I thought when buying a brand new Dell laptop with 1GB of memory installed there would be absolutely no issues. There is half the memory installed on my Windows XP machine and it works great! Well, there is an OS called Microsoft Vista and it is an absolute memory HOG!
If you like many others use Firefox, seriously consider getting more memory. Firefox is a great browser and I use it every day, but with greatness comes a price. Firefox requires much memory for its tabbed browsing especially if you are running Vista.
Prior to getting a 3 GB memory upgrade, my laptop would constantly freeze. Most of the time I was using Firefox and although a reboot was not usually necessary, it was still annoying having to force quit Firefox every hour.
At 1GB, my memory usage was hanging around 89%. This means that 11% of the memory was available with only Firefox open. The computer would go nuts because there was not enough free memory for Vista to do what it had to.
If you want to see what your memory usage is, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and press delete. Then click on the last menu item called "Task Manager". On the bottom right of the window, you see "Physical Memory" along with a number. This number is a percentage of how much memory your computer is using in real time. If it's anything over 65% with minimal programs open, consider upgrading your memory.
Most laptops with a 32bit operating system will accept up to 4GB of memory. If you are running a 64bit OS, you can install up to 8GB of memory. I purchased (2) 2GB memory sticks for under $45. It was definitely worth it!
Dan Kornak has been providing NJ computer repair, technical support, wireless network setup, Macintosh laptop support in New Jersey for over 10 years.
DKNJ Networks - For ALL Your NJ Computer Needs
Call us at 973-449-2210 for a free quote today!
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Memory and Vista - Why My Laptop Needs Four GB of Memory
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