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Consider installing 2 x 8Gb RAM cards in your 64-bit laptop.

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IainB:
In case anyone reading this doesn't realise it, if you have a 64-bit laptop, it will typically have 2 x RAM card slots. Most 64-bit laptops come with 1 x 4Gb or 2 x 4 Gb RAM cards installed, which is pathetically inadequate compared to what a 64-bit laptop is capable of addressing.

If you do not already have them, you can purchase 2 x 8Gb RAM cards to go into those slots, replacing any smaller RAM cards. This potentially WILL make a difference to the speed/responsiveness of ALL memory-intensive operations - e.g., huge Excel spreadsheets, or when opening up several InfoSelect8 .WD2 databases simultaneously. The laptop will take it all in its stride, instead of pausing/choking on trying to manage and operate on too much data with too little RAM.

Well worth it. The 8Gb RAM cards are relatively affordable too.

Suggest you try the website Crucial.com - DRAM, solid state drive (SSD) memory upgrades for Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS.
There you can find compatible memory and SSD upgrades with their Crucial Advisor tool and Crucial System Scanner.
I downloaded their Crucial System Scanner - a very handy tool. It confirmed how much and what type of RAM my laptop could support - i.e., 2 x 8Gb DRAM.

Shop around - I ended up buying 2 x 8Gb Kingston DDR3 PC3l-12800 CL11 204-Pin SODIMM
 - from a local retailer, at a discounted price, after comparing their prices online.
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Hope this helps or is of use.

Shades:
Not all memory controllers are made equally, so look at the specs of your laptop to see how much RAM your laptop can support. You would be amazed about the artificial limits build into memory controllers of laptops (because the manufacturer will save money where it can).

Also, the speed of the RAM is important too. Verify again what the manufacturer of the laptop specified as max speed of the RAM. It is best to buy RAM modules in sets from the same series of one brand. That way there is less chance of RAM modules being incompatible with each other.

Do not expect that adding another module to your existing one will work at the advertised speeds. In some cases that won't work at all, as in you hear your laptop beep, while only showing a black screen. Again, not all memory controller chips are created equally, some really cannot compensate for any difference in timing/speed/latency of different RAM modules.

Buy a set of RAM modules and sell the original module(s) if you have to...that is the best course of action.

IainB:
@Shades: All the caveats you give are wise - and those are covered by the Crucial System Scanner, so that avoids the risks you outlined.
It tells you how much max RAM your laptop can support and then gives you the spec and part number of the Crucial brand RAM that is guaranteed to work for that laptop, IF you buy the Crucial RAM online from Crucial at that point, using the part number specified.
So I just took that spec and part number to a local supplier who sold Crucial RAM at good prices, but he didn't have any Crucial RAM of that spec in stock, but he did have some Kingston RAM which had the same spec and was a bit cheaper.   $ :) $
I did this for a Toshiba laptop, and a Samsung laptop. The Crucial spec for the RAM was the same (identical) in both cases, but with a slightly different part number.
After playing around and re-running the scanner, I figured out that the parts were identical (per the spec), and that the part number generated by the Crucial System Scanner was unique (had to be) each time because it was used to identify that specific order placed at that point as being bona fide for warranty verification purposes - they guarantee that it will work for that laptop, remember?

A pretty smart online ordering system. However, I didn't want to order it from that source as the shipping costs to New Zealand would have been astronomical.

AzureToad:
those are covered by the Crucial System Scanner-IainB (March 02, 2016, 12:13 PM)
--- End quote ---

Not to brag or anything (oh, alright, yes, to brag... :P), my beloved brother-in-law wrote that application for Crucial!

4wd:
In the last week or so Kingston RAM has been on sale on Amazon - I picked up 16GB 1866MHz DDR3 for ~AU$25 less than local suppliers.

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