Laptop Addicts

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I am a recent laptop convert, who before was a desktop guy. I liked  having the power of the desktop to do video editing and other heavy  programs. Yet I found that having a laptop meant I could be versatile  and lazy (browse in bed!). I’ve been taking it around to learn coding,  both html (in two locations) and ruby (on hold). For the college HTML class I can use my preferred software, like notepad++ instead of boring notepad.  I can also directly upload by changes via Filezilla. Bringing it to the ILUG (Irish Linux users  group) allows me to get direct answers to questions. I haven’t taken to Linux  like a super nerd, my progress has been a bit slow.

My laptop is an Extensa 5220 from acer that’s a nice compromise between a big screen and not to heavy. It came with Vista and 1GB of ram that didn’t do it any favours. Windows 7 made a big difference to the performance, but I was still maxing out the ram. I used a tool called ‘crucial memory scan’ to find out what kinds of ram I can upgrade with. Crucial is a company that makes ram, so obviously they only list their own brand. It was however a useful tool, telling me that the motherboard could not handle more then 2GB. It gave a range of different modules, and didn’t have the most expensive as the best option. At €30 it wasn’t going to break the bank either.

The ram upgrade was done as part of the computer class, with the teacher and other students hovering above me as, I undid the screws, broke the tabs and voided the warranty. The two 512MB slots were released and then replaced. With the focus that comes from stress the first was successfully put in. The second didn’t go in correctly and was done by another student.

The result was worth in with an extra ceiling for ram usage that stopped the previous maxing out.