Readyboost?

[vskid3]

I recently got a Fujitsu Lifebook P1610. It's a nice little system, but it only has 1GB of ram and upgrading to 2GB would cost $100 (half of what I paid for the laptop itself). I'm running Windows 7 on it, and while it runs decently, the hard drive is constantly being accessed even when I have less than 10 tabs open in Chrome. I have a 16GB SD card I'm using in a USB reader (for some reason it isn't fast enough in the built in SD slot) for 4GB of readyboost, but it doesn't seem to be helping much (maybe I need a faster flash drive?). Any one have any advice?

 

[samjc3]

That seems really crazy to me that the ram would cost that much. other than that, I dunno.

 

[Bush]

If its DDR2 I believe it.

 

[bic]

ReadyBoost helps a bit on machines with low RAM ceilings, but it shortens the lifespan of the card quite a bit. Try a faster card in the internal reader. Either the reader doesn't like the card, or the internal reader is too slow for ReadyBoost. Dedicate a portion of the card to and don't use any more for data storage and you should get a few years out of it.

If its DDR2 I believe it.

Actually, regular laptop DDR2 SO-DIMMs are pretty cheap. You can get a pair of matching 2 gig sticks for around $60. Problem is, from what I can tell the Lifebook doesn't use SO-DIMMs; instead it uses smaller and even more obscure MicroDIMMs. It might as well use mini Rambus RAM for the prices they want for that stuff.

 

[vskid3]

Bic is right, it uses special tiny RAM that costs more than gold (especially when it was new). It seems like readyboost is helping more, it might have just taken some time for it to load it up. The SD card works in the built in slot now, after I used it in a USB reader. I plan on getting a cheap, fast 4GB SD card to dedicate to getting thrashed by readyboost.