I agree - 2GB seems to be the “sweet spot” for Vista (Ultimate). Unfortunately, Vista (32 bit) will only use 3GB of RAM no matter how much you have installed (64 bitt uses more). XP has the same limitation.

Your comments always make me smile. I remember when, being disgusted at the 286-12MHz Packard Bell I had just bought at Costco, I decided to BUILD my own machine. You see the 286 had 1MB of memory on board, and the manual stated that there was an add-in board which would hold 8MB more. Well, I had my eye on using DesqView, and when someone at P-B tech support told me that that board was no longer offered, because the system was a year old…

I went to a computer show and proceeded to buy the best stuff I could at the time [I was a student, and college tuition was most of my budget]. I bought a 386sx-16 motherboard, which would allow 8MB on board, and used 70ns RAM interleaved for SPEED! The RAM was $100 per megabyte, so it was the largest single purchase at $800, and then came the 200MB Western Digital IDE drive to the tune of $525[quite a deal at the time!].

Anyway, all this to say that I was preparing for Vista also, and had been running all my XP machines on 1G of RAM for some time. In the way that I use the machine [heavily configured is how I like to describe it], it made such a difference to go to 2GB that I have decided to do it with all the machines I have that will allow it. I only have one motherboard that will go to 4GB, so I’ll try that when I decide to open up my copy I received from MS [I’m betting it is counted in the 20M!]. It amazes me how much MS is willing to be criticized for the performance of their software just because they unrealistically estimate how much memory the bloatware will require. I still maintain that if we really were concerned with the size in memory of programs and operating systems, the compiler companies would REALLY optimize the code, and suggest using ASM for some of the more critical stuff. C and its derivatives are great, but think back to what one could accomplish with Lotus 1-2-3 2.01 on MS DOS 3.3!

Hi Bud,
FWIW - I believe 32 bit supports 4G. 64 bit goes from 8G to 128G for the Enterprise, Business & Ultimate editions.

Heh Marc,
When you mentioned the WD at 200MB it brought back memories as well.

And I agree. It is just so much easy to throw memory at bad software, than to fix the software itself.

Thanks to you both for your remarks. Ron

I have a problem and I’m wondering if Ron can help me. I bought a DELL Computer in late February of course it came with Windows Vista, 512 MB of Memory, 36 months of McAfee anti-virus software and of course 3 months free Bell Sympatico high speed internet. Its been HELL dealing with this thing. Problems started with the high speed which was sooo slow, I called Bell 5 times and finally they figured the problem was the computer didn’t have enough memory so called Dell gave them sh*t, explained everything and they gave a gift certificat of 150 dollars to buy more memory, in which I did. Received the memory this week, had my daughter come over install it for me, again the high speed is so slow, call back Bell to now find out that the problem is my anti-virus software McAfee. Took McAfee off the computer and WOW its soo fast. Ron Do you know anything about this? Is there a driver I need to download or something. I paid 100 dollars for this anti-virus which came with the computer and now I have no anti-virus to protect it. Should I wait to see if McAfee will fix this problem or what?

Thanks

Linda,
This is a tough one. It’s difficult to be objective because I am prejudiced against both Norton and McAfee, since I wouldn’t recommend either, except to my enemies.
First, I would demand a refund from McAfee or most likely Dell themselves. Seems like you know how to speak up if they gave you a $150 gift certificate. Good for you.
Do this. Download AVG Free edition. This is one of the best av products available for free.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/02/07/avg-anti-virus-program-make-sure-you-upgrade-to-version-75
And I also would recommend a anti-spyware program as well.
Lavasoft SE, Spybot search and destroy and a few I recommend.
ALL are available for free at the link below.
http://100-downloads.com/
I hope this helps, Ron

Hello Ron and everybody,

I dropped by to read this thread because I noticed the other day that PCWorld (a UK high-street computer shop chain) were selling laptops with Vista, and - wait for it - 256Mb RAM!

And their staff were pointing people to these (albeit low-priced) machines with gusto.

Now, I’m self-taught in everything I know about computers, but one evening’s web research warned me off machines with less than 1Gb - even for XP. I’ve just ditched my old W98SE machine which had struggled along valiantly for 5 years on 384Mb.

