Can I add a third stick of RAM to a new laptop?

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slidiot

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Oct 16, 2012
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I recently purchased an Asus laptop, a Q551LN... from Best Buy (hopefully not a huge mistake). The laptop came with an advertised 8GB of memory, expandable to 12GB.

(link to laptop is in footnote 1)

But I'm not hardware-savvy, so this is where I get confused: The expansion to 12GB happens via an extra, allegedly third, memory slot. (Try as I might, the documentation for this laptop seems pretty vague(2) regarding any hardware modifications.) From what I was told, I think this slot needs to be low-powered, 1.35 volts versus the conventional 1.5.

Which RAM do I need to upgrade this Asus' memory? If I can just buy the 4GB, I'll be set. (Feel free to berate me for getting an extended Best Buy service plan that includes the installation of the RAM, so buying it will be the easy part.) Maybe getting a 16GB modification would be better? I don't even know if it's possible, though.
 
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BrandonYoung

BrandonYoung

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Oct 13, 2014
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If you are anything like me. You would grab a screwdriver, and unscrew RAM "door" and look at the ram, writing down what the label says on it! Should be something like DDR3 1600 (PC3-12800) and try to get a matching set, also make sure there is infact this "allegedly third memory slot". Sometimes they expect you to remove the 2x4gb sticks, and replace them with 2x8gb sticks in order to hit the cap.

All that aside, are you running out of your 8gb of ram? You really do need more right?
 
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uthvag

uthvag

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Oct 5, 2014
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http://scripts.crucial.com/upgrade/ASUS-memory/ASUS+Notebooks/Q551LN-upgrades.html

i think it is standard laptops have only 2 dimm slots

anyway i have seen some forms say that 16gb is supported , not sure though


Anyway for the upgarde

1. check if you have 2x 4gb or 1x8gb

2.if it is 2x 4 gb you are gonna need to replace one of those

3.Use cpuz to find the exact spec of your RAM (usually CAS latency of 11 and 1600mhz)

4. get one 8/4gb ram of th same spec

SIDENOTE- 8gb ram is more than enough for gaming , and an uneven RAM on the slots cause a bit of a performance downgrade over even memory ones.Plus icreasing your ram over 8gb doesnot increasy your FPS only the loading times. on the otherhand if you use 3d rendering software/videoedit go for the higher ram
 
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slidiot

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Oct 16, 2012
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Well, at the time, the reason I grabbed the extra add-on for Best Buy to add hardware to my laptop was theoretically so I could add 4GB of RAM to it, which was theoretically possible because they didn't have any of the RAM for the job in stock. At least, this was the reason behind me being okay with spending an extra $100 on an ASUS that ultimately had less RAM than a pretty comparable HP (which did have the full 12GB preinstalled).

That much being said, if there's a third slot, I'd probably want to use it instead, and never ever touch wherever the RAM goes in this laptop. I also heard the third slot was allegedly "under the keyboard" or something like that... not too comfortable with poking around inside a brand new laptop, or any laptop, really (never gotten anything reassembled right, and I'm really REALLY bad with laptop keyboards, to the point of accidentally destroying my first one when trying to make it work better).

@ the manual: Yep, I looked... it's the only manual out there. From ASUS or another third party.

I do a heck of a lot of things, usually at once... ripping movies, running a media server, running Eclipse or some other Java software, an office suite, GIMP and Inkscape, all at once... that's not uncommon for me. I do little gaming, but usually it'll be Minecraft in addition to some of the aforementioned. :p
 
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