How To Install Memory
Who Has The Best Memory Compatibility Checker?
One of the very first questions you need to ask when shopping for a new computer is what type of ram do I need? And the second being what type of ram does my computer need and once you have this data you can go shopping for ram online and get the best price on your computer memory upgrade.
But what if all you know is your computer name? Or, for a lot of computer models the computer name is a long line of numbers that doesn’t exactly roll off the tip of your tongue with ease. An example might be the computer I am using to type this article with: an Acer Aspire 5552-7474. This is a pretty long name for a computer when you compare it to a more palatable name like Apple iMac, and it’s hard to figure out what RAM you need for both computers.
With the cheap Acer, you have to be sure you buy the ram for that specific computer as Acer makes many notebook computers from the smallest netbook computer to the the fastest, you need to be sure you install the right RAM for you PC, because it’s possible to fry your computer if you install the wrong ram into your notebook or desktop.
With the Apple iMac, in 2011 there’s 5 different Apple iMac models, and who knows what a 2012 Apple iMac will bring and how many models that Apple will release next year. You need to be sure, again, that you buy the right ram for your Apple iMac as all iMac memory does not work in all computers.
Check Your Memory Upgrades Before You Buy
One of the best ways to be absolutely certain you get the right ram for your Mac or PC every time is to use a memory configurator of some sort to assist you in buying the right ram for your PC and these sometimes can be called Memory Compatibility Checker or some other name like memory finder tool or ram search, or if you already know the RAM you need than you can just shop by type. If you know you need to buy DDR3 1333Mhz sodimms for your notebook, many memory stores list the RAM by memory speed which makes it easy to buy ram.
One of the better ram checkers or tools to use is from Crucial technology as this memory store not only offers a memory checker for every computer ever introduced, they offer a gaurantee that the memory you buy for your computer will work with your PC, which is something a lot of other computer memory stores don’t offer. They will happily sell you ram, but you should be sure to get the best deal by confirming the ram is indeed the right ram for your computer.
Regardless of what memory store you buy RAM from, the use of a Memory Compatibility Checker is a fantastic tool to get the best ram at the best price every time.
Best Price on a 4GB Memory Upgrade Kit (2GBx2), 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module
The PNY OPTIMA 4GB (2x2GB) Dual Channel Kit DDR2 667 MHz PC2-5300 Notebook / Laptop SODIMM Memory Modules are some of the cheapest ddr2 sodimms on sale today
The 4GB DDR2 PC2-5300 memory upgrade kit is a little dated and pretty much any currently shipping and best selling notebook will only accept faster memory upgrades typically running at twice that speed or faster with speeds of 1066Mhz or even 1333Mhz, this is still a very popular memory upgrade to buy, especially if you have an older MacBook or MacBook Pro you need upgrading or want to squeeze a little life out of.
For under $50, this cheap 4GB ddr2 pc5300 notebook memory upgrade is a bargain, especially when you compare what it may cost you to buy a new notebook. You should find that after installing this DDR2 laptop memory upgrade into your Mac or PC notebook that the laptop should run much faster and depending on the processor speed of your processor and other speed issues it’s not unthinkable to double your computer’s processing speed by adding a 4GB memory upgrade kit.
RAM upgrades Are Cheap
RAM Upgrades in 2011 are so cheap right now, I can’t stress enough if you have been on the fence about a ram upgrade, now is the time to buy. 4GB RAM upgrades kits, regardless of what notebook computer you want to install this memory upgrade into have never been cheaper. This memory module kit currently retails for under $50 and that’s half the price you would have paid for a ram upgrade just a few short months ago.
I don’t track ram prices for DDR2 memory any more as I tend to concentrate on the newer and more popular memory, but an example of RAM prices dropping would be that in April an 8GB DDR3 memory upgrade kit would have cost $93.00, and today the cheapest 8GB DDR3 RAM Price can be had for under $40, which should be affordable by anybody looking to upgrade their notebook RAM cheaply in 2011.