Vista on 256? Is this sort of thing criminal, or what?

Hi Mick,
That is totally unreal! I feel sorry for the people who buy these machines. But my guess is the store will be happy to add more RAM once these folks see how SLOW…….. Vista runs. At a price of course! Thanks for the information.

Ron

Bud and Ron -

Windows Vista 32-bit versions, like any 32-bit OS, can support 4GB worth of memory addresses. However, also like any other 32-bit OS, that does NOT mean you can actually make use of 4GB of RAM.

The issue is that your BIOS will reserve memory addresses for things besides RAM, including enough to map to the total amount of video memory in your system. So if you have a 256MB video card, that means 256MB of memory addresses are gone as soon as you start the PC.

When all is said and done, most 32-bit PCs can’t make use of more than 3GB of memory, although the exact amount will vary. Many users who install 4GB on a 32-bit machine will see 3.5 or 3.25 actually usable. I’ve seen others (Chris’ QuadFX machine, actually) with dual 8800GTX cards that end up only able to see 2GB!

Of course, installing the 64-bit version of Vista fixes this problem. That is, assuming your hardware supports greater than 32-bit addressing, which even some cheaper/older x64 motherboards do not.

Hello Brandon,
Thanks for the clarification. I was just quoting the MS line of 4MB limit. Regards, Ron

Hi!
I am a rather heavy gamer and was just wondering if my high end games will be allowed to run effectively by Vista. I will have 2Gb of RAM but I just want to know if Vista will inhibbit my high end gaming performance.

Hi Nathan,
May I suggest the following. Post your concerns over at the LG forum in the Gaming section. We have a resident expert who stays on top of games and should be able to confirm what will and won’t work. As far as performance goes, I don’t believe you will notice much difference. But whether the games will work is another story.

http://help.lockergnome.com

I hope this helps. Ron

If you are a BIG Vista Gamer 4GB should be enough.
If you are a BIG XP Gamer 512mb should be enough.

Hello Olav,
Thanks for the comments.
Ron

hi ron,recently i bought dell laptop 512 Ram with duo core processor and of course with windows vista home basic,problem is whenever i tried to connect to internet where i used my 3G handphone as the modem,the internet connection is very slow,when i the same connection over at my desktop which runs on windows xp the internet speed is awesome,i dunt know what the real problem is,my friends are saying because my laptop ram is not enough as a result the internet connection is slow.Beside these opeening of applications works okay,not fast and now that slow either

Thanks for the help guys, it was realy helpful.
Nathan

Hi Nathan,
Thanks for the reply.
Regards, Ron

Hi Ron,

I was wondering if the speed of the RAM makes any difference for Vista?

I have someone who wants to upgrade a machine from XP to Vista, and the motherboard will support up to PC2100 (266 Mhz), so the choices are to just buy 1 gig more memory, or to buy a new motherboard and buy 2 gigs of faster memory, which is much more expensive, but this person is interested in only the best.

Hello Jeremy,
The faster memory naturally works with faster cpu’s. So the system would be faster than a system using PC2100. How much faster? It’s a combo effect and also takes into account the video display adapter.

So you could end up with a new mobo, cpu, memory and video card. And you might also need a bigger PS to handle the new load. Basically a new machine.

Hope this helps, Ron

HI!
ive just ordered a computer with 2GB of RAM.
The PC came with VISTA ULTAMATE pre-installed.
I usually use a fare amount of high-end softwere, so i was wondering if this would make my pc slow as i ordered it to be fast.
By the way it has a intel core2 duo 2.4GHz processer and a 256mb graphics card which were built into the package.

Also the test you conducted in which u concluded that 2GB was the best for VISTA, what version of vista was that for, ULTAMATE??

Hi Raza,
It was Ultimate that I used. And it was a AMD single core also with a 256MB graphics card. So my guess is that your dual core with 2G should run very well. Worse case scenario is adding more RAM is easy though not cheap.

Good luck on your new system. Let us know how it works for you after you get it setup. I’m sure everyone would like to hear your thoughts.

Regards, Ron

Thanks for your help.
I havn’t recived the system yet but when i do i will be sure to tell u all how it works.

