bro for such an info in simple words on upgrading memory!
One Important Thing! 32 Bit computers can NOT see more than 3GB of Ram! 64 Bit Operating Systems can read 4GB and up! But 64 Bit computers tend to not like some programs. Like DVDFab and DVD43. (That’s a whole topic in itself!) So stick with 32 Bit Computers because 64 Bit computers need 2 Program Files directories. One for 64 Bit apps and one for emulating 32 Bit apps.
MAKE SURE you go to your bios after upgrading your ram or your computer will most likely not recognize that there is a change! Its usually F1, F10, or F11.
And If your computer doesn’t turn on at all, you didn’t seat the ram correctly and your bios won’t let you boot your OS. So if your computer doesn’t boot up, just take the ram out and put it back in. It has to fit snug. (I had 2 256MB cards and one of them was loose and when I booted up Windows XP, Windows said there was only 256 MB of ram, but strangely, CPUID and other Programs from Hiren’s Boot CD 9.9 said there were two sticks of 256. So i kept taking out the ram and re-seating it and after a few tries and playing with the BIOS, I got Windows to read both sticks!)
Great Info , thanks for that Josh
and its not possible to get a DDR2 stick of ram to fit into a DDR1 slot! I tried, on accident and it just would not fit! Then I got to reading the stick of ram and saw that is was DDR2. DDR3 is the next big thing with speeds over 1300 MHz. If your Motherboard takes DDR3 Ram, you have a bad ass computer!
And of course, another thing! lol. Memory is GOOD! I have a Tablet PC and it came with 512 ram. That’s enough to run XP ok… No thrills or anything. And after a few applications running at once, you will want more! lol. I took the RAM out and put two sticks of 512 in this thing, and then installed Windows 7. It runs decent. But as soon as a find two 1GB sticks of laptop DDR1 ram , I am upgrading. Then this thing will perform great!
But seriously, RAM is GOOD! Because when your computer is running, stuff is being pulled from your hard drive and placed in your ram. When you start running low on memory, stuff starts getting written and read from your hard drive. That is not very good. Because it takes a lot longer for your computer to function and the HDD light wills stay lit up and your computer will become unresponsive. These days, if you have 9 tabs open like I do sometimes, Firefox can reach up to 500 MB of ram and then I don’t have much left.
If you have windows xp, 1GB is enough to run your computer comfortably and unless you have money to spend or extra ram lying around, I wouldn’t worry about upgrading. If you have Vista, you need as much as you can get! lol. Windows 7, 2GB would be perfect!