A number of people have asked me recently for advice on the best approach to buying computer memory, and I thought that it would make a good topic for a post. When thinking about computer memory, either for a desktop or a laptop, my general advice is to buy as much as you can possible afford. Obviously you can’t buy more memory that a computer mother board can accept, but the more memory a computer has the better it will perform, especially if you are going to be running multiple applications, which all need their own share of memory.

So when in the market for a new computer you need to get a lot of memory. Fine, but do we look for a computer package deal with enough memory already, if we can find one? Do we buy a standard setup and pay the vendor extra for additional memory? Or do we buy the standard setup and then buy our own memory separately and install it ourselves? These are all good questions that I have discussed with friends recently, and the conclusion we came to?

Well it is almost impossible to find a good laptop with enough memory for a reasonable price, but if you do then that is a nice and simple answer and you should probably do that. However if you can’t, which is more likely the buying an upgrade to the memory at the time of purchase is generally fine, but I have found that you will usually pay a premium. However it would be my recommendation if you are unsure about installing your own memory. Buying your own is my preferred approach as you can choose a recommended manufacture with a good product such as this Crucial 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM Memory. The memory will be covered by its own guarantee, and you will often get the best price this way.

Just remember to make sure you buy the right type of memory for you computer. What would be your advice?