Laptop RAM Question

[AmberStarfire]

I'm posting this here in the hope someone might be able to answer this question for me.

I've been thinking about getting another laptop computer for a while, but given that I need a decent spec one, I've been holding off because they can be kind of expensive. I was in the city on Saturday and I found some nice looking second hand laptops in a gaming store there, but with lower RAM than mine. I have a Lenovo.. something with 8GB RAM. I'm wondering if I bought a second hand one, could I shift the RAM over from my current laptop into one of them? One I saw was a Samsung I think and I think one was Packard Bell. Both were around the 4GB RAM mark. I can look in device manager and provide the exact RAM details and/or details of this computer if needed. I'm just considering options because this one's getting to a stage where I would normally replace it. Thanks. :)

[Orange Marmalade]

You can if they take the same type. Unfortunately there's several different types you might see across laptops.

The easiest way to check is probably with a tool like this: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/advisor

Put in your current laptop's information and it will recommend some memory. Something like: DDR3L-1600

Then put in the laptop you are thinking of buying an make sure it recommends the same type. DDR-1600 is very common these days so it is possible they'll both support it.

It is slightly more complex than that because there's different speeds available, and some might be compatible and others not, but DDR-1600 is probably the most common right now so if it suggests that for both you know it'll be a painless transition.

Keep in mind, however, that most likely you will not get 4+8 but rather you'll replace the 4 in the new laptop with the 8 in yours.

[AmberStarfire]

Thank you for your quick reply. :)

I couldn't find my exact model number but I tried one of the model numbers on the user manual that came with the laptop and it showed DDR3L-1600. Chances are that's probably what it is.

Thank you for the site. I'll see what I can do to find out if they can transfer over the next time I'm in the city and if they have one I want. I figured the 4GB laptops probably have 2x2GB so I'd ruled out adding my RAM to the existing RAM if that's the case. I think laptops only used to have 2 slots anyway. I'm not sure about anymore.

[midnightblack]

Maybe you can also consider the more cost-effective option of dropping your laptop at a hardware service for some thorough dust removal, a new layer of thermal paste and the likes? If you do proper hardware and software maintenance, these things last a really long while.

[AmberStarfire]

I'm not sure if that would be good enough. The main reason I'm thinking of getting another one is because this one has slowed down so much. I spend a lot of time on my laptop (at least 14 hours a day on average, because most things I do that are self-employed and socially-related are through the laptop). I also use a lot of graphics-intensive programs.

I have to keep creating new chat threads in PM for instance, because it often takes 30 seconds to a minute to load a PM thread during the day, including ones I generally don't post pictures in (and instead link on them) and I average about 30 PMs a day. There's another forum I use and it takes ages to load a page, and then when I type I'm almost constantly waiting for the buffer to catch up, so I'll backspace four spaces for instance, wait until it takes effect on the screen, and then type, and wait for that to show up. I keep making errors and it takes forever to get responses typed.

Or I get frustrated because I know I have a PM and want to reply to it, and by the time it loads, someone else is in the room or the phone has rung because it took so long. PM threads for instance load faster on my phone. The laptop has 8GB of RAM, it shouldn't be this slow (and it's always been slow). I think it took at least a few minutes yesterday to load Photoshop.

I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time waiting on this one all the time. Over the course of a day, or a week, that could equal a lot of time. Maybe re-installing Windows or something would speed it up, but there's this thing where the space bar doesn't always work as it should, so I have to go back and add in spaces between words. It may just have something stuck under the bar/it depends on where I press on the space bar. The computer itself is only about 2 years old, maybe 3. It used to crash more or less every day but it doesn't anymore. I'm just getting frustrated because it's slow.

