Upgraded RAM make much Difference?

I have an old Toshiba U305-S5097 that I am thinking of upgrading from 1gb to 2gb of RAM given that it's relatively cheap (Kingston HyperX only about $25) nowadays and I want to extend the use of the laptop a bit longer. However, I am not sure if it will make much a difference and significantly speed it up [always been a bit slow, though I use it as my mobile pc not my main one] since my processor is a T2130 (1.8ghz, dual core, budget cpu). Is the processor too much of a bottleneck to make that much of a difference if I upgrade the RAM to 2gb?

Thanks.

 

If you are running Vista do it!

If XP it is debatable but I think it would help with paging.

 

Going from 1GB to 2GB or RAM will definitely make a difference. If I might suggest, I would even go so far as buying a kit of 4GB (2x2GB) of laptop memory considering that these kits can be purchased for less than $25 in most cases. If you are running WindowsXP definitely upgrade to a 4GB kit of memory. SO-DIMM DDR2 is extremely cheap, and you can find a good deal, like this kit for example, providing that your laptop can support it:
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400).

Definitely not! Your applications are going to feel much more snappier and your overall experience with your laptop will (should) improve dramatically.

 

Definitely do it. The price to performance ratio is incredible!

 

Thanks for the quick responses! Haven't posted in the forum in a while but you guys rock.

I'd go for 4gb, but supposedly the toshiba u305-s5097 is capped to recognize 2gb only.

Right now I have pc5300, do you know whether it'd be able to support pc6400 and is that worth it?

Gonna make the upgrade now, just need help on that last bit of info

 

If you are using WindowsXP 32-bit and install a 4GB kit of memory, the OS will (should) recognize about 3GB of it. Which is still good, since 3GB > 2GB.

If you upgrade to PC6400, your laptop won't take advatange of the full speed offered with the memory, as the RAM will automatically default back to PC5300 specs. In any event, PC6400 won't hurt your laptop, and even though your notebook won't run at PC6400, it's still a solid investment when it comes time to sell your kit or install it in a laptop that offers PC6400 compatibility. The nice part about this is that a kit of 4GB (2x2GB) PC6400 is nearly the same price as a 4GB kit of PC5300.

For more information, you may want to check out the following thread:

LINK 1

 

Thanks, questions answered.

 

I say get it with either OS.

 

yeah with either OS it should certainly boost performance.

 

Just wanted to tell you guys I just installed the RAM and WOW, what a world of difference it made on this laptop that was supposed to be my cheap mobile pc to complement my main one at home. Realized startup was always slow as heck because it kept filling up the RAM to the max and would then drop down later.

Thanks for the help.

 

Type msconfig in run command and remove all unused and useless startup files..that will also give a little bit boost