Shopping Advice: Buy Memory Online and Save Money
If theres’s one theme to ramseeker.com it’s the fact that with a few minutes of research on ram prices it’s quite possible to save up to 40% off when buying RAM when you compare the ram prices between third party memory stores like MemoryX, 18004Memory, OWC and recently, Crucial Technology all offer much better and competitive pricing on memory upgrades than if you were to buy ram direct from the computer manufacturer such as Apple, Dell, HP and so on…
Best Memory for Digital Cameras
The only reason I can think of why you might want to buy ram direct from the manufacturer of your computer is if you were to configure the memory upgrade at the same time you bought your computer. You’ll pay for the convenience of doing so, but the benefit of doing this is you eliminate the cost and hassle of having to buy memory online and then installing the memory upgrade in your computer yourself. The downside of ordering or shopping for memory at the same time as buying your computer is the cost. You will pay more for memory. What you may gain in time and convenience, you will lose from your pocketbook.
If you’re like me and you want to buy quality memory upgrades at a better price that are still manufactured to the same exacting standards that the manufacturers demand for the memory upgrades that are compatible with their specific computer models but without the high cost of memory that’s in most instances associated with buying ram direct from the manufacturer.
The solution to saving money when buying ram online is to buy ram from a trusted third party memory store. A memory store that except for a few rare cases, manufactures the memory they sell and offer the support and guarantee of the manufacturer branded memory upgrade, but without the high cost associated with the factory ram. When you compare ram prices and shop around for memory upgrades online you can save up to 40% off ram upgrades and buy memory that’s easy to install yourself but for much lesss money
Where To Find The Best Online Memory Prices
The best online memory prices are right here.
Yes, there will be online stores claiming to have the cheapest ram prices or the largest memory store but here at ramseeker you are presented with real time price updates from memory vendors you can trust when shopping for memory upgrades at the best price online.
Specializing in Apple computers, I help you get the best deal on ram upgrades from a selection of online memory stores that offer low prices and most important – support – both pre-sale and post-sale for your memory or hard drive buy, as both of these are the two best upgrades you can do for your computer, regardless of make. (notebook batteries might also be considered a worthy upgrade as witthout power even the best computer with the most RAM and biggest hard drive is useless).
Back to the RAM Prices. What I do isn’t rocket science. I make note of the memory prices online from various stores and report the prices to you with a link where you can buy the best ram you need at the best price just by clicking on the price
Lowest prices for popular Apple computer models are in a quick and easy to read table right on the front page of ramseeker and if you need more, just select the computer memory you need. I list computer memory by speed, so you will have to do your homework to find out what type of memory you need to buy before you use my chart. The memory stores online I track ram prices all offer memory configurators too so when you need more ram all you have to do is find your exact computer model to find the computer memory you need at the best price online
Where Can I Sell Old RAM?
If you buy any new computer, regardless of make or brand - be it a Dell, Apple, HP or other computer manufacturer when it comes time to upgrade your notebook or desktop computer you usually have to replace the factory installed memory upgrade with larger sized memory upgrade modules to add more memory to your computer
Unless you buy your computer direct from the factory and with the maximum memory installed you will want to, or need to replace your memory that is already in your computer for a larger memory upgrade chip. One way to offset the cost of a memory upgrade for your computer is to sell the factory ram to a memory reseller or manufacturer where they can still use the parts and individual chips on the memory board for the manufacture of larger memory upgrades in the future.
This leaves you asking: “where can I sell old RAM”? and it’s a good question as some, not all memory manufacturers will buy back your memory but I do know of a few placesa that will be happy to buy your RAM that was previously installed in your computer:
1. Sell the RAM yourself. This could effectively gain you the highest price possible if you were to decide to sell old ram in this manner. Ebay and Craigslist are two such websites where you could get paid cash for your old memory or ram upgrades
2. Sell the RAM back to the computer memory manufacturer at the same time as you buy new ram. Essentially working the same way as trade-in on a car purchase works, you trade in your old ram and use the funds from the old ram against your new memory buy.
3. Sell the RAM back to a memory store or manufacturer that is different from where you buy your new memory upgrades. SMSAssembly, RAMJET and OEMPCWORLD are three memory manufacturers that will buy back your old memory and RAM
Can I add RAM Memory Online?
