Question About Two Year Old Netbook

[Birddude007]

Hey folks I have this extra netbook, Samsung Atom 1.6 processor, 200 GB HD, 1 gig of RAM, Windows7 starter.
My daughter had it and managed to totally get it to freeze up and it was unresponsive, well after I ended up getting her a new laptop she gave it back to me. One night I decided to sit down and try and see how I can make it usable again. After finally getting it to reboot in safe mode and removing a bunch of crap off it I managed to get it running like a well oiled machine. I will be upgrading the memory in my main laptop from 4GB to 8GB(it currently has two sticks of 2GB memory in it) and I will be putting one of those 2GB sticks in the netbook (even though the main laptop is 64 bit I don't think it will be an issue using the memory stick from it in the netbook seeing as the memory stick specs are identical when checked out on Crucial.com)
The netbook seems to be laboring quite a bit with the 1GB it has in it now because it is referencing the hard drive a lot, Will the 2GB upgrade help it?
I am not really planning on using this netbook for intense multitasking purposes, I will be basically using it for taking along with me on vacations, photo shoots (using it to back up SD cards when they get full, and viewing/deleting them)
Do you all think it will be up to par to be using this netbook for such purposes? or am I just pissing in the wind?
It is actually a decent little netbook, I have been using it strictly for interweb surfing, viewing RAW images from my camera, and playing the occasional card games, I even have windows office enterprise loaded up on it and it performs flawlessly with it. I am hoping, however....it will work a little faster when I upgrade the memory to 2gigs, what do you all think?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Tews]

As cheap as RAM is, I'd go for it ... just don't install unnecessary programs that you don't really need, and you should be fine!

 

[Birddude007]

As cheap as RAM is, I'd go for it ... just don't install unnecessary programs that you don't really need, and you should be fine!

That is exactly what I was thinking, I cleaned a lot of crap off this thing and shut everything off in the background.
I basically am not buying more RAM for it anyways technically, I am taking the two 2GB RAM sticks out of my main laptop swapping out for 2x4GB sticks, replacing my wifes RAM in her laptop with those 2GB sticks(hers has one stick of 2GB and one stick of 1GB, its a 32 bit system) because I like to keep the sticks in matched pairs, and then I will be taking the one 2GB stick from my wifes laptop and replacing the 1GB in this netbook with it. What is cool is when I checked out all the laptops that I have on Crucial.com, it turns out that they all have the same memory specs for the sticks.

 

[alphanumeric]

Check to make sure it can take a 2 gig stick. My daughters HP netbook has a max of 2 gigs and will only take 1 gig sticks. Don't be surprised if that 2 gig stick only shows up as 1 gig. You may have to use 2 1 gig sticks to get your 2 gigs of RAM.

 

[Birddude007]

Check to make sure it can take a 2 gig stick. My daughters HP netbook has a max of 2 gigs and will only take 1 gig sticks. Don't be surprised if that 2 gig stick only shows up as 1 gig. You may have to use 2 1 gig sticks to get your 2 gigs of RAM.

Well I haven't openned it up yet but Crucial.com shows one slot, they have been right everytime I used them to check my memory, however, if it is two slots then at least I will have an extra 1 GB stick that I will be taking out of my wife's computer anyways, I will be taking out a 2 GB and a 1GB when I upgrade hers, so at least that will leave me a choice. Either way I will be ending up with an extra 1GB or a 2GB stick that I will be looking to sell.

Here is what I got from Crucial.com~

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
actually why not go for a 4GB RAM moduie -- they are cheap enough now and it will fit in the single slot of a netbook (if it's DDR3 type which your netbook will probably be if it's an ACER aspire one type or similar).

I've also got an SSD in mine and although I've got a slightly faster processor than the ATOM the netbook runs just fine. Just don't try and run too many concurrent applications.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Birddude007]

Hi there
actually why not go for a 4GB RAM moduie -- they are cheap enough now and it will fit in the single slot of a netbook (if it's DDR3 type which your netbook will probably be if it's an ACER aspire one type or similar).

I've also got an SSD in mine and although I've got a slightly faster processor than the ATOM the netbook runs just fine. Just don't try and run too many concurrent applications.

Cheers
jimbo

Its DDR2 and can only take 2gig max. Do you really think an SSD drive would really help? if so Then I will be looking to get one that is around 250 GB, Would be cool

 

[alphanumeric]

It looks like you have it covered either way. I just wanted to give you a heads up in case you put the 2 gig module in and then wondered why it only showed 1 gig installed. The manual for the netbook should give you a definitive answer as to what is supported.

 

[whs]

Do you really think an SSD drive would really help? if so Then I will be looking to get one that is around 250 GB, Would be cool

An SSD would make a world of difference in speed. But you may have to go for less than 250GB because 250GB SSDs are really expensive - cost more than the price of a Netbook. Examples:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148449

 

[alphanumeric]

I would think an SSD would speed things up more than extra RAM would. The other benefits especially in a laptop are reduced heat and extended battery life. It's really a win win aside from the cost. Laptop drives are usually only 5400 RPM drives and thus even slower than your normal 7200 RPM desktop drive. 5400 RPM drives run cooler and use less power so you will see a lot of them in netbooks where performance isn't a major consideration.