Laptop Choosing Guide, Part 2 – Memory
How much do you need? It greatly depends on what are you going to do. As a rule of thumb the minimum requirement for smooth run — 1 Gb for Windows XP and 2 Gb for Windows Vista. They say Linux requires less, but applications under Linux (browsers, office suites, mail clients, etc…) eat almost same amount as windows applications, so for Linux laptop at least 1 Gb is also preferable.
Speed. As processors, RAM has speed too. Most modern laptops have memory with 667 Mhz frequency. Getting 800 MHz is maybe beneficial if you have a very strong processor, otherwise you won’t get performance benefit, because processor itself will be the bottleneck. 1066 MHz is currently an overkill and you won’t notice a performance difference between 800 MHz and 1066 Mhz. Sometimes speed specified not in MHz but in numbers like PC2-5300. For your information 4200 means 533 MHz, 5300 means 667 MHz, 6400 means 800 MHz and 8500 means 1066 MHz
What’s the difference between DDR2 and DDR3? DDR3 can support much higher frequencies (but you remember that even 667 is enough for you). Another benefit of DDR3 is about 30% less power consumption comparing to DDR2. Less power consumption is good for laptops — means longer battery life and less heat, but it’s not really a deal breaker.
Shared RAM. If your laptop has an integrated video card (almost all laptops under $1000 CAD have integrated video cards) then real RAM which applications can use will be less than specification says, because video card will use some of it for graphic processing. For example, if you have a laptop with 1 Gb and integrated video with 256 Mb, then actual available amount for applications will be 768 Mb and not 1 Gb.
Cap. 32 bit operation systems can not utilize more than 3 Gb, so if you are buying a laptop with 4 Gb or more, make sure it runs a 64 bit operation system.
When choosing a notebook, pay attention to how many available memory slots does it have. It is cheap in our days and if laptop you are considering is good, but lacks “brains”, available slot will allow you to easily increase it to desired size.
Visit my website laptop guides for Canadians [http://www.desktoplaptopreviews.ca] to find the perfect laptop for yourself. Simple reviews and how-to articles will guide you through.
Author: Ivan Pankov
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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