Whilst I was hoping to buy a brand spanking new PC my post-festive season finances just won't allow it so instead I'm thinking about upgrading my 2 & 1/2 year old laptop. I use it mainly for Photoshop, Illustrator, Director & other similiar programs and whilst it chugs along ok most of the time I find myself watching through gritted teeth whenever I throw something slightly demanding at it.

Here is the laptop- M45-S265

As you can see it came with 512MB of PC2700. I've looked up the chipset.

& it seems that it is compatible with up to 2GB of PC2 4200 due to it's 533Mhz FSB.

So here are my questions.

Firstly is it worth my time & money upgrading from 512MB PC2700 to 2GB PC2 4200? From what I can see on Ebay it's only going to set me back about 25 pounds inc. P&P but I'm a poor student and want to see more than just a 5-10% gain in speed.

Secondly, do I need to buy the 2GBs in 2x1GB sticks due to my laptop having 2 bays and does it matter which brand?

Finally have I misinterpreted anything from the spec sheets, i.e. will my laptop run this ram and is it the best for the job? I'm by no means an expert and wouldn't be surprised if I've got the complete wrong end of the stick.

I appreciate any help you can throw my way, thanks in advance. 

Anyone?

Sorry I have no idea, I am posting because your laptop has similar specs to mine [near 3yo now] except your HDD is 100G and mine is only 40G, and I think yours has a better screen.

How much was it originally? mine was £800.

Hi, sorry but your Lap is not compatible with the DDR2 memory, so, yeap is better if you buy a new lap... a cheaper model with XP and only 512mb of memory and then buy 1GB or 2GB of ram... or if you are really lucky to find cheap ram 512Mb o 1GB DDR PC2700...

Your ram is DDR PC2700(333Mhz), the new ones runs with DDR2 PC4200(533Mhz) or DDR2 PC5300(667Mhz)...

Doesn't matter the brand, but some laps runs better in DualChannel (Two sticks of the same brand, the same capacity and speed)...

Edit: The ram sticks for laps are called SODIMM... 

@ TWRoO

I actually picked it up for $1000 whilst I was in Hawaii, at the time that was prob around 600 pounds, we get screwed over here price wise unfortunately.

@FJ-Warez

Could you possibly clarify why it won't run DDR2, as far as I was aware it is dependent on the chipset and intel's site indicates that it does. Thanks for your help.

Depending on what type of ram you have DDR2 may even use a different socket type (so it would not physically fit). Even if your lappy did use 200-pin DDR ram, if it was not designed for DDR2 then there's no way you're going to be able to make it work. You could always buy DDR ram instead though, if you can find it for cheap somewhere.

 So I'm guessing I'm wrong in thinking that what type of ram will work is dependent on the chipset? 

 Yeap, the chipset must support the memory (DDR or DDR2 but not both) and the slots in th lap probably wont take the DDR2 memory, again, sorry...

Ok, gotcha, I appreciate your advice. What about the >PC2700 DDR ram i.e. PC3200, 3500 etc.?

Also in your opinion how much of a performance boost would I get if I uprdaded to 2GBs of DDR?  

I haven't see any DDR PC 3200 SODIMM, but if you find one, remember DDR(DDR1) SODIMM, go for it...

I have 2GB and I love them (I want another 2GB)  but this is because I need a lot of memory, so if you use programs which waste a lot of ram you will see a better performance, but if you use heavy load CPU programs the benefits will not be so great...