Crucial RAM

It seems that Crucial RAM prices are more expensive than other brands. Is it worth the premium to go with Crucial?

 

I would have to say no.

 

No, just get whatever is the cheapest. Value RAM is Value RAM. I find Corsair to be usually the cheapest.

 

Not worth it. But worth using their website to find out what model fits in your computer the easy way. Then go to newegg or others to get the ram matching the same specs.

 

So, are all the inexpensive RAM value RAM? How do you find out if the RAM you are purchasing is value RAM or not?

Thanks guys for all the help.

 

I think with laptops they are all value RAM. Anything else is for overclockers and that is not done much on laptops... especially business laptops. Buy some Patriot RAM. It'll be just as good as the Lenovo RAM that cost 10x as much.

 

The main difference (and the one that can matter) between different brands of RAM is in what IC's (chips) they put on the DIMM. For the big memory makers this is not always constant as they generally use whatever is most cost effective for them at the moment that is up to their standards.

I would say the most important aspect for notebook RAM (as there's not really a way to overclock it) is the warranty. As long as the RAM works in your notebook there's not much else to worry about except what kind of warranty it has, and most reputable companies provide lifetime warranties nowadays.

 

I have 2GB+1GB in my T60 right now. I am debating whether I should upgrade to 4GB. I know T60 can only handle 3GB of RAM, but I am wondering whether the boost from symmetric dual channel will make any difference.

 

Nope, not really. For current notebook platforms dual-channel is more marketing than anything.

 

Thanks, that's reassuring.

Another question is, with 3GB of RAM, is it wise to turn off the paging file in Vista?

On my HP with XP, I have 2GB of RAM. I turned off the paging file on that computer and everything runs buttery smooth. But Vista uses a LOT of RAM. I am not sure 3GB is enough with paging file turned off.

 

Some apps might require page file so it's best to just leave it on.

Vista doesn't actually use as much memory as you might think. The majority of the memory being used is for cache. This is called SuperFetch. You can read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperFetch#SuperFetch

 

I wouldn't bother upgrading your Thinkpad's memory to 4GB unless you have XP 64-bit or Vista 64-bit. The loss of RAM isn't worth it imo.

 

Ditto on that. I do wish there was a setting to adjust how much Vista uses RAM only, for certain applications though. It would be nice for watching videos on battery if it just loaded the whole file into RAM so the HDD could turn off while the video is playing.

But yeah, there are a lot of misconceptions about Vista and RAM out there right now. Most people just don't yet know why Vista does what it does and how it actually affects them in daily usage.