Windows Vista What will too little memory do with Vista?

I bought a cheap Compaq laptop with only 1 GB memory that runs Vista. One of the gadgets I have on the desktop is a memory meter, and that shows memory usage being in the red (over 80%) most of the time.

Will that cause problems like slow loading of programs or websites? Or to put it another way, will I get better performance if I buy more memory? I have heard that Vista chews up a lot of memory.

 

I too had the same problem, meter running at about 80%.
A week ago I added 2 more gig's. I think this is what MS recommends, I'm not sure about boot up time but surfing is faster and so are some other apps.

mopar

 

Yes, I'd recommend a minimum of 2Gb's for Vista and more if your system can take it. Note there's not much point going much beyond 3 GB's on 32bit systems though as the OS won't acknowledge any more than 4GB's of ram.

 

I checked and my laptop can only take 2 GB. It looks like I can get that for about $35. Not bad. I'll post to let people know if I see a difference after installing more memory.

 

You can go to Control Panel -> Performance Information and Tools and run the Experience Index ( "this make take a few minutes "...expect more than that). 1GB of RAM will have a low index and you will be advised to install more.

You can set Windows for "best performance" or "best appearance ", so you might want to set best performance until you get the extra RAM.

Have a look in Manage Startup Programs if there are unnecessary programs running. (I am having a giggle, 80% out of the box )

Be careful if the RAM is a generic brand. The system manufacturer will advise getting matching RAM to the original. Visit the RAM manufacturer's website, there should be "configurator" to check which model is compatible with your motherboard. After you install it, run testing programs (an application that utilises RAM or several smaller programs at once). Obviously, if you get any errors, crashes, etc, you will know what the problem is.

Matt

 

Microsoft Recommendations have always been a joke. They all probably use Macs.

Both my XP computers have 2GB and work well, my Vista computer also has 2GB, it can bearly run two intensive tasks at the same time. So 2Gb minimum for Vista

 

I do alot of video processing. My main computer is an XP computer with an Intel Extreme 3.4 Gig processor and 2 Gig of Ram. It has NO problem processing video and I can still use it for other tasks.

The Vista computer with a Mobile AMD Sempron 3800 and 2 Gig Ram. When performing the same task, it slows down when I try to do other things at the same time.

Finally my other XP computer, no where near enough processor to handle video

 

I found an upgrade kit of two 1GB sticks of Crucial memory for $33. Kingston is $5 more. Any recommendations for brand?

 

You can't go wrong with either. Who has the cheaper shipping, if coming from different sites?

 

Further shopping found a sale on NewEgg for the Kingston memory. Comes with free shipping, although sales tax is charged. Total price of $31. I'll go with that.

When the memory gets here, I'll post the results.

 

I recently installed a "matched" pair of Corsair MM that increased my Ram Memory from 5 GB to 7 Gb in my Vista 64-bit OS. Installation was a snap. Corsair "shields both sides of the MM with some sort of metal and minimizes electro-static discharge to the IC's. All MM's should have this kind of protection. With a mail-in rebate the cost will be $40.00. I bought from NewEgg!!

 

I found 2 GB (2 sticks of 1 GB each) of laptop memory at New Egg on Black Friday for $15, free shipping. When it gets here, I'll see if it improves the performance of my laptop.

 

I recently upgraded my Dell XPS Laptop running Vista Ultimate 32-bit from 2.0GB to 4.0GB...ram was cheap...figured what the heck

 

The new memory came, and having 2GB instead of 1GB makes a big difference in switching between programs. Since I do that quite a bit, it's nice to have the larger memory.

Games also seem to play faster, although that may be an illusion.

2GM is the maximum for my laptop, so I cannot add anymore. I'm not sure that it would make any difference anyhow. For me at least, 2GB is plenty.

 

I don't think it's an illusion...going from 1.0GB to 2.0GB will definitly help big time.