What memory should I use for upgrading my notebook computer?
Laptops are not very upgradable computers and in general you stuck with hardware you got inside your laptop. But still there are some components that you can upgrade to improve the performance of you computer. One of these components is memory (RAM). In short, more memory – better computer performance.
There are a lot of different memory brands on the market and sometimes it is very easy to get lost. As a computer technician I would recommend to use Crucial – high quality, not expensive and very reliable computer memory.
Crucial offers you very good tools integrated into their website. These tools will help you to find the correct memory type and correct memory size for your computer.
If you have no idea what kind of memory is installed into your laptop you should use the Crucial system scanner. The Crucial System Scanner takes the guesswork out of upgrading your memory.
The Crucial system scanner will examine you computer and give you an idea what kind of memory you need, what memory size you should use and how many sticks you can install.
More advanced users can use the Crucial Memory Advisor tool. In this case you will have to select the manufacturer, the product line and the model of your laptop manually.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Upgrading Tips
August 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Brian,
Here’s what I found in the official detailed specifications for Toshiba Satellite A55-S306.
Memory
• 256MB expandable to 1024MB (Both slots may be occupied.)
• Optional available expansion memory modules: 256MB/512MB/1024MB, SODIMM; Memory compatible with PC2700 DDR333
As you see, it’s not very clear if 1GB is max for one slot or for both slots but at the same time Toshiba offers 1GB optional memory modules, so I assume you can install 1GB into each slot.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I noticed on the reply to caitlins comment that a maximum of 1GB ram can be installed (512MB in each slot) in the Toshiba Satellite A55-S306. I ran the crucial system scanner and Its assessment was that I can add 2GB, 1GB in each slot. Is this correct and will it utilize all of the 2 GB?
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
doug again. still working on that toshiba satellite managed to remove two more circuit boards whose purpose is unknown to me. based on what i told you i already removed from the pc, and this sites collective knowledge of the arcitechture of the Satellite laptop, any one got any idea about what the two new mystery circuit boards are?
thanks agian, doug.
( still Waiting on answer to first question, just so people dont assume my posting means it was answered. )
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hey all, i have an old Toshiba Satellite A75-S206.
it is broken beyond repair ( the cpu is fried. it was over clocked ) and i was wondering if there are ANY parts at all that i can salvage from it to reuse or sell. when i opened the system board up, i was dismayed when i found out that nearly all the components are attached directly to it. i managed to get the keyboard, hdd, cd drive, internal speakers, fans, lcd screen, and screen backlight inverter out, but im interested in anything else like the video card, as well as the processor and ram. correct me if im wrong, but i believe this model of A-75 has 512 mb of ram built into the system board. is there more ram ( ie, another ram slot ) in the pc that im unaware of? any answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated. feel free to email me at Jello630@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Doug
* I just Bought a MacBook Pro to replace the old toshiba. quite the step up lol. i highly recommend it. best pc ive ever owned.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 am
Thank you so much back up and running
April 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Vicki Blackard,
Here’s what you can do to test if the laptop hardware works fine. You can download live Linux, for example Knoppix (google for knoppix), and burn it on a CD. After that you boot your laptop from this CD and test your laptop.
Knoppix is a user friendly OS and you’ll be working in an environment similar to Windows. If the laptop works fine with Knoppix, apparently the hardware is fine and you’ll have to reinstall Windows.
Try calling Toshiba, maybe you can buy restore CDs from them, shouldn’t be expensive.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
For Presario 900 notebook memory upgrade. Buy memory module at the Dell website with a Kingston brand. it has a 266Mhz which compatible wit the Presario 900 aptop.
April 16th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Hello I have a Toshiba Satellite A55 S1064. My problem is we bought this at a pawn shop. It did not come with any system restore cd’s, so when you boot it up to HDD password the text is very small with a black background and then after you enter your password still with what seems to be a very small screen area it shows the windows logo starting then back to a black screen. Out of curiosity I tabbed to what would be user names and hit enter and it loaded so the system is still running but no screen. My Operating system is Windows XP Home edition can anyone Help? Please.
Vicki
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:39 am
HELP! Desperately seeking assistance with a Compaq Presario 900 RAM upgrade (XP Home SP1). Bought the memory from Crucial and have run the memtest and all is good. Replaced 256MB with 2 512MB as the computer is upgradable to 1GB. Computer won’t boot to windows. In safemode computer shows RAM and as I stated it tests ok. Have talked with HP (who states RAM333Mhz isn’t compatible and I need 266Mhz). Cruicial isn’t much more help beyond suggesting my video driver probably needs to be upgraded. I’ve been the the HP/Compaq site and have downloaded pretty much everything there (though they’re old downloads….)
Any ideas? or do you know of more updated patches I should be looking at - possibly another model more current that is compatible with this old system?
I wouldn’t care as much if it was my computer but I’m upgrading it for a friend. I really want to succeed at this task - she can’t afford a new laptop right now and I don’t want this to be my first ‘failure’!
HELP??????
Deb