Too big an upgrade?

No, the motherboard capacity is 4GB total (2x2 opposed to the 2x1/1x1 it has in it now).

thanks much...wasn't sure. Too expensive to do as an upgrade now anyway as the 8Gb of RAM would be about $100 than the laptop with a 2year warranty. At least now I know just to get another 2gb stick and have her be happy with 4Gb total RAM

Ok. PLEASE DO NOT GET THAT COMPUTER. eMachines? like wat is that? I say go for a custom built that can save you money and it will be made for just YOUR needs. No access hardware. If you do not want to do that AT LEAST for HP

Funny thing is...emachine and gateway were both purchased by Acer. This is the same system you will get with the Acer name on it for $100 more and the gateway for $150-200 more lol. besides....I am not able to afford a custom laptop system. All she will do with it is mainly openoffice, surf the web, a bit of music, and at absolute most, Dungeons and Dragons Online, which it should do easily. Plus, from what I have read of consumer review, while it isn't a super gaming system, it will do what she needs. We have two custom built desktops as primary use anyway, this is just something portable for her to use at the coffee shop to work on her books and the like. As an added bonus, for $60 more, I can get an extended warranty that covers it for 2 yrs after the manufacturer's warranty expires...even if I run it over with a truck it will be covered for full replacement. If we get it and get 2 or 3 yrs of use out of it...it will be worth it.

Oh...btw...the emachine is $298. I can't find a custom system for less than $800-900. Hell, this is more powerful than most netbooks that cost as much or more... and they don't have a DVD/CD burner drive. For the money, it isn't buy for the use.