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?

For those people like me who are getting on a bit in years memory is one important thing that always seems to be in dwindling supply.  One things for sure the ability to get a lot done efficiently requires a good deal of memory.  The same can be said to be also true for computer systems.

Strictly speaking computer memory refers to anytime of  type of data storage that stores digital data for any significant period  of time.  This  could include hard disk drives for instance.. However when we talk about memory we are usually referring to RAM (Random Access Memory) which provides the temporary memory storage area for use by computer programs while they are running.   This is used in preference to your hard disk drives as it is much faster to access, reducing potential bottlenecks for your running programs.

The more memory the better

Basically the more memory you have on your computer the better your computer will run, this is especially true if you would normally work with a number of programs open on your computer at the same time. If you use up all the memory area the computer operating system e.g. Windows will transfer something from your memory area to your hard disk drive to make more space. This is called “paging” and will significantly slow performance down.

As much memory as you can afford

A general rule when buying a computer is to get as much memory as you possibly afford.  It is a great idea to double up over any deal you might be getting. Buying more memory is a great way to improve the performance of an existing computer,  but you do need to make sure you get the memory that is compatible with your computer.  Also it pays to look around so check the  available reviews.  A good example  of this sort of memory is the highly rated Crucial Tracer 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 DIMM memory.

Looking for memory? Remember to research first.