While it's common knowledge these days that upgrading the memory in your laptop is a good way of speeding it up, the truth is that it's not always the lack of memory that's slowing you down.
Laptop memory upgrades can indeed considerably boost the performance of your laptop, but the question remains, should you opt to upgrade? If you're not accustomed to computers all that much you're probably puzzled in as far as finding the answer.
What do you do? Ask friends? See how much memory your system is using (i.
e.
via Task Manager in Windows), or perhaps take a guess and upgrade anyway (because you hear it's a good thing to do).
While one may argue that two of the above are sensible approaches, you're probably thinking, isn't there a more streamlined method? The answer to that last question is yes there is and the good news is that it's simple and likely to steer you to the right answer offering you a clear yes or no in regards to whether upgrading your laptop memory is substantiated.
Simply follow these steps noting the answer to each: 1) First, ask yourself, does my laptop feel slow? As you're the person who uses your laptop regularly do you think it's running slow? Maybe you think it's slower than when you first bought it? Perhaps you've started using different software that degrades its performance enough for you to notice? At this stage we're not concerned with a detailed report on why is my laptop slow (if it is!).
All that's necessary for now is to be true to yourself - will this answer be a yes or no? By starting off with this simple yes or no we're already on the right track to uncovering if buying and installing a laptop memory upgrade is going to be of benefit! ...
if the answer to the above is yes, proceed with the following: 2) Is the processor often maxed out at 100% usage or near to 100% usage during your normal routing of using your laptop? A common reason behind why laptops slow down is that the software run on them is too demanding for what the processor can handle or that the amount of software you normally run in parallel (called multitasking) jointly triggers the same outcome.
In order to check whether your processor has headroom still left in it open up Task Manager in Windows via pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL at once.
In Linux you press CTRL+ESC (or similar depending on the release of Linux) to bring up the System Monitor.
If you're using Mac OS open up Activity Monitor in the Applications/Utilities folder.
Alternatively, use a 3rd party software (many of which are free via searching n Google, Yahoo or Bing) for your given Operating System.
Next, keep the new window somewhere where you can see it at all times.
Look for an option in its menus such as "Always on top".
This will force the window to always appear in the foreground regardless what other software you bring to the foreground.
Now use your laptop as normal, try and keep to the tasks you usually perform meaning the types of applications, the number of them you have opened at once and also the way in which you multitask (i.
e.
perhaps you watch YouTube videos in the background while typing that report the boss wanted for yesterday!).
Finally, cast your eyes back to the task manager window or similar (depending on your Operating System).
In the CPU usage graph what can you see? Are the many large spikes in CPU usage? Is the usage low or (what could be the case) is it often or even always maxed out at 100%? If you have a multi-core CPU then check each individual graph (corresponding to each core).
Are they above 50% usage or less? If you observe heavy usage then this means your processor is finding it hard to keep up, that's the cause - the result is what you see every day, degraded system performance.
If your CPU usage is low or usually low then a laptop memory upgrade may just be right for you! Before we arrive at that answer though, we need to take a look at another part of your system.
3) Is the HDD LED constantly on or is it on for prolonged periods of times when you launch or switch between applications? The hard drive is where all your software and data are stored (and/or installed in the case of software).
Each time you launch an application it needs to be read from the hard drive into memory.
If this process is slow then either the hard drive is slow, the software you're launching is large, or that the hard drive is busy doing its own multitasking (i.
e.
being forced to perform read and write operations originating from various software).
Whichever it is, we want to know! Virtually all laptops have a small LED usually located at the front of the laptop or just under the screen (i.
e.
on the keyboard hood area) that blinks each time there's activity on the hard drive.
Once your Operating System is loaded meaning you are logged in, do your normal daily routine but this time keep casting your eyes back to that small LED.
How often does it blink and are the blinks for longer periods (i.
e.
it's on constantly for seconds at a time)? The first time you log into your Operating System you can expect there to be more blinking as it's the first time the software is loaded into memory.
Once you use and close but then reopen the same software there should be less blinking involved.
The exception to the latter is if your laptop doesn't have ample memory, in which case the Operating System is trying to mimic that via what is called virtual memory.
For now don't concern yourself with all the smart talk behind what, if and why.
Instead, concentrate on that HDD LED and give yourself an answer - is it blinking too much in your mind and if so does it mirror my laptop feeling slow? If you're fortunate enough to have a newer laptop with a SSD (Solid State Drive) then there is a minor chance the activity LED (SSD LED for a better name) will be on constantly.
Nevertheless as with hard drives, some SDD's are slower than others so don't go completely skipping this part simply because you "think" its cutting edge technology! Truth be told SSD's are still considerably slower than the memory (RAM) itself! 4) Time to review your answers and find the verdict Now is the time to find out whether a laptop memory upgrade is right for you and your laptop.
Gather your answers to the above three sections and ask yourself what they mean? Are your answers 1 = Yes, 2 = No and 3 = No? If so you this means you agree to having a laptop that feels slow during daily normal use and that neither your processor is maxed out or your hard drive (or SSD).
If this matches you then upgrading laptop memory is very likely to contribute to faster performance! At this stage you're probably glad to know the answer but perhaps some of you want to know why this method holds true? The answer is as follows.
In a computer there are several distinct parts that have the most influence on overall performance.
These are a) the processor (and surrounding technology i.
e.
bus speed etc.
), b) the memory and c) the hard drive (or in modern computers the SSD).
Depending on how each performs you can determine whether upgrading any of the others contributes to boosting system performance (i.
e.
the probability the upgrade will deliver visible added speed).
Last but not least some may say the graphics card is also very important.
This is also very true but not so much from a general performance viewpoint but rather from a gaming perspective.
It is suffice to say that even if you are a gamer with a gaming laptop there is still great significance to use the above as the laptop's memory will play a pivotal role in the speed of your game.
Should a laptop memory upgrade be on your shortlist? Hopefully now you know!