1720 RAM Upgrade

I'm about ready to order my 1720, but I can't decide if I want to stick with the 1 gig of RAM or upgrade to 2. The upgrade is $125 which seems steep to me for a additional gig of RAM. Should I stick with the 1 gig of RAM and upgrade another gig from another vendor and save some money, or would the price point still be the same? And are there any compatibility issues if I upgrade myself?

 

Buy the 1GB...RAM from Dell is always overpriced. Turn around a buy some sticks from our RAM Deals thread!

 

Prompt reply, thanks! What RAM would you recommend, or rather would be compatible with the 1720?

 

Anything that is DDR2-667 will work fine. I'm running a 2GB stick from Transcend (it was the lowest cost one at the time I was buying) and haven't regretted it.

Just stick with a name brand (Transcend, Kingston, OCZ, Corsair, etc) and you should be fine.

 

Will having a 1 gig standard + 2 gig stick be substantial better then just adding just a 1 gig stick?

 

Well, 3GB of RAM is better than 2GB...but it depends on if you run intensive programs (or a lot of programs).

I think Dell ships the notebooks with 2x512MB, so if you buy a 2GB stick you'll get a total of 2.5GB of memory...which is definitely nice. XP flies when on 2GB+ of RAM...and with Vista you almost need more than 2GB!

 

So only a additional gig of ram would give me 1.5gb?

If I decide with the additional 2 gigs, which one would you recommend?
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5001625

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208323

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/5175606

 

Good information guys,

Taking the question a little further, I know that in order to fully utilize 4GB ram, you must have the 64-bit version of vista.

Now say you upgrade to 4GB with the 32-bit version, how much of that ram will be utilized by the 32-bit OS??? And how much will be wasted???

Thanks,

 

On my 1720 i get the following reported:

Vista x32 = 3582MB RAM
Vista x64 = 4094MB RAM

512MB wasted under x32

I don't remeber XP values ... but I think 3.2GB was reported

 

The amount of RAM available is largely affected by the size of the dedicated memory the graphics chip has. My laptop has only 3GB available, while some have 3.5GB or so available.

 

Additional info.

I just installed 4GB Mushkin memory and I'm getting 3838MB RAM recongnized. And this is with the nvidia GS 128MB graphics card.

Vista Ultimate 32-Bit OS

*****

I'm going to upgrade the graphics card over the weekend to the GT 256MB.

Off-topic:

Dell = Inspiron 1720 Features

Dell Outlet - Previously Ordered New.

$979.00 - {Inspiron 1720 Notebook: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 (2.0GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache) 17" Wide Screen XGA+ (1440x900) display with TrueLife.
*
$89.99 - Second HD {Western Digital 160GB SATA WD1600BEVS} Total = 160GB x 2
$180.00 - 4GB Memory {MUSHKIN 667}
$139.00 - {256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT}

###################

Total Cost: $1387.00

################### Not a bad deal

 

I know upgrading RAM is a piece of cake, but you're changing out the 8400GS vid card to the 8600GT?

Isn't that more involved? How big of a deal is that to do?

 

Yeah, its a little more involved, but its not as difficult as it seems. I'm planning to tackle it after a good nights sleep and a high energy breakfast

Here's the link to the service manual:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1720/en/SM/sm.zip

Follow the instructions in Before You Begin.
Remove the optical drive (see Removing the Optical Drive).
Remove the hard drive (see Removing a Hard Drive).
Remove the hinge cover (see Removing the Hinge Cover).
Remove the keyboard (see Removing the Keyboard).
Remove the display assembly (see Removing the Display Assembly).
Remove the internal card with Bluetooth wireless technology, if installed (see Removing the Bluetooth Card).
Remove the palm rest (see Removing the Palm Rest).
In sequential order, loosen the three captive screws that secure the graphics card assembly to the system board, then carefully lift the assembly out of the computer.