RAM Upgrade Archives - Page 2 of 3

Q&A: Can the RAM be upgraded on a Mac mini?

Posted on April 27, 2019

Question from Tom L.: I bought bought my daughter a Mac mini in November 2014 hoping she could use it when she started college in January.

The salesman told me that the only Mac minis they had in stock came with 4GB of RAM but I could always upgrade the RAM to a greater amount later if it turned out that 4GB wasn’t enough.

Well, it turns out that she does need more RAM now in order to run a program she’ll be using for one of her classes next semester.

The problem is she took the computer into Best Buy for a RAM upgrade and they told her that her model of the Mac mini can’t be upgraded. Is that true? She loves this computer and wants to keep using it if she can.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Is it worth the expense to max out the RAM in my new PC?

Posted on February 5, 2018

Question from Chris: I recently bought an Acer Aspire TC-780-ACKI5 desktop computer (#ad) and I have a question about it.

This machine came with 12GB of RAM but my friend says I should max it out to 32GB so PhotoShop and Lightroom will run faster.

I checked around and I can get four 8GB memory sticks for less than $200, which is about what I can afford to spend.

Do you think the extra memory will speed up this computer enough to justify spending that amount of cash? My friend says it will, but I’d like your opinion on this before I order the RAM. Thanks.

Rick’s answer: That Acer is a great computer, Chris. I believe it will serve you well for running the programs you mentioned above. However, the answer to your question is no, for two reasons: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is my computer only recognizing 4GB of RAM even though I installed 8GB?

Posted on August 11, 2017

Question from Shawn: Hi Rick. Having recently read your post about adding RAM to speed up your PC, I just bought two 4GB Crucial RAM sticks to upgrade my Dell 755 desktop computer to 8GB.

This PC is running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit so it should recognize the entire 8GB, but for some reason it’s only recognizing 4GB. Do you think I have a bad RAM stick?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

If your computer is under warranty, keep your old RAM sticks after a memory upgrade

Posted on March 3, 2017

A while back I wrote a post explaining how adding RAM to your computer can give it a major speed boost, but I inadvertently left out a very important detail…

If your computer is still under warranty when you upgrade its RAM, make sure you keep any old memory sticks that you remove from the machine as part of the upgrade process.

That way if something happens and you have to send the computer in for a warranty repair, you can temporarily remove the new RAM sticks and re-install the original ones. [Read more…]

Q&A: Would adding flash storage to my Dell Inspiron 1300 improve its performance?

Posted on August 21, 2016

Question from Andy S.: My Dell Inspiron 1300 has only 512 Megs of RAM. The machine is now very slow, I suspect that it’s due to lot of paging.

Would it make sense if I buy an Expresscard to USB 3.0 adapter so then I can add a USB 3.0 SSD, Flash Finger or M.2 to the machine? Would it improve the performance?

Thank you very much.

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]