Teachin'Mine Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I've got an older laptop which runs Microsoft XP. It was a good one when it was bought about 7 years ago, but now runs slowly. It has 512 memory. Would changing out the memory cards and giving it 2GB give it faster speed? Right now there's not enough MB available to do the things we need to do on it, and I think the extra RAM would solve that problem, but will that also solve the speed problem, or does the hard drive need updating too. Trying to do this low budget. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momdm Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Depends on what are the other things you want to do. Is there any computer hardware store near you that would let you add extra memory and try out the program you want to run. Adding extra memory will increase the speed and adding extra storage will help with storing more files. But the speed is relative, hence best if you can try upgrading it in the store and run your program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Okay - what is the difference between extra storage and extra memory? Fear not ... I'm not the one who'll be teaching my dd computers. :lol: Regarding the computer store, I'm sure there is, but thought I'd get a better price online ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 We did this on a laptop that old and then installed Windows 7, and it is indeed doing better. You need to be absolutely sure that you buy the memory that is compatible with your motherboard (which includes the CPU) though because some laptops can't be upgraded. If you haven't done this type of thing before, you might take it to a reliable computer repair person. Upgrading memory usually doesn't take long and they should be able to get it right. Memory is just one type of storage. CDs, flash drives, cache, hard drives, etc. are all types of storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kareng Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Extra storage is like a hard drive. Extra memory is a memory card. Both are needed. Although sometimes they work together, both are used for separate things. Here is some information from a link I found. You'll find the link for this at the end of this italicized blurb:Computer memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory), is used by your computer for instant storage. Your computer needs instant storage to allow applications and processes to run up to speed. Computer storage, or hard drives, are used to store everything on your computer. For example, if you were to install Microsoft Word on your computer from an install disc, you could then use Microsoft Word whenever you want. You would not have to insert the Microsoft Word disc to use the application, because that application is now completely stored on your hard drive. Read more: Computer Memory Vs. Storage | eHow.comhttp://www.ehow.com/about_5452977_computer-memory-vs-storage.html#ixzz1iyMnrD4x If you don't have enough memory (RAM), your computer ends up putting a little bit of a file here and little bit of the file there (wherever it can find room) and as a result, your hard disk gets very fragmented (in pieces). In order for you to use some file (let's say a WORD file), your computer has to find all the pieces and try to put them together. This takes a lot of time to do. So if your computer is very fragmented, it takes forever to do the simple things AND because you have very little memory, you can't even fix it (called defragging). I would second the recommendation. If you don't have the skills or have a friend with the skills to help you, then go to a place like Staples, I think they will "clean up" your computer for $9.95. I don't know what they will charge for putting in additional memory. It really depends on what you have. If you have maxed out the memory for that computer, they can't do much. Maybe you know of a place that has better prices than Staples. Anyway, here's a link for Staples: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/tech_09/repair.html Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thank you! I'll take your suggestion! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freerange Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 If the housekeeping (defragging etc) don't help, or don't help enough, there are some memory manufacturers who's websites will run a scan to tell you if your computer could use more memory & recommend what's compatible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thank you! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Another thing to do before spending any money would be to back it up, wipe it and reinstall Windows XP. Regular maintenance like defragging is good but at some point (and 7 years is well beyond that! :D) it's good to just wipe it clean and reinstall. I do this every year or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Another thing to do before spending any money would be to back it up, wipe it and reinstall Windows XP. Regular maintenance like defragging is good but at some point (and 7 years is well beyond that! :D) it's good to just wipe it clean and reinstall. I do this every year or two. Thank you - great suggestion! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHomeScientist Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 I've got an older laptop which runs Microsoft XP. It was a good one when it was bought about 7 years ago' date=' but now runs slowly. It has 512 memory. Would changing out the memory cards and giving it 2GB give it faster speed? Right now there's not enough MB available to do the things we need to do on it, and I think the extra RAM would solve that problem, but will that also solve the speed problem, or does the hard drive need updating too. Trying to do this low budget. :tongue_smilie:[/quote'] I would really think twice about spending any money on a computer that old. Computers have what engineers call "design lives" and at seven years old you've already exceeded the design life for any PC, laptop or desktop. Stated simply, a system past its design life has a very high likelihood of multiple component failures. You may upgrade your memory only to find that the hard drive fails. If you replace that, a week or a month later the motherboard or the display may fail. The other problem (more so with laptops than desktops) is that components are non-standard and sometimes completely proprietary. You may find that memory compatible with your laptop is not available or is *extremely* expensive. Even if compatible memory is available (check the on-line configuration at http://www.crucial.com), there's no guarantee that your BIOS will support the additional memory, or that an upgraded BIOS is available. In other words, even if the motherboard will accept 2 GB of memory and even if that memory is available and affordable, the laptop might not recognize it. My advice would be to clean up the system in terms of getting a lot of the software gunk out of there. After 7 years, there's probably a ton of stuff loaded and taking resources that you're not even using. The system is probably also seriously infected with viruses and malware, which can cause a huge performance hit. Run a decent AV/malware scanner and run a program like PC Decrapifier to remove old demo programs and so on that are just eating resources. Just plan on using your current laptop until it drops dead, and then buy a new one. That really is the most cost-effective way to proceed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Thank you. That would normally be my advice to others too, but sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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