BleepingComputer.com: Should I Add Memory?

I have a Sony laptop model VGN-FS742. It has 512 MB of physical memory. It has 2.00 GB of virtual memory. My desktop at home as 2,048 MB of physical memory. If I understand correctly, this means that it has roughly 4 times as much memory. If I understand correctly also, that makes it work faster. Should I upgrade? My laptop is 3 years old next month.

This post has been edited by Hal06: 26 September 2008 - 11:35 AM

hi,,, the easyest way to speed up your pc and make it more responcive is to add ram,,, use the system scanner on crucial.com this will tell you what ram you have, which ram you can have and how much ram you can install,,, then take a look on new egg for the same spec ram if your in the usa or ebuyer for the uk.

i would also think about reinstalling the os,,, if you have backed everything up this will be no problem,,, a reinstall every couple of years gets rid of all the acumalated crap,,, when i first did this on a 2 year old laptop that also had 512mb of ram,,, it was like a new pc.
good luck.

Laptops are a trickier to get RAM for than desktops, they're not mutually compatible. According to your system specs at Sony's site, you can use up to 2 GB of RAM in that laptop. The more RAM you have the better, it will make your PC more responsive.

Is it okay to take the laptop to Best Buy or somewhere like that and just let them insert the memory? How do you know if the people doing the work are competent?

You could probably take it to a computer shop and let them do it. There are guides and help available if you wanted to try installing the RAM yourself.

Just a thought, opening up the system will most likely void the warranty.

Some manufacturers have consumer accessible RAM ports. All you have to do is remove a screw, lift off the cover, and insert the new memory. Or, at least that's how my Sony Vaio was. Most warranty's don't void for memory upgrades if the RAM is easily accessible.