Hi Raza,
Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards, Ron

How much RAM is best to buy?

Hi Thomas,
If you read thru the comments it appears that 2G works very well with 4G being the absolute best performance.

I am personally using 2G with Ultimate and it works very well for me.
Ron

I’m looking to get a computer for very basic operation, basically just internet browsing. They have real cheap machines with 512mb RAM, will Vista basic run fine for just basic internet browsing with 512mb RAM? I’m thinking its worth a try and if it’s not good enough I can get upgrade later, would you agree its worth a try?

Hello Joe,
That’s a tough call. For basic browsing and nothing more, it should be OK.

But once you leave the simple browsing area and venture into other areas, such a digital camera’s, scanners, mp3 files, and such, the system could bog down on you. I have seen so many people buy inexpensive systems only to be disappointed down the road.

However, if you are 100% certain that is all you will ever do with the system, it should work OK.

I wish you all the best in your decision making process. Ron

Hi,
I recived my computer and i am pleased to say that it is working extreamly fast. not only on start up but also when it comes to usage.
So my advice is that the best RAM for vista(ultamate) would be 2GB, that is unless you were a hard-core gamer, then you might decide to use 4GB.

Hi Raza J,
Thanks for letting us know. I hope you enjoy your new system.
Ron

I would run 2GB DDR2 in XP. That seems to be the sweet spot in XP. I run 4GB DDR2 in VISTA this seems to be VISTA’s sweet spot It does display as 3582MB = 3.50GB and believe me VISTA loves RAM. It showed I was using 2.7GB when I was multi-tasking. The WOW starts now they got that right “hog”! I have a nvidia 7600GT card and a dual core AMD. VISTA runs really good on 4GB of RAM. In my honest opinion 4GB is the way to go in VISTA very smooth snappy. In XP 4GB is like rocket fuel.

Hello JJ,
Thanks for your comments.
Ron

Hey i was just wondering if a 64 bit OS is a lot better than 32 bit. What are the differences? Most new computers come with 64 bit processors and even my old 2 year old has an AMD which claims it is ready for new 64 bit processing. If this technology is standard on most new processors why not make it standard on all computers?

Thanks
Mairaj

Mairaj,
Here is a article that explains the difference. Eventually everything will be 64 bit. When this will finally happen is anyone’s guess.

http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/windowsxp/articles/581/1/The-difference-between-64-and-32-bit-processors

Hope this helps, Ron

Hey Ron,

Thanks for your reply. That helped explain it.

Thanks Again,
Mairaj

Hi Maiaj,
You’re welcome. And thanks for bringing this up as well. I’m going to do a short article on it.

Regards, Ron

Hello all,

I just bought a HP Pavilion with 1gb of RAM and (apparently sadly) it came with VISTA BASIC. At this point I’ve only had it for about 5 hours and I’ve noticed that it’s pretty slow, even for simple browsing.

I just really want to know what my options are at this point. Do I HAVE to buy RAM? Is it possible to install XP and/or just use that?

I spent $850 on this computer and it’s pretty unbelievable that I would have to spend more to get it to work well.

Also, what exactly makes this computer worth $800?
BTW, this is the HP Pavilion A6037

Thanks in advance

Sorry, just want to add that I meant AND/OR Uninstall Vista.

Thanks again.

Hello Jesse,
I hope you don’t mind, but I posted your question to see what kind of a response we would get on how you should proceed with your new system.

http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/05/02/new-hp-computer-running-slow-reader-wants-to-know-what-to-do/

Ron

Hello,

I Have a HP compaq laptop with a core 2 duo 1.6ghz processor. I have 512mb of RAM. Sometimes it runs really slow and sometimes somewhat slowly. How much more RAM do i need and how much will it cost? (AUD preferably)

Hello Bradley,
If you are running Vista I would get a min. of 1G. 2G is the sweet spot. Ram costs vary speeding on Ram speed and where you buy it. I’d check out Crucials site and put in your make and model and see what they recommend. This will give you a general idea.

Hope this helps, Ron

dear who ever can help me,
tomorow i am going out to buy a compaq laptop with vista basic installed on it. It comes with 512mb of ram and is only expandable to 1gb so im goin to buy another 512. Is the computer going to run good?

