Does my computer need a memory upgrade?
Hi everyone, Leo Notenboom here
for askleo.com here's the question. Do I need to install additional memory?
My machine has 2GB of Ram,
I have an HP Photospart printer and therefore I'm always downloading
from my camera to my computer if a computer memory upgrade is called for.
I've long said that upgrading your system's Ram your memory is
one of the most cost effective things you can do to speed up your computer.
In most cases it's not a silver bullet.
It really does depend heavily on exactly how you use your computer.
But it's one of actually two things that can make a huge difference,
especially on older computers, if it's possible.
First we need to talk about minimums.
2GB honestly is really small these days.
I typically recommend you go for at least
4GB with a new machine running Windows ten or eleven.
2GB is really the bare minimum for those
operating systems, even if their specifications might even say less.
2GB is, like I said, the bare minimum.
Now that can be plenty if all you're doing, for example,
is surfing the web and you don't have a bunch of tabs open or all you're doing
is email, you get the idea that if you're not doing
much with your computer, your computer doesn't have to have tons of Ram.
However, if you do,
or if you find, as we all do, that over time Windows gets bigger,
your applications get bigger, you discover more things to do.
Then all of a sudden, what used to be enough Ram to keep your
system happy and running smoothly may not be anymore.
Your system is running slow then taking a look at your Ram usage is one of those
things that can help you decide whether or not it's time to add Ram if you can.
I said that earlier and that's one
of the things I want to mention here is that the amount of Ram your system can
handle is a physical limitation of the computer's motherboard.
That means that if your motherboard has been maxed out, like say you have an older
computer and 2GB is the most Ram it can take, you can't upgrade your Ram.
There is no path that will have you
upgrading the Ram on that machine without replacing the motherboard.
And honestly,
for most people at that point, it's time for a new machine anyway.
So my advice when getting a new machine is to make sure it can handle not just
the Ram you want preinstalled, but more later.
For example, every time I buy a machine, I order it with X amount of Ram.
So the computer that I'm using right now
to record this video, it's got 64GB of Ram in it.
I'm an edge case, I'm a heavy user, but I did this on purpose.
I have 64GB of Ram installed in a machine that is capable of accepting 128GB.
Today, 64 is plenty.
I rarely use that much Ram, but I know that over time, like I said,
Windows gets bigger, my usage gets more involved,
the applications get bigger Ram requests, the Ram usage just increases over time.
When that time happens,
when I cross that threshold, I throw in some more Ram and I'm good to go.
The machine will last longer because of that.
So the very first thing you want
to understand is, is Ram a limiting factor for you?
And all you really need to do there is fire up something like Task Manager or
Resource Monitor to see if your system is using all of its Ram.
And if it is, then you need to understand
whether or not your hard work can even accept it.
If it can, it might be a good upgrade.
But there's another upgrade that I suspect is probably more applicable to more people
that I suspect might be more lucrative, and that is if your older computer has
the old style spinning metal platter hard disk, consider replacing that with an SSD.
Regardless of how you use your computer, you will notice it's faster.
Specifically, one of the first things
people notice when they replace their hard disk with an SSD is that all of a sudden,
it boots in about half the time, if not less.
So that's something to consider if you're bumping up against speed issues,
if you feel like your system is being too slow, too pokey.
The other thing to consider is to install an SSD.
If you end up getting a new machine,
chances are it'll come with an SSD no matter what.
But make sure it's got room for more Ram than you think you need.
That way, the machine will last longer.
Finally, I kind of have to point out,
you know, if your machine is working, if it's doing what you need it to do,
if it boots up in an acceptable amount of time, if whatever it is you're doing,
it seems to be working and working, acceptably well, why poke the bear?
Why do anything?
Honestly, the longer you can leave
the machine alone, the closer you get to a new machine,
with all of the latest upgrades being its replacement, being the correct solution.
But right now, why spend money on Ram you probably don't need,
or a hard disk that you really don't care about if you've got enough,
if it's working for you right now, honestly, my advice is to leave it alone.
If you're experiencing performance issues,
then start looking at Ram and SSDs for commercial comments, for updates,
for related links and more, visit askleo.com/15625.
I'm Leo Notenboom.
And this is Askleo.com. Thanks for watching.