Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Laptop upgrade suggestion

by Oct 21, 2018 9:22AM PDT

My HP Laptop has

RAM : 2GB DDR3
PROCESSOR : AMD A4 3330 MX
OS : Windows 7 32 bit

If I use some big software editors ,almost 90 % of my physical

memory got occupied and my system slows down but still could work

. My question is do I have to upgrade my ram ,does that solve my

problem or If I buy a laptop with 4 gb DDR3 RAM and latest intel processor ?
Thanks In Advance

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Answer
We had an A4.
by Forum moderator Oct 21, 2018 9:48AM PDT

But we upgraded the RAM due to having spares in the office but the big payback was to change the HDD to SSD. The A4 is no rocket. 4GB and Intel won't be much better if you have the same old technology HDD in it.

- Collapse -
Answer
Upgrade your Laptop Ram easily
by Oct 21, 2018 12:06PM PDT
- Collapse -
Here, it depends on use.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 21, 2018 12:23PM PDT

My prime example where RAM is not always the answer was our 2006 Dell Inspiron E1505 with a dual core Intel, 1GB RAM and 120GB SSD.

It would boot to a web page on Windows 10 in about 35 seconds.

What happened to it? It was stolen.

Post was last edited on October 21, 2018 12:24 PM PDT

- Collapse -
Answer
Ram
by Oct 21, 2018 5:48PM PDT

You won't hurt anything by upgrading the ram but you might find you only have 2.5>3GB of usable ram with that 32 bit OS.

Go cheap and learn how to trim down that startup group.

Learn how to turn off unneeded services.

You will still find 90% ram usage but the machine won't be running stuff that is of no value to you.

- Collapse -
Answer
Well first of all if your
by Oct 22, 2018 5:45AM PDT

machine came with 2 gb of ram you probably have a 32 bit OS. That means if you upgrade ram you still will only be able to use a little over 3 gb of ram. Laptops today are cheaper and have better battery life. You could find a 500 laptop that will blow that one away. But you would have to get Windows 10 and that will be a little of a learning curve.

Back to Laptops forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info