RAM Upgrade to 4GB

I wonder if anyone can help me regarding a RAM upgrade to my HP Laptop.
I have an HP 9000 laptop, 1&1/2 yrs old (Original installation) Vista Ultimate 64 bit, 512MB NVIDIA, 2GB Ram, 160GB Hard Drive.
When I check the HP website or Manufacturers website to see if my computer can handle an upgrade to 4GB Ram, I am told I have the most RAM my computer can handle. No one ever gives an explanation as to why a Vista Ultimate 64 bit cannot handle more RAM.
I read where Vista Ultimate 64 bit machines should recognize at least 4GB to 8GB Ram. Should I take a chance and just go ahead and buy the 4GB memory modules and install them ? I do hate to waste that kind of money if they are correct. Any help would be geatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike Flannigan

I've got an HP dv8000. I can upgrade to 4gig by using 2 2gig chips. However, I run XP and 2gig is the max it can handle.

Vista 64 can easily handle more memory. You can buy new systems with 8gig preinstalled. Vista 32 can only handle 3gig.

Maybe get hold of a local computer shop, take it to Circuit City, etc and see what they say before you spend the money on the memory, though.

malaki86:
Thanks for your opinion. I'm leaning toward buying the two 2GB modules and trying it. I'll probably wait a little while to see if anyone else has another opinion.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

I was just on HP's website looking at laptops. You can get 'em now with 8Gb preinstalled.

And to think that my first computer's hard drive was a whole 10Mb and cost over $2,500 for the system.

Also - try giving HP a call, or use their online chat to the support line. They can give you info as to whether you can add more to it.

malaki86:
Thanks for the info. I did do a chat and he told me it only supports 2GB.
Thanks again for your time.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

(Warning, your eyes may glaze if you aren't interested in tech explanations.)

We need to be careful exactly what we're referring to when we say something like "It only handles 2GB."

XP is a 32-bit operating system so it will address up to 4GB of RAM, just like the 32-bit version of Vista. What confuses a lot of people is when you install 4GB the maximum you will see in XP or Vista 32-bit, eg. the maximum that is available for programs to use, is 3GB because Microsoft reserves 1GB of its address space for accessing various hardware devices, like video cards, etc. (Google "memory mapping")

Your computer will have hardware limitations on what you can physically install. It will only have so many memory module slots (typically one, two or four). And the memory controller will only accept certain capacity memory modules in each slot.

Laptops are always crammed for space so manufacturers will almost always make tradeoffs that will affect your ability to expand things like memory. If they think the processor power, video capabilities and hard drive size and performance limits the laptop from certain kinds of memory-hungry uses, like gaming or heavy multimedia editing, they will choose to limit memory to 1GB or 2GB. Their assumption is that the vast majority of users of that model won't care about more RAM anyway, due to the other performance limitations.

...ken...

Ken:
Thanks for the explanation. I ran the Crucial test and they will get back to me in 3 days. I'm pretty sure they will say the same as HP.
I spent quite a bit of time on chat with HP and he finally (after a lot of coaxing) came back to me and said their database shows my HP model dv9200 CTO will only support a total of 2GB. I have two 1GB modules. I guess I'm stuck with 2GB. I asked them if it mattered that I have Vista Ultimate x64 and they said it didn't.
Thanks for the reply.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

Crucial is certainly the way to go to determine if the appropriate 2g memory modules are available. The operating system is not the limiting factor, but the configuration of chips on the memory modules may be.

Terry

Thanks Terry:

It's awfully hard to get information as to why, from HP, but I figured he was trying to tell me something like that.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan

I just took a quick look on the Kingston site and for the HP laptop 9000 series listed, 2g is the maximum. My guess is 2g SODIMM modules are not available in that configuration.

See the bottom of the following list:

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...OriginalSysPN=

Terry

Our HP tx2000 series take the same speed memory (DDR2-667) and it is available in 2g SODIMM modules. The Kingston site even shows the same part number (KTH-ZD8000B).

Possibly the support chipset on the 9000 motherboard cannot address more than 2g.

Its only US$57 per module so, if you feel brave, order 2 and try it.
http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/conf...KTH-ZD8000B/2G
It will either work or it won't!!

Terry

tccassidy:
Thanks for the link. That makes it pretty clear.
Regards,
Mike Flannigan