[midnightblack]

Well, the thing is that a fresh one will slow down just as much if you don't do some proper maintenance over time, and it can totally be avoided through simple measures. Overheating is the one serious issue that is harder to address, usually due to dust accumulations (these bastards gather whole blankets of dust inside, it's creepy), old thermal paste or faulty coolers. Being slow is usually due to bloatware that eats your memory (check your start-up list and if you find a downright silly amount of programs there that you don't actually use... well, there's the problem) or malware. For the latter case, I regularly do a check-up with the following magical formula of free tools that you can get in places like softpedia or sourceforge:

RKill + Junkware Removal Tool + AdwCleaner + ComboFix + TDSSKiller + Malwarebytes

There are of course other options, and if you have friends or acquaintances that know their tech, they may be able to recommend other tools (I think there's a place on E. as well with resources for healthy computers). A tool to clean up old registry entries and shred junk that's lying around eating your resources pointlessly should also help, but I don't know a really useful one at the moment. A defragmentation of your hard-drive may also speed things up for you.

Going through the whole software maintenance routine is free and a dust removal service should certainly be cheaper than buying a new laptop. I believe it would solve a lot of your issues.

Edit: my own laptop is 5 years old now and still working like the first time I started it up, without me ever resorting to reinstalling the operating system. I plan to keep it around at least until 2020.

[AmberStarfire]

I do the software maintenance myself. Lenovo computers are notoriously bad for bloatware/inbuilt malware (some of them). They were found to sell new PCs even loaded with a rootkit. I removed all of the bloatware that could go after I got it, removed the rootkit (or so appearances would suggest) and I virus scan it on a regular basis. I also use Adaware from time to time. I do clear out the old junk every so often (cookies, file fragments, temp files etc). I tend to steer clear of a lot of malware removal tools though unless I'm familiar with them. The drives say 0% fragmented.

This one hasn't had overheating issues before, thankfully.

[midnightblack]

Oh, alright then. Strange that you are still having problems. If you do decide to buy something new, I'd suggest to avoid preinstalled operating systems so that you know exactly what you put inside.

[AmberStarfire]

That's generally how they'd come, with Windows already installed. If I want to reinstall it, I'd likely need to spend lots of money on another copy. Since the point of buying a second hand one would be to save money, it kind of defies the purpose.

I might go through and do a clear up again, tidying old temp files, defragging it anyway etc, and just see if I can get it to run a bit faster.

[aouser626]

Do you really need a laptop? For example, do you travel a lot?

Otherwise, a desktop seems to be the most reasonable considering its performance to price ratio.

Also, you should not consider the "fluidity" of electronic devices by its RAM alone, what you must also consider is the CPU and the GPU. And if you do consider a desktop, consider assembling your own desktop, assembling your own desktop is not difficult. If you have a price range in mind, I may be able to give you some potential components to pick out.

When we consider components, we must always consider their performance to price ratio, for example, various AMD CPUs such that of the very popular FX 8300 or the GTX 1070 is considered to have a very, very good performance to price ratio, while not lacking any performance whatsoever in order to achieve its ratio value.

Then there's the difference between SSD and HDD, it must always be noted that for the average consumer, a SSD is not very useful if the consumer does not wish to spend excessive money nor have any programs that requires extensive use for the speeds of SSDs through loading.

The rest is relatively cheap, and picking a motherboard is as easy as filtering out the socket required for your CPU when browsing online with filter functions. And, there is such a thing known as a "console killer", due to their relatively small size (equivalent to that of a gaming console) and superior performance to price ratio, of which could cost under 500USD.

[AmberStarfire]

I do need a new laptop and I do/did have a desktop. I had a new gaming machine (a desktop) made to spec in 2015 but I only really used it for games and gave it to my husband recently when his HDD failed on his own machine. I'm a self-employed author and artist, and I spend most of my day on my laptop. It's what works for me, so it's what I need. I do occasionally travel, so I take it with me, but most of the time it's simply what I use out of choice.

What I need is a machine that can handle graphics-intensive programs well. I download a lot of stock art images etc, and these mount up quickly. I have a new 1TB external hard drive I ordered a couple of weeks ago, but SSDs are usually small unless you spend a lot on a machine, so a regular HDD is fine with me.

I'm not in the US, but I'm also not looking for a desktop machine. I guess what I'm looking for is a combination of a low to reasonable price for a machine, whilst being what I need it to be - quick (preferably) and able to handle the programs and large file sizes well.

[aouser626]

Firstly, I understand that finance is quite a personal matter, and thus I shall not ask for your intended budget.

