The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    1520 Owners - 1 Gb RAM under the keyboard?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by JellyGeo, Oct 31, 2007.

  1. JellyGeo

    JellyGeo Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    57
    Messages:
    603
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Greetings - I ordered my 1520 last week but with only 1-Gb of RAM. So - I ordered 2-Gb from Crucial and the RAM has already arrived. Then I noticed in another thread that one chip is under the keyboard on the 1520 which I didn't know before. Did anyone order their 1520 with 1-Gb and did it have 1-Gb under the keyboard and an empty (bottom) slot or did it come with two 512's. Thanks!
     
    JellyGeo, Oct 31, 2007
    #1
  2. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

    Reputations:
    489
    Messages:
    2,842
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    When you get a certain amount of ram with a notebook, it's always divided into two matching sticks for the dual channel, unless it specifically says it otherwise. So if you ordered 1gb, it's gonna be 2x512mb.
     
    adinu, Oct 31, 2007
    #2
  3. jb1007

    jb1007 Full Customization

    Reputations:
    165
    Messages:
    1,230
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    When you order it you can pay more to have one 1gb stick instead of two 512's (which I believe is the default config)
     
    jb1007, Oct 31, 2007
    #3
  4. JellyGeo

    JellyGeo Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    57
    Messages:
    603
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks for your replies - I was afraid of the bad news of two 512's. Its prolly easy to pull the keyboard but I would prefer not to have to do it. I may just put one of the 1-Gb chips in and wait until I return to Germany for the second one. I plan to set it up as a dual-booter anyway and 1.5 will be more than enough for XP. Reason I ordered from NewEgg was cost by the way - Dell wanted $75 to take it from 1.0 to 1.5, and $150 if I remember correctly to upgrade it to 2-Gb. 2-Gb from good old Crucial was $65. Thanks again.
     
    JellyGeo, Oct 31, 2007
    #4
  5. PBHuss

    PBHuss Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    The only options they give you for the 1520 is a) 2x512mb, b) 2x1gb, c) 1gb + 2gb, or d) 2x2gb (all Dual Channel). That means that yours arrived with two 512mb sticks of ram. Guess you'll be stuck w/ 2.5gb of ram =o
     
    PBHuss, Oct 31, 2007
    #5
  6. Coysdad

    Coysdad Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Even though everyone has basically said so, I'll confirm it from a personal experience standpoint.

    I too got my 1521 with 1Gb from factory - and decided that I wanted to go up. I was hoping that it was 1Gb stick in one place, and then the other open where I could fire in a 2Gb'er. Alas - did not happen that way, so oh well.

    Anyway - besides the undercarriage of the laptop, yeah, you have to remove the keyboard to get to the other spot - kind of a biatch, BUT having never done something like that, I did it in about 5 minutes without any problems whatsoever. It was pretty easy and it produced some very nice results.

    Get an express card too for your "slot." I have an Gb that I'm using which along with Vista's readyboost - is zooming me around. I guess it depends though if you're running Vista or XP. But there you go.
     
    Coysdad, Oct 31, 2007
    #6