Hello, steemians, and welcome to my page!
I got this laptop computer second hand from a friend when she got a newer one a year or so ago. This is a Compaq Presario CQ57, it's about 6 years old or so. The processor runs at 1.5 gigahz, slow by today's standards, but fast enough to run windows 10.
The picture quality isn't great here, I think the camera didn't autofocus very well.
This computer has always been slow at loading stuff from the internet, and even loading programs. I really didn't worry about it too much until I started using the audio interface for recording music. Audacity had significant latency when I would record a track, I always had to use the time alignment feature to get the tracks timed right. I didn't worry about it too much, I just fixed the timing. Then I read a post where they were talking about the size of a lot of the recording programs and how much memory it took to run them, and it got me thinking about the memory in this laptop.
I checked the existing ram memory in the laptop and found that it was 2 gigs, not much by current standards. That is considered the minimum for running windows 10, I think. I did a bit of on-line research and found out that this laptop will run a maximum of 8 gigs of ram. The next step was to find the proper ram for this laptop on ebay. I found what I needed and ordered it, it was here in about 3 days. I installed the new memory a few days ago, and what a difference! So, I decided to make a post about it, just in case anyone was curious about swapping ram sticks in their laptop.
The access to the ram memory is through a cover plate on the bottom of the computer.
You have to remove the battery to get to the cover plate screw on this laptop. The cover plate is the "L" shaped piece in the middle of the picture, and you can see the head of the screw right below the ventilation grid on the cover plate. There is only 1 screw holding the cover plate down, there are a series of little catches that hold the cover in place when installed, and the screw just keeps the cover from coming off.
This is what the memory space looks like with 1 ram stick in place. This is the 2 gig ram. You can see the empty upper memory slot.
Here it is with the two 4 gig ram sticks installed. The 2 gig ram stick is sitting on the anti-static bag that the new ram sticks were packed in.
From this point, you just put the cover plate back on, put the battery back on, and you're ready to go.
This upgrade made a big difference in the performance of the computer. It loads up programs much quicker, it displays pictures from my picture files much faster! Another thing I discovered yesterday is that there is no noticeable latency when recording music with Audacity. I'm sure there's a tiny bit, but completely un-hearable. That by it's self is worth the 54 dollars I spent on the ram sticks.
Well, that's all I have for this post, I hope you found it interesting!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post, eh!
As always, feel free to leave a comment or a question if you would like.
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