Does My Laptop Have Enough RAM? If Not, Is It Easy to Upgrade?

Random access memory abbreviated to RAM is located inside a laptop & is critical for programs to run smoothly. If there is no RAM, then some programs will either not run at all or may run very very slowly. When a laptop is turned off the RAM will be cleared of all its contents, so it only acts as a temporary store for information. Usually, a user will upgraded RAM to increase the number of programs that can be effectively run on a laptop; occasionally however, RAM will fail, & is changed to repair a defective laptop.

Before beginning any repair or upgrade work on your laptop you ought to disconnect the power pack & remove the battery. You ought to also attach an anti-static strap to your wrist; these are available from most electronic shops.

The RAM chip or chips in most laptops can be found under a small plastic door, secured with screws, on the base of your laptop. Use a small cross point screwdriver to remove the screws & open the door to reveal the RAM. A quantity of the older laptops has an additional or RAM chip located under the keyboard; to locate this keyboard must be removed. It is much more difficult, so specialist help may be necessary at this point.

Before beginning a RAM upgrade it is necessary to identify how much RAM is already present. This can be done in ways; either by removing & examining the existing RAM chips or by looking in the Method Setting located in the Control Panel of Windows. As a general rule you ought to always aim to double the ram capacity, ideally by using identical RAM chips. For example, in the event you have a single 512 Mb RAM chip in your laptop then you ought to aim to have 2x 512 Mb chips making a total of GB after the upgrade. If the existing RAM consists of 2x chips then both ought to be discarded & new identical RAM chips bought & installed. There are exceptions but most laptops work better with identical chips than mixed capacity RAM chips. All RAM is removed by pushing metal or plastic side tabs & removing the chip; installing the new chips is the reverse.

Over the last few years types of RAM have been used in laptops; DDR, DDR2 & DDR3. DDR is an abbreviation for double data rate. Regrettably, these types of RAM are not interchangeable; & within each type different speeds are available. Usually, the safest way to select which RAM to buy for your laptop is to carefully examining the label on the old RAM chips & buy the same type & speed as the original, but of a greater capacity. Alternatively, check the manufacturer's net site where the RAM specification for your laptop can usually be found. time you have done the upgrade reconnect the battery & power pack, turn on the laptop & check that the total amount of RAM present is as expected; if not then either a chip is flawed or has not been installed properly.

FeTRAM: A New Idea to Replace Flash Memory

Researchers at Purdue University are developing a new type of memory that is promised to be faster and less energy intensive than Flash.

Zoom

I cannot quite remember how long we have been discussing a replacement for flash memory, which was first shown by Intel in 1988 in the shape of a shoebox-sized 256 Kb NOR flash board and was followed by a NAND version produced by Toshiba one year later. Back in 2004, I wrote an article for Tom's Hardware that discussed possible successors for flash. The common belief in the industry was that flash economics would be running out of steam sometime in 2007 or 2008.

Seven years later, flash is still going strong, but we are still talking about successors, we just don't know what it will be and when they will be mature enough to compete with the now 22-year old NAND technology. Purdue now suggests that it could be a "ferroelectric" polymer that enables the development of a "new type of ferroelectric transistor"

Called FeTRAM, the memory is said to be in a "very nascent stage" and there is not even a prototype. However, the theory and a test circuit exist and the scientists behind the project claim that the technology will enable memory devices that are faster than flash and consume less power.

"Our present device consumes more power because it is still not properly scaled," said Saptarshi Das, one of the scientists working on the technology.. "For future generations of FeTRAM technologies one of the main objectives will be to reduce the power dissipation. They might also be much faster than another form of computer memory called SRAM."

There was no information when the technology will be shown in a prototype, but Das noted that a patent application has already been filed. According to the researchers, FeTRAMs "are similar to state-of-the-art ferroelectric random access memories, FeRAMs, which are in commercial use but represent a relatively small part of the overall semiconductor market." However, other than FeRAMs, FeTRAMs allow for "nondestructive readout, meaning information can be read without losing it."

Source: Toms Hardware

The Memory Chips

The key part in any USB stick is of coursework the flash memory chip. These chips have the acronym EEPROM, which stands for electrically, erasable, programmable, read-only memory. As with all solid-state expertise, the chips are comparatively immune from damage by shock or vibration due to the shortage of moving parts.

The chips come in a range of grades in respect of read, write speeds & knowledge retention capabilities, & can be present in digital cameras & mobile rings as well as USB sticks. In addition, with their non-volatile nature, knowledge retention is not reliant on a constant power supply. Other highlights include fast access times & low power consumption on a chip that on average lasts for close to 100,000 write cycles.

Quality is obviously an issue & Flash chips fall in to basic categories:

• Original Branded Chips - Made by the leading well-known global producers & tested to high quality standards. These chips come with a full warranty, a one-of-a-kind serial number & are highly reliable.
• OEM Chips - A reduced but equally reliable version of the above but without the branding or warranties.
• Downgraded Chips - Rejects from the main manufacturer's QA method bought by third parties. A less expensive option but with a higher failure rate.
• Fake Chips - Low capacity chips, often of a downgraded variety, reprogrammed to document much higher memory capability, even when connected to a computer, & sold as such.

Flash chips fall in to the "solid state" section of computer expertise & their applications share various advantages over normal hard drives that have numerous moving parts. With platters, spindles, & read & write heads constantly moving around, magnetic hard drives are susceptible to knocks, vibrations, & magnetic fields amongst other things. Solid-state devices also require little power, & coupled with the shortage of moving parts leads to negligible heat generation.

Apart from being usually more robust & energy-efficient than magnetic disk drives, a solid state device will also perform better in some areas in terms of speed. With faster start-up, access, & application launch times they are quickly replacing traditional disk-based hard drives, in the light of regular memory increases that are now impressive.

For such a little piece of electronic hardware, the Flash chip is a powerhouse that has revolutionized the way knowledge is stored & transported. With constant development & increases in memory capacity, future advances could be limitless.