Hello elliott,
Since you will be using Basic, 1G of Ram should be plenty. As to whether it will run any good, Vista does appear to most who are using it to run equal to XP. But one thing all of us agree upon is to uninstall ALL of the crapware that comes with the system.

http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/05/02/new-hp-computer-running-slow-reader-wants-to-know-what-to-do

There is some great info in the comments section and a few programs like Decrapifier you should try.

Let us know how you like your new system. Ron

Hello Ron…
I’d like to ask you about some problems I have…
I have laptop which has intel dual core 2(2GHz) with 1GB ram with windows vista and 256 Invidia graphic card and 160GB hardisk,,
The problem I face is when I use my laptop for 4 hours and more
it starts to heat and when I open programs it dont respond at all it take time to open it and the sound of fan become noisy,,,
and what I do I start to press alt+ctrl+delete and move to task manager to end some process, but it dont take me to task manager and seems to stuck so I give it chance for 6 minutes or more to start responding again..
I put my laptop over table

I am using windows vista home premium….32-bit..

Hello M Attar,
From your description it seems that you have determined it is a heat issue. You can try using a program called Speed Fan to confirm that is actually the problem.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
My first recommendation would be to call your OEM if this is a new system to see what they recommend.
Second, on my laptop systems I use a laptop cooler. I chose the model from Antec because it is quiet, works off of a usb port BUT the connector itself is a usb plug so you don’t lose a port. Just a thought.
Hope this helps, Ron

Ron, Thank you alot for your useful advice

But what do you think, do you recommend me to upgrade my RAM to 2GB?
and one more things, when u put laptop on floor like studying table, does this have disadvantaged??

Hi M Attar,
2G of RAM seems to be the sweet spot for Vista. If you have the laptop on a table and the wairflow is not retricted, then it should be fine.
Ron

Thanxz alot Ron ^__^

M Attar,
You are welcome.
Ron

Hi Ron,

Last week I purchased a DELL Inspiron 6400 the spec is:-

Core 2 Duo T5600 (1.83GHz, 667MHz FSB 2MB L2)
1024Mb (2×512) 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120Gb Hard Drive (only 15Gb free now)
256Mb NVIDIA Ge Force Go 7300 Turbo Cache
Vista Home Premium.

I am very disappointed with the performance of this machine, it often freezes or runs very slowly when switching between applications, the 3D switching option in Vista usually takes ages to come up. I am running Office 2007 - Word, Excel, Outlook, and also use Mozilla Firefox and Adobe Photoshop regularly, not all at the same time but two or three togther.

Also Vista is sometimes incredibly slow to bring up things like the control panel, the icons appear one by one, also sometimes when im looking through a document folder the icons again appear slowly as this annoying task bar ticks slowly across! Is there anyway to get rid of that thing. Same thing when I open my computer icon, very slow indeed.

My Vista Performance index is given as 3.1, due to the graphics card, and the other things are between 3.5-4.1. I have taken off a lot of the crap that came with the computer, like McAfee, and installed aVast anti-virus instead (works well), I stopped lots of the programs that were running on start-up with autoruns.

I was wondering what you would recommend to get this machine running better, as Im sure it should be able to, it cost £600 = $1188, which is quite a lot more than the cheapest out there so i thought I would get pretty good performance. I could by 2×1Gb 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM from crucial for £58 which I am prepared to do if you think it would help significantly, and from this post it seems 2Gb is optimal. Do you think the RAM is probably the biggest issue, or the graphics card which has 128Mb shared and 128Mb designated memory? Will increasing the RAM, help the graphics card in the 128Mb that are shared with RAM? Also will getting 667MHz RAM, make a big difference compared to 533Mhz. Finally do you think having only 15Gb free on the hard drive is a problem.

Sorry for the long post but im really lost on this and would really appreciate your help.