Yes and No.
You can buy memory online from a wide selection of memory sellers or stores who will be more than happy to sell you memory for cheap prices and offer you a lifetime warranty on the memory upgrade and give you support if you need it, but RAM is a physical product that you insert into your desktop or notebook computer to enhance speed and performance of your computer, regardless of make.
What you cannot do is add memory online as if RAM or memory were some kind of software or other free download. You can buy memory but it has to be shipped to you just as you would order a book from Amazon or Flowers for Delivery you buy the memory, wait for it to arrive and then follow instructions on how to install memory for your desktop or notebook computer.
Where To Buy Computer Memory
I have created a list of trusted and respected memory stores that I can recommend that will be happy to sell you a memory upgrade, and except for rare instances the memory upgrade you buy from these online memory stores will be much cheaper than if you were to buy memory from the manufacturer of your computer. It’s quite easy and possible to save up to half price on memory without much trouble at all by visiting the memory stores and and noting the lowest price from each memory reseller or manufacturer.
If this sounds like a heck of a lot of work to go to each memory store and check the price for you notebook (desktops seem to be less popular these days) it is, but I have taken the opportunity to do the work for you and offer ram prices compared from a list of respectable memory stores that offer the best ram prices as well as the customer support you would expect and deserve.
RAM Memory is cheap. Especially if you buy RAM or Memory online and have it shipped to you where you can install it yourself with nothing more than some household tools you already have. But you have to buy the memory first.
Cheapest RAM Prices
DDR3 1333Mhz NoteBook and Laptop Memory Upgrade Prices
| 4gb Modules | 8GB Kits | 16GB Kits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $22.99 | $45.99 | $239.98 | |
| Amazon | $click to see price | $click to see price | |
| 18004Memory | $24.99 | ||
| Other World Computing | $28.79 | ||
| Data Memory Systems | $29.95 | ||
| SMS Assembly | $21.99 | ||
| RAMJET | $47.99 | ||
| MemoryX | $22.98 | ||
| OEMPCWORLD | $25.00 |
DDR3 1333Mhz notebook memory upgrades are the most popular notebook memory upgrade you can buy today, and are compatible with Apple MacBook Pro notebook computers, as well as many other best selling computer manufacturers in 2012 such as HP, Dell, Toshiba and Acer Notebooks that all benefit from a memory upgrade making your notebook run faster and smoother at the lowest prices available online for notebook memory upgrades.
DDR3 1066Mhz Laptop Computer Memory Upgrade Prices
New Laptop Computers in 2011 require DDR3 1333Mhz memory especially for high performance notebooks aimed at gamers and graphic artists, but there’s still a very viable market for notebook memory that runs at 1066Mhz in the DDR3 RAM format, and the ram prices above are the lowest ram prices you can expect to pay for a notebook computer memory upgrade for popular computer manufacturers such as Apple, Toshiba, HP and Sony .
| 2gb Modules | 4gb Modules | 8GB Kits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $12.99 | $25.99 | $53.99 | |
| Amazon | $click to see price | $click to see price | $click to see price |
| 18004Memory | $15.00 | $24.99 | $49.98 |
| Data Memory Systems | $14.50 | $32.00 | $49.00 |
| SMS Assembly | $42.50 | ||
| RAMJET | $37.99 | $57.99 | |
| MemoryX | $19.98 | $35.98 | |
| OEMPCWORLD | $22.85 | $43.85 |
If there’s one thing that ramseeker has become known for over the past dozen years or so, it’s that if you want the cheapest ram prices then ramseeker is a great resource when shopping for memory upgades for your Apple Computer mostly, but I also monitor prices on PC Memory too.
Cheap RAM has to be one of the biggest ways people find ramseeker. They type ‘cheap ram, or cheapest ram, or where can I buy cheap ram and search engines supply you with an answer: and here you are 
I know, you’re thinking that there’s lots of stores that advertise the cheapest RAM and at times they do offer the best price on ram (this is assuming you mean best price being equal to lowest price) but I’ve found that for the most part the low price leaders for memory either do one of two things after a while:
1. The cheapest ram dealers go out of business. I’ve seen it at least a few times. These new vendors come on the market and state total domination but then they realize that they’ve pretty much priced themselves out of the market.
