Laptop Tech help
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  1. #1
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    Default Laptop Tech help

    Hey guys i need some tech advice and know most people on here will hold the answer, i have searched google but seem to come out with different opinions. This will probs be simple to answer for all you tech wizards. i have a sony viao currently with 2.26ghz core 2 due, 320gb hard drive and 3gb ram. i want to upgrade the hard drive to 500gb, i have been looking at a few option, does the 7200rpm make a big difference to the 5400rpm drives + i have been told my viao has 2 ram slots, 1 with 1gb ram in and one with 2gb ram in. CAN i buy any 2gb ram upgrade and swap it for the 1gb ram or does the brand make a difference in compatibility. Last question if i upgrade my viaos hard drive to 500gb, i have an hp pavilions laptop and the hard drive recently went, could i put the old hard drive out the viao into the hp as they are both 2.5 sata hard drives

    sorry its long winded i just dont want to start parting with cash and get it wrong
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  2. #2
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    the reason i ask this is i get my s4 controller tomorrow and want my vaio spec upgraded
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  3. #3
    Tech Guru astromech's Avatar
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    RE RAM:
    You will need to buy matched pairs of memory. If you want 2GB, buy two 1GB sticks. To be honest, I would suggest upgrading to 4GB and nto worry about the HDD too much.

    You shouldn't have any problems swapping out the broken HDD for another. Just make sure it is wiped.
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  4. #4
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    so i have three in at the min, to make it up 2 four, ill have to buy 2 x 2gb so they match, is that right
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  5. #5
    Tech Guru JonathanBlake's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=happydan;284383]RE RAM:
    matched pairs of memory
    upgrading to 4GB and no to worry about the HDD too much[QUOTE]


    Good advice - and remember there's RAM and there's RAM - don't go entry-level, get quality.
    356 reasons why

  6. #6
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    what would you recommend jonathon not to pricey
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  7. #7
    Tech Guru astromech's Avatar
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    With IT, the mantra is "you get what you pay for". Your laptop will still work without matched pairs (ie three sticks of RAM), but will get degraded performance.

    You need to find out what memory the laptop is meant to take (should say something like PCXXXX or find out the speed of it).
    A&H Xone:96 | Xone:K1 | 2 x 1210s | Traktor Pro 3 | Apple Macbook Pro (2015) 13" | Sennheiser HD7 DJ | Maschine Mikro Mk3
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  8. #8
    Tech Mentor killerfanatics's Avatar
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  9. #9
    Tech Guru Sherlock Ohms's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by killerfanatics View Post
    What he said ...
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  10. #10
    Tech Guru Bunford's Avatar
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    I've been working on a laptop I acquired tonight actually! Got a Dell Inspiorn 1520 (similar to one I've customised to run Mac OSX). However, this one had a crappy Celeron CPU and 512mb of RA with a 40gb hard drive.

    It now boasts a 2.2GHz Core2Duo, 4gb RAM and a 320gb hard drive. Tried running stuff on it and it absolutely flies. Might even before my battered but very spec'd DJing laptop now

    All you need to do is check FSB for the motherboard in your laptop (google and use CPU-z for motherboard model and CPU model). Then, get a 2gb stick that matches the motherboards FSB (which will usually match the CPU's FSB too if it's a Vaio as they tend to use best motherboard/CPU available at the time of build). If you can get equal FSB across motherboard, CPU and RAM, it makes a much smoother running system.

    Secondly, check the RAM specs for the motherboard before you buy anything. See if it's DDR2 or DDR3, what MHz (FSB) it can manage etc. Then, buy a decent make (like Crucial) for that RAM type. The one you'd buy would read something like Crucial 2GB SODIMM PC2-6400 800MHz for example.

    With regard to hard drive, the rpm doesn;t make a huge difference to a normal user. You'd only notice the difference if you are super-picky and go looking for it by benchmarking etc (in my opinion anyway). Plus, an upgrade from 320gb to 500gb is a bit wasteful. You may as well get a cheap 80gb drive for your HP laptop just to load the OS onto and then buy a 500gb external drive you can then use with both laptops. A 2.5@ 80gb internal drive and a 500gb 2.5@ external drive would still probably be cheaper than buying a 2.5@ internal drive, so you'd save financially too!
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