How do I upgrade the RAM on a Dell Inspirion 2650 Laptop?

Question

I have a Dell Inspirion 2650 laptop, older model, I know. Okay, I read in the manual that this machine can hold 512 mb of RAM. Right now there are two slots in the machine. One stick is 256 mb of RAM and the other one is 64mb. Now, this unit has had one update to one stick to the 256 and I went to Best Buy today and had the Geek Squad look at how to replace the other smaller stick of RAM. She looked with us right there and she said the smaller stick of Ram is integrated into the motherboard and I would have to replace the motherboard to upgrade that ram and she said a new pc would be probably cheaper. She also told us we could not upgrade the 256 to 512, cause then the machine wouldn't read it cause of the other "integrated stick of Ram." But why does the documentation tell me that this machine holds 512 mb of ram? My question is this? How do I upgrade the system ram to 512? Ever heard of integrated ram?

Answer 1

She is correct about the integrated memory. Dell's specs document it badly and to be clear, it can hold up to 512MB of RAM if you have 256MB of integrated memory and a 256MB of removable RAM. If you have 128MB of integrated RAM, it maxes out at 384MB with 256MB removable RAM (unless you have the motherboard serviced/replaced). Crucial documents it better. See source links.

Answer 2

ok a quick way to see if the geek squad people were lying or not is to check yourself, on the bottom of your laptop there should be a couple of different plates that have a few screws over them, generally one is the hard drive (closer to a side) one is oher stuff like processor etc. and one is ram. sometimes there is a big slot you can open which has the ram in it. as long as you are careful and don't pull anything and make sure your computer is turned off and the battery is unplugged from the computer you can open these slots. what you are looking for is a set of 2 metallic slots which have small rectangular chips in them. Integrated memory doesn't really exist anymore, it does for video cards but virtually all ram is upgradeable, see if you have 2 slots for ram and to take a stick of ram out simply disengage the levers on the left and right of the chip and it should pop out. you can find great deals on ram at www.newegg.com and you should be able to put another stick of 256 in there and get your computer some more juice. If however for some freaky reason you do only have one stick free, I see no issue with replacing your 256mb card and adding a 512mb card.

Answer 3

depending on the specs, you want DDR 2700 RAM. The computing device has 2 places you may deploy the memory in. The max volume of ram you may placed on your computing device is 2gb. because that memory is so inexpensive in recent times, i might want to purchase 2 gb (2X1 Dimm pc2700 2 hundred pin ddr sodimm). deploy a million gb into the decrease socket and a million gb into the better socket. in case you in basic terms want to improve a million gb, then deploy the RAM into the empty memory socket. so that you've a million.5gb, this is positive. refer lower back for your guide to take the cover off the memory module.

Answer 4

I think you're stuck. Check Kingston's site for upgrades and they confirm Geek Squad findings.



Integrated RAM was not uncommon. It is cheaper if the manufacturer does need to install a socket....



http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/modelsinfo.asp?id=1&SysID=11953&mfr=Dell&model=Inspiron+2650&root=&LinkBack=&Sys=11953-Dell-Inspiron+2650&distributor=0&submit1=Search

Answer 5

Read the fine print on the link. apparently you have to have an authorized dealer to take out the integrated chip to upgrade...