2. They give up trying to be the lowest price on ram upgrades because sometimes with that also comes the joys of the internet and sometimes the cost of a sale frankly,isn’t worth the effort as margins are cut so low it’s hard to make any money on RAM if you have to answer a million pre-sale and post sale support questions. Sometimes these low price memory stores realize that after a while, it’s best to be priced higher up. Less sales, perhaps but also less grief and support costs too.
Lastly there’s one more reason why you should make ramseeker your number 1 destination when shopping for memory upgrades. I get special discounts for you that you only can get by shopping through the ramseeker system. These memory stores can offer a better deal to ramseeker readers because they know they will be rewarded with better sales which makes up for any profit margins they might lose had they not offered the ramseeker memory discount.
With ramseeker you get the best deal on ram upgrades from Memory stores you can trust year after year after year to help you find the cheapest ram upgrades for your PC or Mac and the support that you want and expect too.
Crucial Memory RAM Price Tracker
Welcome to I think the only site that tracks and monitors crucial memory upgrades as just one of the memory vendors. I will confess that at ramseeker I do specialize in Apple Memory from Crucial more so than the PC stuff but over time I want to change that and start to track crucial ram for Dell, Apple, HP and compaq computers just to name a few of the major windows computer manufacturers.
Tracking RAM Prices from Crucial for Mac is pretty easy to do as there’s only four (well, OK, five) Apple Computer models that currently ship that you can add more ram to: Apple iMac Memory, MacBook Pro Memory, MacBook Memory and Mac Pro Memory are the best selling RAM from Crucial memory as well as the other vendors I monitor and track prices as they each deserve their own articles so for this one I just want to Talk about Crucial Technology.
One thing that Crucial does carry (and other memory stores are coming online with) are SSD drives which are essentially faster hard drives that offer no moving parts so there’s less chance you’re going to need data recovery if your hard drive crashes. SSD drives are quite similar in design to flash memory drives for your digital camera, but now you can use them in modern computers, with most uses being in notebook or netbook computers. Currently, SSD hard drives from Crucial are still a bit pricey as they are new technology and with any new technology to be a leader – you’ll pay. The reward is much faster start up and operating time which result in a snappier feel overall as compared to hard drives that have essentially worked like record player or turntables. There’s moving parts that can get damaged and take all your data down too.
But back to RAM from Crucial; There was a time when Crucial RAM was really expensive. Really expensive – more than what Apple or Dell charged expensive, but over time you’re just paying a minimum fee for the crucial brand as opposed to generic ram. Crucial RAM just works. Their site, when you order RAM from Crucial is a bit dull in my opinion and is a bit monotone and there’ no where for the eye to go when you first land on the page. I’d be promoting the Crucial RAM Configurator much much more, than what they are. But Crucial’s a big company and changes probably take years if not months to make and int the mean time, they do offer more than one easy way to buy ram from Crucial which is really all you want: Either you know your computer model so use the menu system to select your brand/line/model number to get the right ram for your computer guranateed (as they like to advertise) or alternately you can download a computer program that you can install on your computer that will scan your computer and spit out the right ram for your computer – again, gauranteed.
Crucial offers a good product a a good price. Crucial is not the lowest price on ram you can find but they offer a pretty good deal on ram and memory upgrades most days and carry ram and memory for every computer every made too. You could do worse than buying RAM from Crucial Technology
RAM Shopping Help
Do you need help with buying memory for your new or old computer? I’m happy to offer ram shopping help and you can always email me at jim at ramseeker.com. I don’t sell memory but I do and can recommend the right and correct memory upgrades for your computer regardless of what make it is or notebook or desktop computer.
Most memory stores do offer a memory configurator which is usually a pull down menu or some times it’s a list of links to popular or new memory upgrades that are popular for most of the newer and modern computers as these are the most computers that can benefit from a ram upgrade.
