600M Ram question and bootup question

I have an Inspiron 600m (actually my wifes) and it has the one slot 256 stick in it, I am wanting to boost it up by adding more ram.

When I go to crucial.com and search for this 600m's ram it shows I can add another 256 or a 512 or even a gig (altho price wise thats insane),,,

My question is can I mix the ram in terms of size? Can I add a 512 with that 256 that is already in there (confirmed its one 256 stick one slot still open on unit).

Also if I can add a 512 with that 256 lets say,,

Will adding that ram also help the bootup times?

The laptop itself runs pretty good and such but from the time you press power to the time you can sign in and get on takes FOREVER (at least to her compaired to my toshiba sat ps15). Side by side my machine boots up like 30 seconds sooner than hers...

I do wanna up her ram for basics like running two or more programs at once (making them open and or perform better) that is my understanding of what ram does for a pc, but I wondered will more ram help the bootup time too or not?

Thanks for any input or info,

Also if you have a 600M and have upgraded the ram, where did you get it, is crucial.com a good place / good ram / decent price or are there places other than crucial I should consider going with for this dell's ram upgrade.

Bill

 

1. Yes, you should be able to match the memory sizes, just make sure you check on the CAS speed, should be listed on the ram. Another user on this site mismatched the CAS levels and found that the system would not boot with the new ram installed.

2. It will help with boot times, but you'd be better off with also a faster HDD. If the HDD can't get the data fast enough to load, it's still going to lag.

3. Boot times between 2 different systems is usually not a good test. The systems may have different drivers and apps loading in the background. The more there is loading, the slower the system will be to boot up. Also, you have hardware differences as well, the BIOS may take a bit longer to go through its check, the system may take longer to scan for a network, etc...

4. Generally, additional ram will help your system overall, it will help decrease boot times, but a faster HDD will also help.

5. You can get ram from pretty much anywhere these days, but you should check brands like Crucial & Kingston. They usually have a compatibility chart for you to find a compatible module.

-Vb-