[prateekm]

Originally Posted by animdas

My HP Laptop (ze 5385us) is 8 years old now- although past 1 year it was in hibernation- after I had replaced it with a


...


What do you guys suggest?

8 year old means DDR1 RAM's I guess. That would be very expensive and even hard to get for laptops. Better get a new one.

[animdas]

Originally Posted by prateekm

8 year old means DDR1 RAM's I guess. That would be very expensive and even hard to get for laptops. Better get a new one.

It says "512MB DDR SDRAM". Does it mean DDR1?

What is the type of memory available now- DDR2? What if I put DDR2 memory? Will it not be compatible to rest of the ... err.... bus etc?

[prateekm]

Originally Posted by animdas

It says "512MB DDR SDRAM". Does it mean DDR1?

What is the type of memory available now- DDR2? What if I put DDR2 memory? Will it not be compatible to rest of the ... err.... bus etc?

Yes, it will be DDR1. The laptop won't be compatible with DDR2 memory. Now, in the market, DDR3 RAM is what all PC's/laptops are equipped with. And as a matter of fact, DDR3 RAM is cheaper than both, DDR1 and DDR2, at least for PC's.

[NetfreakBombay]

DDR1 RAM would be too expensive.

Instead purchase an SSD for 5k and use that instead of HDD. E.g.:

Kingston SV100S2-64G 64GB SSD

Or you can even remove the HDD and use a 32 GB XD Card in USB to boot and use that laptop.

That would cost 2.5k:

Flipkart.com: Transcend Memory Card 32 GB MicroSD 32GB Class 4: Memory Card

[Thad E Ginathom]

My 7-yr-old Compaq laptop (Just rejuvenated with a new power section and power adapter for about Rs4,000) had its ram upgraded last year from its original 256K (can you believe?) to its maximum-supported 1Gb. It was done by a local shop with name-less memory, and it changed the machine from something where you waited for every keystroke into something quite usable. Can't remember the spec, but it would have been DDR-PREHISTORIC and it wasn't expensive.

[animdas]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

DDR1 RAM would be too expensive.

Instead purchase an SSD for 5k and use that instead of HDD.....

Or you can even remove the HDD and use a 32 GB XD Card in USB to boot and use that laptop.
....

Remove HDD altogether? But what about RAM? I still have to use/replace DDR1 RAM only?

Originally Posted by prateekm

Yes, it will be DDR1. The laptop won't be compatible with DDR2 memory. Now, in the market, DDR3 RAM is what all PC's/laptops are equipped with. And as a matter of fact, DDR3 RAM is cheaper than both, DDR1 and DDR2, at least for PC's.

Oops

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

My 7-yr-old Compaq laptop (Just rejuvenated with a new power section and power adapter ......

Its very encouraging! Who did it for you? Local shop?

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by animdas

Remove HDD altogether? But what about RAM? I still have to use/replace DDR1 RAM only?

If system runs short of RAM, it uses HDD as RAM (virtual memory).

Thats why if you use a fast HDD (Like SSD or XD Card via USB) you will get better performance. Of course not as good as adding more RAM, but close.

And you have to replace HDD anyways, so you can get SSD by spending 2k more.

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by creative420

Hey guys. I'm planning to buy my brother a good 22-24" monitor. He's a graphic designer and his current monitor is no good (some AOC 18"). What do you guys suggest? Something which'll be awesome for the graphic designers? Display true colours etc.

You've not mentioned the budget. If your brother is on a budget then go for the Dell U2311H. Should cost you around 13.5k (price keeps on changing). I'm using this monitor for my photography related works and I don't think there is anything else at this price point which can beat this monitor.
If the budget is more than you've so many other options.

[creative420]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

You've not mentioned the budget. If your brother is on a budget then go for the Dell U2311H. Should cost you around 13.5k (price keeps on changing). I'm using this monitor for my photography related works and I don't think there is anything else at this price point which can beat this monitor.
If the budget is more than you've so many other options.

You're talking about the UltraSharp range only right? I'm getting him a Dell Monitor only, but Ultrasharp. Monies I could spend is about 15K. Thanks!

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by creative420

Hey guys. I'm planning to buy my brother a good 22-24" monitor. He's a graphic designer and his current monitor is no good (some AOC 18"). What do you guys suggest? Something which'll be awesome for the graphic designers? Display true colours etc.

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

You've not mentioned the budget. If your brother is on a budget then go for the Dell U2311H. Should cost you around 13.5k (price keeps on changing). I'm using this monitor for my photography related works and I don't think there is anything else at this price point which can beat this monitor.
If the budget is more than you've so many other options.

Agree, I'm a Dell U2311 user, very happy with the color reproduction of the monitor.

[yogi1771]

Guys any idea how the ASUS PA238Q monitor is,specs look good though a bit costly than the Dell U2311h.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Display- ASUS PA238Q

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by creative420

You're talking about the UltraSharp range only right? I'm getting him a Dell Monitor only, but Ultrasharp. Monies I could spend is about 15K. Thanks!

Yes, it's an Ultrasharp model. This is an IPS panel and probably the only IPS panel (it's e-IPS) to be available at that price range at this size. The price might vary from 13.5-14k(including tax and with warranty).
They also have another IPS panel at 22inch which is called 2211H and which is very similar in performance compared to 2311H, but the price difference is not much(2k approx) and for that difference I would choose 2311H anyday.
BTW, there is another new model of this panel, i.e. U2312HM. This is an LED backlit panel (edge-lit). Not sure about the price point of this panel but I guess it might be priced same or even cheaper.

Originally Posted by yogi1771

Guys any idea how the ASUS PA238Q monitor is,specs look good though a bit costly than the Dell U2311h.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Display- ASUS PA238Q

On an outset it looks nice. How much is this panel is priced at? Gotta check for some reviews of this panel too.

[2500cc]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

If system runs short of RAM, it uses HDD as RAM (virtual memory).

Thats why if you use a fast HDD (Like SSD or XD Card via USB) you will get better performance. Of course not as good as adding more RAM, but close.

And you have to replace HDD anyways, so you can get SSD by spending 2k more.

OS always uses the HDD for paging purpose and not as a virtual memory.

The applications in the foreground/which are being currently processed by the CPU are kept on RAM for the faster access by the CPU. Once the processing is completed or when the application becomes idle, it is paged out to the pagefile (a portion of HDD, C:\pagefile.sys).

Virtual memory is a logical representation of the memory table structure and no where related to any physical components (HDD, RAM).

Sorry for going OT.

Cheers,
Rajesh

[NetfreakBombay]

Where does this pagefile reside, In HDD right?

If a system has 256MB RAM and HDD has 2 GB free space, OS can combine these two and present 2.25 GB as RAM to Apps.

And if HDD is SSD, this pagefile becomes fast too.

[IronH4WK]

^ i think you're right. however, prolonged usage can cause severe disk thrashing and eventually end in hard drive failure; not sure about the SSDs though.