Regards,

Paul

Hello Paul,
I’m going to post your comments in a article and see what kind of a response we get.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/05/31/new-dell-system-reader-needs-help-system-running-slow
Regards, Ron

I would like to clear something up about vista 32 bit!
Had some time to do testing.
4GB = waste. You cant use the 4thGB.
3GB Is fine run it like this 2×512MB and 2×1GB =3GB No waste.
I was useing 4GB but thats online hype! NO GOOD
It will run with 2GB or 3GB just fine. All this F.U.D. about 4GB.
Its really no more of a beast then XP. Slight bloat lets not make mountains out of moe hills. P.S. Still running XP.
Thanks.

Hi JJ,
Thanks for your comments and for sharing what you found.
Ron

Hello,

I just purchased a Dell Vostro laptop (no bloatware), with the folowing specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

I’m running Vista Basic, because I’m waiting until my university offers Business or Ultimate for free.

There is a lot of talk about RAM in this thread, but I haven’t noticed anyone go into depth about the relationship between processor speed/type and RAM, and how these two factors interact with one another.

My question: With my processor (bottom of the line Core 2 Duo), am I really going to be able to use my RAM fully?

Hi JJ,
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Ron

Hi!

I’m pretty much a computer novice when it comes to specs. Hope you can help?!…

I just bought a notebook with the following:
-AMD Turion 64 mobile technology MK-38 (2.2 GHz, 512KB L@ cashe)

-Up to 256MB ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 hyperMemory
-160GB HDD
-1GB DDR2

The above are the specs given on the sticker. It also have Windows Vista Premium

I’m confused, when I check the computer stats ie: RAM, Processor etc… The RAM displays as 768MB. I specifically bought this notebook based on the 1GB. Why is it showing a different amount of RAM than what I paid for?

Do I need to be concerned? Who should I contact? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance..

Oops! I meant to say in my post ****512KB L2 cashe ***

Thanks

Hello Ann,
Your video card is using 256MB of your physically installed RAM. You therefore have 1 GB [1,024] minus the 256 = 768MB available for the operating system and other programs.
Personally I believe that the sweet spot for Vista Home Premium and above is around 2GB. However, not knowing what you are doing on your system beside the casual email and web surfing, 1GB may meet your specific needs.
I would do two things. First I would use the system and see how the performance is for you. If it meets your needs OK, stay with 1 G. Second I would wait until Vista SP1 becomes available, which should be fairly soon since it is currently being tested. Microsoft is making performance enhancement which may just help in the way your system performs.
If your performance still does not meet your needs, then consider kicking the system up to 2GB or more.
I hope this helps you. I’m also going to post a article since this seems to be a issue for many who have just bought new machines.
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/08/19/windows-vista-wheres-my-ram
Regards, Ron

Good Morning Ron!

Thanks for your quick response…your forums are very helpful.

So If I’m understanding you correctly the computer company is not misleading me by just installing 768mb, they have actually installed the 1GB.

The reason I asked is that when I turn on the notebook, sign in there is a Windows page that loads up automatically telling me the type of system that I have, processor etc.. and the RAM displays as 768mb.

I wish vista would have just shown the 1GB less installed info so that it would not add to the confusion.

Ron, you mentioned the video card is taking up the rest of the missing memory. Is this feature essential?(Please keep in mind that I am a novice and trying my best to understand computer talk:)
BTW, I will be mostly using the computer to write papers, print, internet etc..

What can I do with the video card, to allow more space if needed?

I’ve had my notebook for almost a week.. I guess I shouldn’t call th computer company and complain about not installing 1GB of ram eh?!

Thanks for your help. I’m glad I stumbled across your site…extremely helpful and informative. Take Care..

-Ann

Hello Ann,
It wouldn’t hurt any calling the computer company just to confirm what I said.

There may also be a way in the BIOS to limit the amount of RAM the video card takes at boot up. But this is something you may wish to have done by a computer savvy friend or relative. Notice the word MAY. Each computer system is different. But since you said the sticker states ‘up to 256MB’ it makes me think it can be lowered.

Anytime you post a question, it is also a good idea to post the brand and model # of the unit as well.

Hope you have a great Sunday.

Regards, Ron

dual channel dual channel dual channel dual channel!!!!!!!
Future proof yourself and take the hit. Frankly for an extra £20 buy the extra 2gb and loose 1gb. It’s still dual channel and it’s still faster. I encode alot of films, play games and trust me it makes a difference with my e6400 core duo.

