Is laptop memory hard to buy

[Pentoman]

I'm wanting to upgrade the RAM in my girlfriend's laptop (it's 128mb!!). Some of the 'buy memory upgrades here' websites are suggesting that this notebook, an HP N5412, needs memory with the 'correct chip build' and say that cheaper universal memory advertised elsewhere won't work. Is there any truth in that at all? Or will standard PC133 144pin sodimms off ebay work fine?

I tried the HP support site, but like the support from any large company it's non existant.

[essexwedge]

www.crucial.com thats what I have always used fro RAM

[off_again]

essexwedge said:

www.crucial.com thats what I have always used fro RAM

Yep, not found anything that they don't stock - and I have ordered some bloody strange stuff in the past!

[LukeBird]

Do you know the speed and type of the RAM?
It will probably be either DDR PC4200 or if its a newer laptop possibly DDR2 PC5300
I'd imagine its the older DDR RAM as you say it has 128mb currently
Oh and if you don't know the speed and type of RAM, google a tool called CPU-Z and that will be able to tell you

[arcturus]

Pentoman said:

Some of the 'buy memory upgrades here' websites are suggesting that this notebook, an HP N5412, needs memory with the 'correct chip build' and say that cheaper universal memory advertised elsewhere won't work. Is there any truth in that at all?

Yes, there can be truth in that statement. We used to come across this regularly when certain motherboards would be sensitive to the layout of the memory chips on the memory module. I have seen many occasions where a standard module would not work in certain motherboards. My own laptop is a case in point. It supposedly takes standard PC2700 memory so I ordered some and it didn't work. But by using Crucial's memory checker they were able to detect exactly the configuration i needed and were able to send the correct modules. And no the original one I bought wasn't faulty. It works perfectly in another laptop.

[Mojocvh]

COOL!!!!

[Pentoman]

good idea cpu-z.

Crucial's site has the memory, 512MB for £62, Whereas I've find new similar spec 512 (which should work if I don't get the 'chip build' problem) for £18 on ebay.... hence my question!

It's only old so shelling out £62 on upgrade is not worth it, it could go towards a new one for only £300

[_Deano]

Pentoman said:

good idea cpu-z.

Crucial's site has the memory, 512MB for £62, Whereas I've find new similar spec 512 (which should work if I don't get the 'chip build' problem) for £18 on ebay.... hence my question!

It's only old so shelling out £62 on upgrade is not worth it, it could go towards a new one for only £300

I've not looked at the specs for that particluar model, but going on it's only got 128MB RAM and it's around £62 for an upgrade, i would say that it's an old system (3-4years+) and has an old 133MHz FSB, so you are basically throwing money at something that is old hat. I would rather use that extra cash and put it towards a new laptop with a Intel Core 2 Due processor, money better spent in my opinion.
Although Crucial is a great place to buy RAM and i've only found e-Bay to be cheaper, though i would rather use Crucial.

[stemll]

In your position, I'd go for the new laptop too assuming that you have the other £240 of course.

I was in a similar position with my old Toshiba. 128Mb of RAM no-one (including Crucial and Toshiba) could offer any suggestions and standard RAM to the supposedly same spec didn't work. Eventually went for a new Core2Duo Dell for £450 in December (with XP instead of Vista) and haven't looked back.

[Zad]

Note of caution:

My dad uses an elderly IBM 600E Thinkpad laptop. It too only has 128MB. With the final BIOS update, it will take 512MB (Crucial thinks 256MB, which is wrong for this specific model) but only on low density memory modules with 16 chips on. 8 chip modules will not work. The memory modules are available on Ebay, generally from the far east and, if you factor in postage, work out more expensive than the proper modules from Crucial!

A new laptop would be logical, but given that he is perfectly happy with his machine, a memory upgrade is £40-50 and a new lappy is at least £250, the memory upgrade is more cost effective.

[Pentoman]

_Deano said:

Pentoman said:

good idea cpu-z.

Crucial's site has the memory, 512MB for £62, Whereas I've find new similar spec 512 (which should work if I don't get the 'chip build' problem) for £18 on ebay.... hence my question!

It's only old so shelling out £62 on upgrade is not worth it, it could go towards a new one for only £300

I've not looked at the specs for that particluar model, but going on it's only got 128MB RAM and it's around £62 for an upgrade, i would say that it's an old system (3-4years+) and has an old 133MHz FSB, so you are basically throwing money at something that is old hat. I would rather use that extra cash and put it towards a new laptop with a Intel Core 2 Due processor, money better spent in my opinion.

I do subscribe to this opinion too. For example although I didn't really have the money to, when the heatsink/fan mount broke on my motherboard rather than spend £30 on a new motherboard I spent £101 and went up to a dual core processor and 2GB of new, faster ram in addition. I agree spending £62 is not too sensible hence my investigation into cheaper options. The laptop's otherwise in great nick and she doesn't have £250+ to spend on a new one, especially since I just noticed her 106 is 6k past its cambelt change!

[ginettag27]

Check

Crucial (which you already have!)

OCZ

Corsair

All 3 have memory selector tools..

One of those might come up with something more inclined towards your budget!!