By Suzana Understanding Laptop Computer Memory
If you have popped in here to read this article, you probably want to know more about how much RAM you should have on the laptop that you are planning to purchase. The market will offer a wide variety of choices when it comes to laptops. Some will come with 1GB of RAM while some might come with 8GB of RAM.
The amount of RAM that is optimal for you will however be dependent on your usage. One great way to find out the amount of RAM that will suit your usage is to check the hardware specifications of all the software that you intend to use. For example, let us say that you are planning on using your computer for games. When you buy the game CD, you will see something called recommended hardware requirements on the game. They will mention a certain amount of RAM. There will be a minimum requirement as well as a recommended requirement. It is advised that you buy a laptop that will exceed or at least meet the recommended requirements mentioned in the game or any other software that you intend to use your laptop for.
Another important aspect to pay attention to when it comes to laptop memory is that some of them will share the video memory. For example, the laptop might have 1GB of RAM but half that memory might be shared with the video card. This means that your processor will have to work with just 512 MB of RAM while your video card gets the other 512MB. Thus, when you buy RAM for your laptop, make sure that the video card has dedicated memory. If not, buy a laptop with enough RAM that will cover both the processor and the video card.
You should also pay attention to the upgradability options of your laptop memory. Most laptops will come with two memory slots. You should ideally be able to upgrade your memory in the future by at least a 100%. For example, you might buy a laptop with 2GB of RAM today. After a year or so, you will find that you need more RAM to run new applications that you might have bought. An upgrade will allow you to easily replace or add memory to your laptop. Some laptops, especially the ones that are budget priced will have very limited upgradability options.
We hope this article would have given you a few pointers to help you understand your laptop computer memory.
