Laptop Memory Guide

[Panda Man]

Well I got bored and Rich gave it the ok so here goes nothin'!
-------
So, you’ve upgraded your desktop’s memory, and now it runs like the wind! But what about your laptop, doesn’t it deserve an upgrade as well, especially considering the fact that laptops generally only come with 512MB? Well I’ll go ahead and answer that one for you – Yes.

What does upgrading a laptop’s memory do? Well for starters, it’ll give you a big performance boost in most cases. More physical memory results in less dependence in virtual memory! Which also brings us to our next reason for upgrading your laptops memory – more battery life. I know what you’re thinking – what is panda man smoking? How would ADDING hardware increase your battery life? It’s simple, the second most power consuming piece of hardware you have is the hard disk, beaten only in power consumption by the display itself. By adding more RAM, you are lowering the dependency of the pagefile, which means less disk read/write, which results in more battery life! Unless you have 512MB or more, in which case you already use mostly physical memory over virtual memory anyways, unless you run a lot of program or such that consume a lot of memory. Also, if the vRAM and system ram is shared (which is common in laptops), upgrading your laptop’s memory can boost your graphical and system performance!

Still not convinced? Ok, then I told you to upgrade, so nyah!

Alright, so we want to upgrade or laptops memory, but where do we start? Well first determine the OEM of your laptop, such as HP, Dell, etc. and then find a model. The example laptop being used in this guide is the HP Pavilion XH176 Series.


Ohhh, so nice and sleek looking!

To find out easily what kind of memory you should upgrade your laptop with, check the manufacturer’s site for details and recommendations. You can also check the existing module’s labels’ and determine what the speed and type is, however you will still need to check the manufacturer’s site for the maximum amount of supported memory. You can also google your laptop’s model number and find a 3rd party support site with the details on your laptop. Be wary however, as some 3rd party sites are not very reliable.

According to HP’s web site, my XH176 supports a maximum of 256MB of PC100 memory with a CAS 2 timing. Generally, if you are not sure about the timings and such of the laptop’s memory, its best to just buy through the manufacturer’s site, as you are guaranteed to get the right part (and also one of higher quality). I cheated however, and bought some nice Kingston RAM from Newegg. If you still have any problems/questions/concerns, please feel free to post in our very helpful forums! We would be glad to assist you in any way!

Ok, so we have our RAM, and it smells good! But I don’t want to smell it, I want to use it! Well, never fear, Panda’s here with pictures! Lay the laptop upside down on a non-conductive surface (and make sure your grounded out as well just to be safe) and find the panel that covers the memory. It will normally have a symbol that somewhat resembles a memory module. Here is the panel on the XH176:



Be sure to remove the battery!



Grab a 2mm screwdriver (or something of relevant size) and unscrew the screw(s) holding the panel in place.


Why yes, that IS a windows ME serial key located conveniently under the battery, so if I were to ever needed it in the middle of a windows ME installation, I’d just need to remove the battery and retrieve it! Oops… (oh by the way, and the key is invalid now )

Anyways, as we can see after removing the panel, we find one DIMM already occupying slot 1. But slot 2 is empty!



Let’s rectify that! Grab your new DIMM:



And take it out of the package. To insert it, align the pins with the slot. Push it into place, then push it down to lock it in. Don’t worry, there is a space on the slot and memory that must be aligned as well, so you can’t put it in backwards or anything.





If your not entirely sure how to do it, we have a video prepared for your viewing pleasure!

P1000127.flv - Video - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Success! 256MB of physical memory rather than the embarrassing 128MB.



Boom! Your finished! But lets just say that for some reason, you put the DIMM in the wrong slot. Well first I’d like to know how you accomplished that. But anyways, it’s easy, just pull the connectors back and it will pop out! Like so (this time with cool ghost hand effects!):





And another video demonstration for those that are unsure

P1000128.flv - Video - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

So now you are finished and your laptop is thanking you for that much needed upgrade! Please feel free to drop by our always helpful community and post if you have any comments or questions!

[Capper]

Very well done, well written, great pictures.....we need more stuff like this