Just to get this out there, I built a computer out of parts that I scavanged here and there. Pretty much I did not pay a dime for anything other than the case (which came with a 650 watt PS and all the fancy led fans and a nice see through cut out side). Most of the stuff in my system is outdated and not even made anymore. I am running Home premium, with a Nvidia FX5700 256mb video card, AMD Atholon XP 2000+ thoroughbred cpu, gigs of ram on a Syntax SV266m motherboard. I play some heavy games on this system with no problems. I am very happy with this setup. I would give advice to people that are considering buying a store bought system- DO NOT DO IT! You will get a whole bunch of preloaded spyware and crap that bloats your system and will slow it down. Also Vista has something like 160 processes that are all turned on by default. I advise that you turn off whatever you do not need and limit startup programs. Vista just needs a little tweak here and there but as far as I am concerned is a really great system. I also want to comment on the guy that said he knew of computers with 256 of ram with Vista? Vista won’t even allow you to install it unless it detects 512 mb of ram, so that would lead me to believe that they remove it after they do an install and try to resell it to you. Bad buisness!!!

hey ron..1 question :
i recently bought an hp pavilion 9series. i increased the ram from 2 to 4g. the laptop is vista ultimate with 320gb hdd. oh, and it runs on 64 bit processing. how come it can only read 3.25gb of ram??
thanx

Hi Ivan,
Check in your BIOS to see how much RAM is being dedicated to your video card, if the card is integrated.

Then test the new RAM by itself and see what it is reading compared to your old RAM. You may have a bad stick.

If you are still having a problem, I’d give HP a call to see what they advise.

Hi Ron,

Wow, let me just say, you and all of these other folks have been through a lot of heartache with vista. The more i read the more I don’t want any part of it, oh that’s right, i’m using a computer with vista on it right now. Let me just tell you, it’s not easy. I’ve only got a Gig of RAM, and I like to game. It is tough and not enjoyable at all, and to think I gave up my old XP computer that had a Gig of RAM too. This computer sucks! But it is not the reason I’m posting because I know what to do about this computer, just don’t have the funds right now.

I’m a senior in high school and it’s almost that time of the year when the parents are thinking about buying me a laptop for college. Well, I fell in love with the Hp and Gateway Tablet laptops, but after doing some research on them, I decided that hurting my parents credit card was not worth being able to right on the stupid screen; besides I type faster than I can write. So now I’m looking at Dells. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Dells and I want to get their Inspiron 1521, but my problem is that I can only get up to 2 gigs of RAM on it. I would like to get the 1520 and just buy the more RAM, but that unfortunately overextends the limits of my budget.

My question is, knowing that 2Gb is the now defined “sweet spot” for Vista, and knowing that all Laptops just inherently run slow, will I be able to run 5 or 6 programs at a time on the Vista Premium Laptop with 2Gb of RAM and a Dual Core 2.0GHz processor comfortable?????…something tells me no, but I want a professional opinion, or just a more educated one.

Here are the exact stats:
Dell Inspiron 1521
AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60 (1MB/2.0GHz)
Vista Home Premium
ATI Radeon Xpress1270 Hypermemory
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
160GB SATA HD(5400RPM)

If you would tell me if I would be able to run 5-6 programs comfortably at the same time on this system. With only 1GB on this computer running Vista Premium I’m able to run 5-6, but it gets slow and a little hairy. If I’m gonna spend good money on a laptop, I want one that can get me through college and it doesn’t take me 20 minutes to open MS Word or my games for that matter.

Sorry for the really long post. I just really wanted to get it all out there, and feel free to start a new post with this, just please let me know b/c I really want to find out something pretty soon b/c I want to buy the laptop while its on sell for Christmas.

Thxs again, J. Sheffer

PS: Reading this article and some of the ones that stemmed from it (especially Paul’s question) have helped me find free ways to increase the performance of my current program, such as turning off the appearance settings.

Hello J. Sheffer,
I would buy a business Vostro system w/2G using Windows XP. Than you are sure all of your programs will work without any problems.

If you gotta have Vista, 2G MAY be enough depending on what programs you are running.

