Any advice on upgrading my laptop's RAM?
I am planning on upgrading my Dell Inspiron B130 laptop’s RAM with two 1GBs. Is there any advice on doing this? How simple is it? Do I need one of those antistatic wrist straps? How much faster will it be after the upgrade (It currently has 512MBs of RAM)? What’s the best way to install it? What’s the best/cheapest place to order the RAM from? Have you done it yourself? If so, what has been your experience?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
8 Answers
You should see a big boost in performance and responsiveness.
I added a 2 GB stick to my Lenovo T61 two years ago, and it was very simple, didn’t need any special equipment or anti-static strap (it wouldn’t hurt though). The change was night and day. newegg.com is a good site.
It is very easy and straightforward. My girlfriend does it all the time, and she’s blind. It’s also the biggest bang you can get for your buck: If I were you I would look for two 2Gb simms. Check prices at www.newegg.com and/or www.crucial.com.
@pdworkin I believe my laptop can only handle up to a total of 2GBs RAM.
RAM chips/modules come in a number of configurations, clock speeds, and whatnot. You want to be careful to buy the RAM that is right for your exact computer.
Here’s a list of RAM upgrades for your Dell Inspiron B130.
Looks like you can buy 1GB sticks for $17 with free shipping. Nice! Cheap upgrade will make a huge difference.
And no, you don’t need anti-static wrist straps. Just make sure you touch a grounded metal object prior to handling your new chips or touching your uncovered laptop innards. If this were a desktop system, I suggest touching the power supply housing to discharge the static… but anything grounded will do. And try not to wear polyester fabrics while doing this.
I hope that you are done with your upgrade and are happy. If not then the way to get around the static problem is to tough one finger of your hand to a conductor in your computer and put the chip in. That will ground out any static nicely. They plug right in. Get the fastest ones. If you have a tight budget you can buy only a one gig chip. !.5 gigs should do fine for you.
crucial.com is the best advice to give…but ram can get expensive some times while new computers are very cheap…all personal preference
Before purchasing the RAM, I would suggest for you to look up the maximum amount of RAM your laptop could hold. Although most laptops today could hold up to 4GB, the Dell Inspiron B130 is a fairly old laptop, and I would double check if it could even hold up 2GB.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
