512GB, 3GB of that usable? That’s one big memory hole you’re going have…
That’s the sad thing about these cheap laptops though, 512MB is barely enough to run Vista let alone run any programs on top. It just reflects badly on both Acer and Microsoft, Acer could easily include 1GB of ram at minimal cost which would make for a usable computer.
I actually bought a $700 after $100 cash back Compaq last year (using it now) that had exactly this problem. The first thing I did was buy a 1GB RAM module and installed it myself. With the $150 cash back on this Acer you could get 2GB of ram, a mouse, a set of headphones, some blank dvds and still have some of that $150 left over. The worst part is that most of the non computer geek people who buy these don’t upgrade the RAM and get a very poorly performing computer.
Remember that cheap laptops also use graphic chipsets without dedicated RAM, reserving system RAM to handle video. It’s probably got 64-128 megs of “shared” video RAM, which means that’s 64-128 megs lopped off your 512 megs and unavailable for anything but the video chipset.
Had that with a low-end Sony Vaio. Knock 128 video megs off the 512 installed and you’ve got 384 available, then a whole bunch are eaten up by start-up programs you don’t need, including 100 megs for components to enable you to buy and play music from Sony’s music store.
So, by the time you’re only just booted up and logged in to XP Home, you’ve got approximately 110 megs of free RAM.
However badly you think Vista will run on 512 megs, you’re being optimistic. When you take that 512 megs on this ACER and deduct the video RAM plus all the megs lost to crapware, Vista’s going to be a joke on this machine.
512GB, 3GB of that usable? That’s one big memory hole you’re going have…
That’s the sad thing about these cheap laptops though, 512MB is barely enough to run Vista let alone run any programs on top. It just reflects badly on both Acer and Microsoft, Acer could easily include 1GB of ram at minimal cost which would make for a usable computer.
I actually bought a $700 after $100 cash back Compaq last year (using it now) that had exactly this problem. The first thing I did was buy a 1GB RAM module and installed it myself. With the $150 cash back on this Acer you could get 2GB of ram, a mouse, a set of headphones, some blank dvds and still have some of that $150 left over. The worst part is that most of the non computer geek people who buy these don’t upgrade the RAM and get a very poorly performing computer.
Remember that cheap laptops also use graphic chipsets without dedicated RAM, reserving system RAM to handle video. It’s probably got 64-128 megs of “shared” video RAM, which means that’s 64-128 megs lopped off your 512 megs and unavailable for anything but the video chipset.
Had that with a low-end Sony Vaio. Knock 128 video megs off the 512 installed and you’ve got 384 available, then a whole bunch are eaten up by start-up programs you don’t need, including 100 megs for components to enable you to buy and play music from Sony’s music store.
So, by the time you’re only just booted up and logged in to XP Home, you’ve got approximately 110 megs of free RAM.
However badly you think Vista will run on 512 megs, you’re being optimistic. When you take that 512 megs on this ACER and deduct the video RAM plus all the megs lost to crapware, Vista’s going to be a joke on this machine.