OT: looking for advise on laptop upgrade

[Scott Kitterman]

On Tuesday, May 21, 2013 02:48:02 AM Juan R. de Silva wrote:
> I have Dell Latitude D820 laptop with Dual Core 1.8GHz CPU and 1GB of
> RAM. The laptop is slightly over 6 years old.
> 
> Until recent I was satisfied with it. However with advent of new
> technologies it started performing poorly with DEs like KDE4 or Unity.
> Since I do not consider switching to neither Xfce nor LXDE, the only
> choice I have is either to upgrade RAM up to 4GB, which would cost me
> with taxes around $80-90, or to buy a new laptop.
> 
> However I'm not sure on 2 things:
> 
> 1. Would such RAM upgrade actually give me real significant burst in
> performance?
> 
> 2. This one is a tough one :-). 6 years old laptop could actually die at
> any time leaving me with 2 not need memory sticks and lost $90.
> 
> So, I'm trying to make up my mind, whether to upgrade RAM or to forget
> about it and to save $80-90 rather adding them to buying a new laptop.
> 
> Would somebody give me an advise on the subject and/or share his/her
> related experience, please? At least on the first item:-).

1GB is not enough to run KDE (or any other modern DE) with more than an 
application window or two open without getting significant slow downs due to 
having to swap RAM out to disk.  Increase the memory and you will notice the 
difference, particularly in your ability to have multiple application windows 
open at the same time.  It probably won't be much faster though than it is now 
with one or two application windows open.  You'll have to judge how much that 
matters to you.

Scott K