Memory upgrades are really very good (and cheap!)

It’s amazing what a difference a memory upgrade can mean for computer performance.

I’ve been running a Dell Dimension 5150 for about 18 months now with 1 gb RAM, Intel Dual Core 2.8 Ghz processor and a 250 gb SATA hard drive. I have been switching between Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux on this machine and the performance has always felt sluggish - in fact the machine was groaning often whenever I tried to execute tasks in Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

I eventually stuck with Ubuntu for several months on this machine, since it just couldn’t handle running the necessary security software without lag. That is until a couple weeks ago when I finally purchased a 2 gb memory upgrade kit. Since then, the computer feels like a brand new machine. I can multi-task properly, run all the latest versions of Macromedia productivity software and play a couple of games I love too.

My trusty desktop machine runs like a dream in Windows XP. It’s faster even than the much-touted Ubuntu Linux that I was using primarily until this point. So good is my experience in Windows now that I completely removed Ubuntu from my computer and will be running XP permanently on this machine.

So if your system is running on low memory at the moment, I suggest an upgrade. The pricing of RAM is still very low, and it’s about the best upgrade you can get if you’re on 1 gb or less of memory.