Unmatched ram

[Mako321]

I'm getting my new laptop (x120e if anyone cares) in the mail soon, and I've been wanting to upgrade from the stock 2 gigs of ram for fun. (Well, not sure if it needs more for surfing the web with a few dozen tabs open at once and some TF2) The laptop has 2 dimm slots, and the 2 gigs stock only use one dimm. Should I spend 45 on a 4 gig stick/2 matching 2 gig sticks, spend 20 on an unmatching 2 gig stick or not buy any extra because it's unneeded for my uses?

 

[bic]

(x120e if anyone cares)

You'll love it. Awesome keyboard, TrackPoint, solid as a rock, HDMI output, easy as Heck to work on, matte screen for less glare, and the screen size and resolution were made for each other.

As long as the new RAM you get is the same speed it will work fine. It is best to have a pair of matching DIMMs, so if you're just going for 4 gigs get another 2 gig stick with the same characteristics as the stock RAM. I upgraded my x100e to 4 gigs, and that's more than enough to handle TF2 and heavy web surfing.

The x100e can handle 8 gigs of RAM, not sure about the x120e but it might as well. That's a crazy amount of memory to stuff into an 11.6" laptop, but you're guaranteed to never need any more. In my opinion 4 gigs is the best balance between cost and elbow room as of right now.

The only gotcha you might run into is the 32 bit OS, if that's what it shipped with. If you can get a hold of a 64 bit Windows 7 install disc, you can make an installation thumbdrive, delete ei.cfg, and install using the Windows license under the battery. (Vista and 7 licenses are tied to the edition of the OS, not which architecture it's built for.)

 

[Mako321]

Mine is coming with 64 bit Win7, what are you talking about?

 

[vskid3]

Are you sure the 2GB it comes with is one stick? I personally would just get a 4GB stick and add that. I've been thinking of doing that with my laptop that has 2x2GB, but DDR2 is expensive now and my CPU is my biggest bottleneck anyway (but upgrading that is super expensive).

 

[Mako321]

Yeah, I'm sure.
I think I'll stick with 2 for now and try to get myself a nice 60 gig OCZ SSD for 100 with the money. (Was going to get a 500 gig WD Black)

 

[vskid3]

Yeah, I'm sure.
I think I'll stick with 2 for now and try to get myself a nice 60 gig OCZ SSD for 100 with the money. (Was going to get a 500 gig WD Black)

My roommate has one of those SSDs (I think its a Vertex), it makes Windows 7 fly (he also has an i7 with 16GB of RAM, though).
I would at least wait until you get the laptop and try it out before ordering anything. 2GB will probably be enough, but 4GB would give you a lot more breathing room.
I'm thinking of getting that WD HDD, my 320GB is getting pretty full and my open HDD bay looks pretty empty.

 

[bic]

Are you sure the 2GB it comes with is one stick?

When I ordered my x100e, the RAM options were:

1 GB = 1 stick
2 GB = 1 stick
3 GB = 2 sticks
4 GB = 2 sticks

I ordered one gig by itself because a 4 gig kit from NewEgg was cheaper than the OEM 2 gig upgrade.

Just go with 4 gigs, it's more than you'll ever need. (Remember the GPU reserves a chunk for its own use.)

Mine is coming with 64 bit Win7, what are you talking about?

Mine came with 32 bit. But that's what 64 bit install media is for!