The memory configurators are a good way to find out what RAM or Memory your computer needs but it gets confusing as to what Memory you need. If you’re just an average computer user you don’t care about MHz or GHz or bus speeds or all the other technical mumbo jumbo. All you want to do is to speed up your computer by using more ram and it will
Adding more ram is like moving into a bigger house. Instead of there being no room for your computer to work with, when you add ram it’s like now your computer has enough space to get things done and keep all the data organized and labeled and ready to use at a moment’s notice which is what ram does. stores stuff that the computer is going to need soon. It’s the technical equivalent of ”here hold this for a second”.
And there’s no reason why you shouldn’t upgrade your computer memory these days as ram is cheap and spending $100 on RAM is much better bang for buck for your computing dollar than say, spending it on a software update just because there’s a new version out, when the old software you have works just fine. (Windows Vista, anyone?)
But with RAM, unless you’re buying very large and very new technology – is pretty cheap. $100 for most notebooks gets you 4GB of memory which is what I recommend at a bare minimum for computing in 2010.
Again, I don’t sell RAM. I just like to shop for RAM and help you get the best price from a fair and reputable memory store on your memory upgrades, that’s it.
If you do need help when shopping for ram or memory don’t hestitate to contact me if you can’t figure out what type or size of RAM your computer needs. I’m here to help you.
How Much RAM Do I Need?
How much RAM do I need?
DDR3 notebook memory in the 8GB configuration is the standard and most popular RAM upgrade in 2011:
DDR3 1333Mhz NoteBook and Laptop Memory Upgrade Prices
| 4gb Modules | 8GB Kits | 16GB Kits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $22.99 | $45.99 | $239.98 | |
| Amazon | $click to see price | $click to see price | |
| 18004Memory | $24.99 | ||
| Other World Computing | $28.79 | ||
| Data Memory Systems | $29.95 | ||
| SMS Assembly | $21.99 | ||
| RAMJET | $47.99 | ||
| MemoryX | $22.98 | ||
| OEMPCWORLD | $25.00 |
DDR3 1333Mhz notebook memory upgrades are the most popular notebook memory upgrade you can buy today, and are compatible with Apple MacBook Pro notebook computers, as well as many other best selling computer manufacturers in 2012 such as HP, Dell, Toshiba and Acer Notebooks that all benefit from a memory upgrade making your notebook run faster and smoother at the lowest prices available online for notebook memory upgrades.
If there’s a question I get asked it’s this: How much memory should I buy? And my answer always is: buy as much memory as you can afford. Obviously for some computer models buying a whole lot of ram is just extremely cost prohibititive – especially for high end desktop models like the new Apple Mac Pro. At the time I write this up, it will almost cost you $3000 to max out the new Mac Pro to 64GB of RAM. I know, that’s pretty expensive ram upgrades, but this is an exception and not a rule. This is new memory for a new computer model and ram prices historically have dropped over time.
But for consumer systems and especially notebook computer upgrades, my advice is to max out the memory with as much as possible and then forget about it until you’re ready to upgrade to your next computer. For the most part, RAM doesn’t go bad (there’s exceptions) but if you buy memory from reputable companies that sell ram usually you install the memory and you’re done. And you get years of enjoyment out of your computer. You paid top dollar for your computer so it only makes the most sense to get the maximum performance out of it.
Desktop applications might be a bit different as there’s many memory slots (at least 4) for most desktop computers and then you’ll have to do some thought and research. You might still benefit from filling your desktop with ram as it’s one of the easiest ways to get top performance out of your home or office computer. With more and more consumers interested in hobbies such as digital photography and video editing these new breed of computer users could indeed benefit from a RAM upgrade as these are applciations that thrive on lots of memory.
This is just a quide but for 2010 4GB of RAM is the new low ram upgrade and most computers start with a base of at least this amount and sometimes even more. But 4GB is a good start. If you don’t have 4GB of RAM find out how much ram you currently have and see if you can upgrade to 4GB. If not, you might want to consider a new computer, but I recommend 4GB, but machines that max out at 2GB are still useable too. Most netbooks made ship with just 1GB as standard RAM but for notebook computers look for 2GB or more, but 4GB of RAM is where the sweet spot is in ram upgrades today