However, it should be noted that laptops with decent CPU and GPU solutions are usually not so cheap, yet, may manage to accomplish several tasks to reasonable standards.

Similar to that of the desktop 2016 NVIDIA GeForce GPU solution, the general GPUs of high performance to price ratio in which performance is considered to be sufficient as of currently,are the GTX 1050, GTX 1060 and GTX 1070.

According to the data provided by notebookcheck (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html) in their benchmarking, you will be able to note the compariuson in the performances among the 3 graphics solution, video game performances as measured by FPS is also recorded as a form of perspective for the gamers who are unfamiliar with mainstream benchmarking values (http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.13849.0.html).

It should be noted that, the 1080, 980 and SLI solutions can be expensive, and, also, I would not recommend for you to purchase laptops with outdated GPU models that ends the model number with a M (e.g. GTX 980M etc.) due to a lower performance to price ratio. The jump from the 900 to 1000 series is big, but for the laptops, it didn't just jumped from 900M to 1000M, it went from 900M to 1000 (of which uses the same chipset architecture with that of the desktop, equivalently).

Perhaps, then, one in which you could consider is the MSI GS43VR 6RE Phantom Pro, which is considered to be a "cheaper" gaming laptop, unfortunately, it is not so cheap, at approximately 1500USD. For perspective, "heavier" gaming laptops can reach over 3000USD to 5000USD.

A comprehensive review of the laptop by the reputable notebookcheck: http://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GS43VR-6RE-Phantom-Pro-Notebook-Review.172721.0.html

However, it is understandable if the particular product is not of the desired price, in which case, we would consider either the GTX 1050 Ti, or simply the GTX 1050. However, keep in mind that the performance would've dropped much now relative to the initial solutions.

Therefore, I would recommend for you to consider this laptop: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspire-VX5-591G-VX-15-Notebook-Preview.189778.0.html

Consisting of 2 models, with the i5 and GTX 1050 solution at approximately 800USD, and the 1050 Ti at approximately 1000USD.

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Also, you mentioned that you very frequently use your laptop, apart from OS optimizations as suggested, I would recommend external cooling pads as well as keeping in mind of the ambient room temperature.

[AmberStarfire]

Thank you  for the information. I'll run the notebooks I find against it to see how they compare.

I've had a few Acer machines before (including at least one Aspire) and the laptops ended up having overheating issues. I know the parts used in computers vary and many brands have them in common, but it has made me wary about buying more Acer computers. My favourite laptop I've had was a Samsung, and I was also very fond of a Dell I had, so I'm considering both of those brands.

At the moment my budget amounts to 'spending as little as possible to get the machine that I'm looking for', so I'm considering some second hand machines I saw in a gaming store in the city, and upgrading the RAM on them. I'm not going to get into upgrading processors or anything complicated.

Generally the Acer one is around the price I'd consider for a regular laptop, but I'm looking at the best machine I can get as cheaply as possible (and I'm still not 100% sure I will get one at this time. I'm strongly considering it). I think a lot will depend on what's on sale in the shops here and online.

I'm not looking for the laptop as a gaming machine, but a good gaming machine and a good machine for design have some of the same attributes in common.

[aouser626]

I would advise against 2nd-hand laptops due to potential chipset damages that may not be obvious at first use.

And, I would recommend for you to utilize MSI Afterburner (a free software) in monitoring the temperature of your CPU and GPU in real time in the tray icon.

Best of luck.

[AmberStarfire]

Thank you. :) I'll look out for it.

[AmberStarfire]

I decided to get a new one, but it's on the less expensive end of the spectrum. This one:
http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-15ay069sa-156-laptop-silver/342412/401.0.0#details

[AmberStarfire]

So I ordered that one last night and then one of the ladies on Elliquiy got in contact me today and implied 'you don't want to do this'.

After I did some research, I decided to try and change the model. This is a processor comparison:



The one I ordered has a slower processor setup than what I have now. That isn't good, so I'm trying to change the order but it may already have shipped by the time they get to my request to change it. I'm told I'll hear back within 24 hours. This is the new one I'm planning to get instead.

http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-15au174sa-156-laptop-gold/342208/401.0.0
It's also gold.