Take a look at the Vostro system here:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/vostronb_1500?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&~tab=bundlestab

Hey Ron,

Oh my god, I’m so glad you pointed me to that specific Vostro. I had looked at them before and couldn’t find one that i could get with the hardware I wanted in a good price range. Well the Vostro 1500 was perfect. Don’t know how I missed it. I did get it with Vista, but I was able to put 3Gb’s of RAM on it and I personnally think that will be plenty. The main reason I want Vista is because I know that sooner or later it will become the dominant OS for PC’s. I don’t like it, but from my viewpoint, I might as well just go ahead and live with it. Maybe one day MS will smarten up and make something that we like and can enjoy without having to cut off an arm and a leg for it!

THANKS A WHOLE LOT MAN!—Sheffer

Hi J. Sheffer,
Sounds like you bought yourself a nice system and 3G should be plenty. As for Vista, you are correct. It will be the dominate OS down the road.

All the very best to you in your college endeavors.

Hi Ron, great forum you have, just thought I would canvass opinion from experts (I am a novice)
just bought a computer running windows home premium(32bit) but will not be able to set up for a while (1 month). here is the spec

3 gb ddr2sdram
320gb sata hard drive
ati radeon hd2400 pro with avivo 256mb dedicated memory
main processor is an Intel core 2 duo processor E4500

thats it in the main I use this mainly for internet browsing, hoping to use it for some very basic family movie making and digital photography processing, I mat at some point play games on it but not likely.
Do you guys think it is a reasonable spec for those types of applications and will it run fast and efficient on that type of ram ?. I got the feeling that the sales guy flim flammed me rather than totally matching my needs ? I could be wrong what do you think ?? . thanx for your valued opinions

Pete

Hello Peter,
Sounds like the system you bought should meet your needs.

Regards, Ron

Hey Ron. I have a question for you man. I have a dell dimension. I need an upgrade and thinking of Intel core 2 duo 2.2GHZ. I am kind of confused on whether I should get 2GB or 4GB. I want to get 4GB because its cheaper these days. But someone told me adding memory will not help unless the processor can keep up with it. Therefore please give me an opinion on whether I should just get 2GB now and if needed upgrade later or straight up go for 4GB?

Hi Adam,
Check this link:

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2008/01/10/readers-want-to-know-need-your-help/

I posted your question to our readers to get their opinion as well.

Regards, Ron

hey Ron,

thought i’d let you know just how GREAT MY NEW LAPTOP IS!!!! I got the Dell Vostro 1500 like you suggested; Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz processor, 3 Gb of Ram, w/ Vista Home Premium, and 160 Gb Hard drive. I’ve had it since the day after Christmas and i haven’t lost my enthusiasm.

It is really funny when a my “laptop” runs faster than my “desktop,” and the desktop has a 3.6Ghz processor!!! Ram truely makes all the difference with Vista; I know you believe 2 Gbs is the sweet spot for Vista, but I wouldn’t give up my 3 gigs for the world!

I have had a couple of problems with this computer though, and all of them are Dell’s fault really. The video driver is not working properly when I play games, and it will freeze up from time to time. I went through several troubleshooting steps for it and looked for a new driver on the Nvidia site, and they said that my driver was specially made by dell b/c it is a laptop and because of the special features it has. I will be contacting Dell very soon about this problem to see when it can be resolved.

Thanks for all your help, don’t know if you realized it, but you helped me pick out the computer that will most likely carry me through college.

Hello J. Sheffer,
That’s great news.I’m glad you are enjoying your new lappy. Once again, all the very best in your college endeavors.

Best Regards, Ron

Hi,

Can I go for the following configuration -

Core 2 Duo - 2 GHz, 2MB L2 cache 800 MHz FSB.
3GB RAM
for Vista

Hi John,
Should work just fine.
Regards, Ron

hey Ron i have windows vista and my birthday is coming up, i want more RAM because i have about 500MB i had world of warcraft and looking into it agin…. but i had a prob that my screen would block out, and they said i need more ram, how much ram should i get and whats the average cost, to run vista and world of warcraft?

