Laptop Help Please :)

[Aboyner]

Hey guys Iv got an Advent laptop with 2gb RAM an had it for nearly two years now, it's still running very fast so there's no problem there. Here's my question, I'm going into my final college year and for my final year project which is a massive part of my course I need to download software onto my laptop (IES and MEPRevitt, unless you are also doing engineering you prob won't know what these are..) the issue I have is that when looking into system requirements both of these say 2gb RAM min and 3gb recommended. Iv tried upgrading my RAM but sadly it's at max. Iv had the IES software on my Laptop before, when it was new and it ran fine (you only get a 1yr contract that's why I don't have it anymore) but I'm just a bit concerned because my laptop is older now that if it'll be able to handle the software.

Any computer whizz on here be able to recommended what to do? Also I'm planning on buying an external hardrive and storing all non-college work on that do there's songs etc on it.

Thanks in Advance :-)

[Stoney871]

Hi mate, the laptop should run the software just fine, just don't have loads of other big applications running in the background.

Also you can buy external 2.5 hard drives pretty cheaply now, a 1TB drive should be a good starting size.

[Preee]

Thats only min spec requirements , because anything less may cause the program to run slower , so they recommend higher specs. So they won't have to many people asking them why its running slow.

The program should run fine , and if it does start running slow becasue of Memory issues then simply open task manager and shut a few things down , Or see what you have running in start up and disable certain programs from running at start.

Before you install it again , have a good clear out of all the programs you don't use , free up some space and then defrag your hard drive. Then install it , it should run fine.

[Aboyner]

Thanks for the help guys... I didn't want to have to Shell out 500quid on a new laptop when there's nothing wrong with mine!

[Andymagee]

I know a little about these things. you will likely need to upgrade to a 64bit version of your operating system you will be on 32bit now which limits your system. Someone closer to you in the trade will do this in 40 min but you will need extra ram memory that's compatible. Good luck matey

[btmaldon]

The 64 bit version is only of benefit if your laptop has a 64bit CPU and you can run more than 4gb of RAM. By sounds of it your motherboard wont take more than 2gb anyway. The laptop should be fine for what you need however if you are going to use a back up drive for your other items, I would also use it to back up all your course work as well and keep in a very safe place. That way if the laptop gets stolen or crashes you still have all the hard work you have been doing which will be worth more to you than the laptop itself im sure. Good luck with your studies

[Stoney871]

Always store everything important on a memory stick or external 2.5 drive.

They're reasonably inexpensive now and will save a lot of heartache of losing important files.

[cragger89]

If you have an SD card slot and a spare card, I recommend using the Windows Readyboost feature.

It just uses any mass storage device in a similar way to RAM. My hp elitebook 8440p only has 2GB of ram (i5 CPU) and I bought a little small form factor 16GB USB stick for this purpose. Does seem to give the PC a bit more room to breath.

Something to consider if you find the laptop occasionally a bit slow.