Mixing different brands of RAM?

I just pulled the trigger on a Thinkpad E520. The specs say that it will ship with:

4 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)


It it safe to add an aftermarket 4 GB in the empty slot? Or Should I be using the same exact sticks for both slots?

 

While, ideally you want the brand to match, what really matters is the clock speed and the timings. Make certain to get RAM with the exact same timings. If you don't know what timings are, when looking at RAM specs, you'll see something like this: 1333MHz 9-9-9-24. The 4 numbers are the timings, also known as latencies. If you put RAM with different timings in the laptop, there is the remote possibility that they won't play nice together. The same goes for clock speeds.

I have used RAM from different manufacturers with the same specs and never had any problems. I still get the exact same RAM as the one i have whenever i can, but sometimes, i can't either find it or it is way too expensive compared to other brands.

 

yes.. after getting your laptop... check which brand does it have... buy the same brand 4GB more and put it in.... simplest way...

 

As long as the machine POSTs and passes a few rounds of memtest, I don't see an issue. RAM is RAM is RAM.

 

There's no reason you need to match RAM brands as long as the specs are the same. Choose the cheapest one you can find.