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Upgrading my laptop!

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Ok got a dell Insprion 1150 and i wanna upgrade the memory ive got winXp manger which tells me that i have:

Physical memory: 256mb

I think thats it correct me if i be wrong.

Anyway whats the next one up or two even, this will allow me to do things faster will it not?

Thanks for your help!

P.s Im looking to buy from dell.co.uk or dabs.com

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Upgrading laptop RAM isn't the easiest of tasks sometimes, with the RAM normally hidden under other sections. Remeber, that a laptop is a whole pc crammed into a small space.

    You could probably upgrade to 512, but speak to dell and find out exactly what ram is in your model, as there are different types.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    512mb is the next one?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    256MB is normally made up of 2x128MB. It is normally easily upgradable to 2x256 which = 512. You could change to 1x256 and 1x128 giving you 384 but it isn't normally done.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There are usually 2 places that the ram is stored:

    a) Under a hatch on the bottom of the machine
    b) Under the keyboard

    If it's the first you can usually just get a small philips screwdriver to it and open the hatch to check out the ram.

    If there's no hatch, then it'll most likely be under the keyboard, You might find deep reaching screws from the bottom that screw into the keyboard, or, the plastic bezel just above the keyboard may detach and give access to the screws that hold the keyboard down.

    As you have 256, you may have 2x128, or just one 256 module. Laptops tend to just have 2 ram slots, so you'll be hoping that there'll be just one 256 module and not 2x128 So you can buy another 256 and whack it in the spare slot.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    inspiron-1150bottom.jpg

    Can't exactly make out everything, but it looks as if the ram is housed on the underside of your laptop

    Edit: Oh, and according to Dell's specs you should have 1x256mb memory, which is good. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So i buy another 1x256mb memory?

    Clicky

    And then all i have to do is like nooq said is open it up from the bottom and have a look see?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    CoolMe wrote:
    So i buy another 1x256mb memory?

    Clicky

    And then all i have to do is like nooq said is open it up from the bottom and have a look see?

    nono, open it before you buy anything, so you know what to get. (just incase i'm wrong)

    The memory sticks should have little white labels on them with the memory size on them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If your asking a question like this maybe you shouldn't be poking about in your laptop. Consider the fact a computer shop will probably do this making sure you get the right RAM and that it gets installed properly.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If your asking a question like this maybe you shouldn't be poking about in your laptop. Consider the fact a computer shop will probably do this making sure you get the right RAM and that it gets installed properly.

    And charge her £40 extra for the priveledge, As long as she does things slow and doesn't disassemble the entire laptop then she'll be fine, Modern laptops make it a breeze to upgrade most things these days
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    noog wrote:
    And charge her £40 extra for the priveledge, As long as she does things slow and doesn't disassemble the entire laptop then she'll be fine, Modern laptops make it a breeze to upgrade most things these days

    RUDE! And charge HIM £40 extra for the priveledge, As long as HE does things slow and doesn't disassemble the entire laptop then he'll be fine, Modern laptops make it a breeze to upgrade most things these days


    Anyhow i looked under it and had a look see and my dad moaned at me because i was doing this but i think its the one with the little air vents and it had space for another slot thing but the card that was in there was very small,

    Ill post a picture soon!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    inspiron-1150bottom.jpg

    Psst! Its the middle section with the air vent holes!

    I believe it is anyway
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    CoolMe wrote:
    inspiron-1150bottom.jpg

    Psst! Its the middle section with the air vent holes!

    I believe it is anyway


    Oops, Avatar & Sig were a bit girly, sorry! :)


    Yeah you're probably right, harddrive doesn't usually have ventilation, and neither would miniPCI, and my laptop has vents on the ram hatch. so yes.
    If there's a free slot then that'll mean you have 1x256 so go ahead and order another from dell :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes order from dell and make sure they are of the same brand.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nobody think of checking Dell's support pages :rolleyes:

    http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1150/sm/upgrades.htm#1084976
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep there the ones i was looking at so its okay to order a different size memory i.e 128mb because my friend could only have the same memory as the other one he had in his computer because they were different they didnt work together...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah you got two slots. One has a 256MB already so you can buy another 256MB to beef up to 1/2 gig.
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