samsung netbook memory upgrade

tvout · 21-06-2011, 21:26

Hi all,
I bought a n150 netbook recently with windows 7 installed and 1gb RAM which seems a bit slow. I thought about increasing it to 2gb as a friend said that helped with his.
It takes one sodimm pc2-6400 module and as always the prices vary greatly. I can get Samsung etc for about £15 and crucial or kingston for around £21 or so.
I've heard that in desktop pcs especially gamers the brand etc can really make a difference.
Would it make any real difference on a netbook?
Any suggestions on best brands? I tend to favour those with the lifetime warranties usually.
Many thanks

Kymmy · 21-06-2011, 21:39

In desktops the ram is likely to be overclocked hence a decent brand is used.. In laptops as long as you get the same spec you should be fine. Use everest or similar to get the exact specs of the memory installed and try to match the speeds (clock and CL)

tvout · 21-06-2011, 22:00

Many thanks Kymmy. I'll try everest as well, I used cpuid for my laptop upgrade. Do you have any preferred brand? I have heard bad things about Kingston although I've not had issues with them before aside from an SD card replaced under warranty. Not sure how good crucial are?

Kymmy · 21-06-2011, 22:08

Kingston have expensive and cheap versions, used both and never had a problem when used as stock non-overclocked replacements.

For standard laptop use I just see what's the cheapest that matches the spec.

Halcyon · 21-06-2011, 23:33

I've never had any problems with Crucial RAM.

I upgraded my Samsung netwbook from 1GB to 2GB.

ZrByte · 22-06-2011, 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kymmy

In desktops the ram is likely to be overclocked hence a decent brand is used.. In laptops as long as you get the same spec you should be fine. Use everest or similar to get the exact specs of the memory installed and try to match the speeds (clock and CL)

The netbook only has one RAM socket and no onboard RAM so the OP shouldn't really have to match it that exactly. Just the clock should do. And as the OP said its pc2-6400 (DDR2 800mhz). The last netbook I upgraded didn't even support the ram at those speeds but the socket supported it so that was the RAM that was recommended.
I would personally use the crucial upgrade advisor if the OP isn't 100% sure what to get. Cant go wrong really since crucial isn't high or low end, just nice hardware with good warranties.

joglynne · 22-06-2011, 17:01

I have just upgraded my Samsung using the Crucial site to identify and supply the ram I needed and have had no problems.

tvout · 22-06-2011, 19:30

Cheers all, those who upgraded netbooks from 1GB to 2GB did you notice much of a difference?
One thing I was curious about was the Samsung N220 was also on sale and had a sticker on it saying HD playback for video. I read the N220 was an earlier model to the N150 and seemed very similar spec, both with Intel GPUs.
I find mine seems to cope ok with 480p videos if widescreen on youtube but fullscreen it's a little stuttery, more noticeable on 720p. I'll download some HD videos to try further though don't expect too much as I know netbooks aren't designed really for anything too intensive...

Halcyon · 22-06-2011, 21:00

I found my netbook responded better with the additional 1GB.

On my N310 I can play upto 720p fine with VLC player but huge files in full HD struggle.

tvout · 22-06-2011, 23:59

Cheers Halcyon. Mine seems to be very slow on the network as well for some reason. I just created a shared folder on it and am copying a 60MB video file across and it's taking about 35 minutes? I'm trying to work out why it might be so slow, my laptop is running XP pro, could the different versions of Windows affect the speed? Both devices show excellent or very good signal at 54mbps...

ZrByte · 23-06-2011, 00:08

Could be power management. I know when mine was on the battery on XP file transfers used to be horrible until I disabled the power management on the WiFi. Some WiFi adapters also have levels of power management rather than a simple power management on/off toggle but thats quite driver dependant in XP.

tvout · 23-06-2011, 00:33

Many thanks ZrByte, I just checked power management and it's on maximum performance at the moment (running on mains power but this also seems to apply to battery). Copying files from my laptop to my other half's laptop (both on XP) seems far quicker by comparison. Not sure if it might be down to the general performance of the netbook or some kind of incompatibility with the router (Linksys WRT54G)

joglynne · 23-06-2011, 15:57

I upgraded from 2 to 4GB and have noticed that I can now do what I want without twiddling my thumbs waiting for multiple programs to load. I don't know the technicalities of it but it certainly feels a lot more responsive and when I have several things open at the same time it no longer feels sluggish when I try to work.

tvout · 23-06-2011, 22:04

I did a ping to my router and it was about 20-30ms constantly but still seemed fairly slow. Interestingly I uninstalled the trial of McAfee and ran speedtests and it was getting really perfect results (just under 10mb/s down and about 1.01 mb/s up which is as expected) and the browsing speed seems much better. I've only done the one reboot and have also had another Windows 7 update (seems to be no end of updates since I bought it!). Fingers crossed I'm hoping that's sorted it...

qasdfdsaq · 26-06-2011, 18:19

20-30mbs constantly to your router is very bad. It should be 2-3ms tops. Any more indicates congestion or other problems.