Hello Mathew,
What are the spec’s of your system?
Do you have an idea how much RAM your mobo will support?
How much RAM does your video card have?
Let us know. Ron

Hi everybody,
I’m looking to get a new computer (Dell Inspiron 1525) with 2gb RAM, 160gb Hard Drive, Intel Core 2 duo T5450 processor, Vista Premium
and I have a couple questions.
1) will my computer have any problems running Vista for word documents, power point, music, mabey some random movie stuff (doubtful but you never know)
2) Is there any sort of list out on the internet of processes/miscillaneous software that dell puts on their computers that i can get rid of when i get said new computer?
Any help appreciated
-Jim

Hello Jim,
Check this MS site to see if your specific software will work with Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933305

If you order directly from Dell you can get a system crapware free. If not you can use a crap remover such as this:http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/download

Sweet. Thanks a lot for your help. I love your site Its amazing!
-Jim

Hey Ron,

I recently got a Compaq c500 from a friend because it was cheap. It has 512 of ram, and I ordered 1gb so it will be 1512 ram, I have installed windows vista ultimate on it, it has 2 operative systems now, vista basic(it came with it) and ultimate, will 1512 of ram be good enough for it.

Thanks,
Gerardo

Hello Gerado,
That should be enough. However, if you use high end programs you may notice a slow down.

Hey the thing i keep hearing on this thread is that 2-3GB of RAM is about what need to get to upgrade to vista but my question is, do you have everything running, on other forus i read you can turn offthe graphics and some of hte eye candy and it will reduce some of the overhed that slows vista own so much. Has anyone tried this. How much do you really need without all the unessesary stuff?

Hi chase,
You can get away with 512MB if you use Basic which has no eye candy and limited overhead.

Found this site due to performance issues.
I have Dell Deminsion 8300 which runs P4 @2.8Ghz with 512meg memory. Running XPPro. Just installed Office 2007 and noticed immediate performance issues.

So the posts above say 2G memory is the way to go.
My question: new machines from Dell ($1K price point) provide Core 2 Q6600 QuadCore as processor. Should I buy a new box or can I extend life of current box by a year or so with a memory upgrade?

All other performance attributes of the existing box meet my needs.

Thanks!

Hi Gary,
Adding more RAM should help.

Hi Ron,

Great forum. I recently purchased a high-end gaming laptop with the following: (my question concerns mostly the video card RAM)

Core2Duo T9300 2.5Ghz 6MB/800Mhz
4Gb DDR2 RAM
512mb dedicated nvidia 8600gt
64-bit VISTA premium

This is an iBuyPower machine from COSTCO (i am trying it out because it was cheap and despite the bad reviews of ibuypower, costco warranty backs it and so will I)

I am a gamer and would really like to know your opinion. Do you think the 512mb of video card RAM is too excessive (or perhaps more on par with the 4gb system RAM)?

Thanks in advance for your help!!
Jason

Hello Jason L.
It sounds like you have a sweet machine. 512MB video to much? Nope. Not at all. IMHO.

Thanks for your quick reply, Ron. I have one more question and I hope it’s not too tough (unlikely, right?

The laptop I ordered has an Nvidia 8600GT. So does the Dell XPS1530. Check out the difference in video cards and maybe you could tell me which one you would choose. Thanks again, in advance.

Dell XPS 1530: 256mb GDDR3 Nvidia 8600GT
IBuyPower CRZ: 512mb GDDR2 Nvidia 8600GT

If I’m going to utilize the graphics card, I’d like to know I’m going with the best choice. Both are dedicated.

That leaves the question: Do current games utilize 512mb of GDDR2 RAM, or are they more likely to prefer the faster 256mb GDDR3 RAM?

Hello Jason L.
I posted both of your questions to everyone who stops by here. Let’s see what kind of a response we get.

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2008/04/22/which-laptop-system-should-this-reader-buy/

I’m not sure about the gaming requirements for the specific card that these systems are using. But I can share one thought. I personally would buy a Dell before a unit from IBuyPower. Not because an IBuyPower is bad, I am just not personally familiar with their warranty policies nor their track record. Hopefully someone stopping by here can add to the comments and offer their opinions as well.

Buy just giving my WAS [wild ass guess], I think a 256 MB card with faster RAM would be more appealing.

the wep site your so nice and prety and than you