Is IE7 a bigger resource hog than IE6?

My daughter's laptop is a Pent4 2.4ghz, but she has only 256 megs. I read (here on this BBS, I think) that IE7 will make the underpowered laptop struggle and crawl more so than IE6.
Is this true?
Unfortunately, the laptop has a dead memory slot, so I'm down to just one. I could max it out by buying a 512meg stick (PC2100 266mhz) for the one good slot.
I don't know if that is worth pursuing in the context of it costing an average of $23 on ebay.
Would you get more ram and install IE7, or just let it be?
Thanks.

 

My advice would be to get more RAM and get either Safari or Firefox 3 beta.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, Revan.
If I download and install either Safari or Firefox, is there anything I need to "do" to IE 6 that currently resides in the operating system?
I understand that it is virtually impossible to extricate, and that it was in fact this feature that Netscape and the government were suing Microsoft over.
Or, once I install Firefox or Safari, do I just ignore IE6's presence and let it be?

 

Just ignore it. You really can't uninstall IE completely. It's part of the OS.

 

Yes it should be kept updated.

 

I use Firefox for most of my internet stuff but I do keep Internet Explorer up to date. A couple of times, several months ago, I tried to order from the internet using Firefox and the Check Out page didn't render completely and I couldn't complete the order. Only when I used IE was I able to complete the purchase.

Firefox does have an add on that allows you to left click on the Firefox logo at the bottom right of the page and switch the rendering engine to IE - without having to close Firefox and open IE.