How do you add ram in laptops?

With most laptops it's pretty easy. Most have compartments that are labeled. All you have to do is remove the screws holding the cover on, pull the cover off, remove the old RAM and add the new stuff. The only problem you may run into is that laptops generally only come with 2 slots for RAM and most base configurations use both of those slots. In other words, your system will most likely be coming with 2 x 2gb sticks. The problem arises in that you will have to buy a 2 x 4gb kit and they are pretty expensive for laptops. Anywhere from $290 to $400.

The A500 comes with DDR2-800, which means you are looking at something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231293

The other question is, are you running a 64-bit operating system? If you aren't, don't bother since you won't be able to use more than 3.25-4 gb anyway.

^Only if you run programs that either need a 64-bit extension or need more than 4gb of RAM.