Here's where I show my computer dunce-ity

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I've just about had it with my computer. It's been running painfully slowly pretty much since I got it (which is almost two years ago), and doing all kinds of freezing/crashing things that make me want to just toss it out the window and buy a new one.

What pushed me over the edge was this weekend, when my parents were visiting, and I waited half an hour for the computer to wake up from sleep mode, and finally just manually restarted the damn thing (yay for Word's AutoRecovery). This should not be happening. The entire point of sleep mode is so that you can open the laptop and IT WORKS RIGHT AWAY so you don't have to wait for it to boot up every time. It's always, always slow waking up from sleep mode, but not usually that bad. On a normal day, though, even if the screen comes to life, it'll be a good ten to fifteen minutes before Firefox is usable without freezing, and Trillian always takes at least five minutes to open.

My dad was all, "Well, have you run defrag whatevers lately?" and started fiddling around with it. I don't actually know how I did this, since I barely know what that means, but apparently I have my computer set up to automatically do the defragmentation thing weekly, and it's still running like an eighty-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the leg.

I've decided the problem is Vista and RAM. I've been told that you need at least 2 GB of RAM for Vista to run properly, and my computer only has 1 GB. So... here are my questions for anyone more computer literate than I am. How much RAM should I get? Is the one additional GB going to be enough, or should I go for more? I don't do a whole lot with my computer - generally, Firefox, Trillian, and Word are pretty much it. I do store a lot on there - I have a crapload of music and some videos saved, but that's the hard drive (which is 120 GB) and shouldn't affect RAM, right? Two separate things?

Secondly, where should I get RAM? I can buy it off the Dell website (which is where I got the computer), but maybe it's cheaper to get it somewhere else (I found other websites that sell it, but I don't know if they're reliable). Is this idiot-proof, or am I better off going to a Best Buy or whatever where maybe they could install it for me?

Comments

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

First see how much RAM you can upgrade to. There's a max amount of slots on your computer. I'd recommend upgrading to the max, if possible. My comp runs Vista w/ 3 GB of RAM, and I don't have much of any problems with it.

Buying through Dell is gonna be more expensive. I'd recommend shopping around. The main thing you need to keep in mind is that you're looking specifically for laptop RAM. It's different from standard desktop RAM. Also, you need to find out what type (DDR, DDR2, etc) it takes. Odds are, for the age it is, you need DDR2, but double-check on that.

Also, RAM is additive. See how many slots you have (if you have a laptop, you likely have two). And see what RAM sticks you already have. If you have two 512 MB RAM sticks, you'll need to buy 2 1 GB sticks to upgrade to 2 GB (which makes things more expensive, but that's done on purpose).

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The main thing you need to keep in mind is that you're looking specifically for laptop RAM.

Yeah... that's why Dell is tempting, because I can just look up my exact model and buy it. It is DDR2, I know that much.

How do I check how many slots/sticks I have?

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

The Best Buy website has a separate section for laptop RAM. Most places are good at labeling it.

And you can actually go to http://www.crucial.com (http://www.crucial.com) and do the system scanner tool thingy. It should give you the info on the slots and sticks (though I will bet anything you have 2 512 MB sticks. That's what my old laptop came with).

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Cool. I tried the scanner thingy, and you were spot on - two 512s, and it recommended replacing them with two 1 GBs.

Now the real question is whether I'm brave enough to install it myself, lol.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

*iz computer geek* :)

I'd actually say it's easier to install RAM into a laptop than a desktop. You should be able to just open up a compartment on the bottom of your comp and pop the chips in. Your owner's manual should tell you where the RAM compartment is. Much easier than opening up the CPU unit of a desktop.

[alwaysjbj.livejournal.com]

Huh, how about that...your laptops must be made differently over there...here you have to completely remove the case to do any work on a laptop and even the computer repair shops don't like doing them...in fact many won't touch a laptop. The one I go to charges $90 just to crack the case, that's before they do any other work.

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

Might depend on the manufacturer, too. I'm most familiar with Dell comps, cause that's what I always get. So I can say with great confidence that a Dell laptop will have an easy-access compartment for the RAM. All you'll need is a screwdriver.

If she had another type of laptop, I wouldn't be so sure.

Now replacing anything else on a laptop is just pure hell. And forget about upgrading your graphics card. Just ain't gonna happen. *mourns old laptop with the failed graphics card*