A30 Memory

[purple_ant]

I was given an IBM Thinkpad A30, Model 2652-9U1, running XP3 Pro. I've cleaned out the previous three owners' videos, documents, pictures. I've run SuperAntispyware, CCleaner and Avast Free. There is now 16.8GB free space on the hard drive. There is 384MB of memory. Everything works but it is sluggish especially when surfing the internet. I have a good wireless internet connection using a Belkin Network Adapter. I would like to add more memory, maybe two sticks of 256MB. Would doing this help it move along more quickly? Any recommendations as to where to buy or brands? I've never gotten into the guts of a computer before but I figured since this thing was free, I might as well give it a whirl.

Thanks.

[Neil]

Here are the original specs for our model:
PIII-M 1.13GHz (512KB), 384MB RAM, 30.0GB HDD, 15.0 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 8x8x24x/8x CDRW/DVD, Modem (CDC), Ethernet (CDC), TV out, Li-Ion battery, Win98

I doubt that going up to 512MB RAM would make much difference. The machines is capable of using 2 x 512MB PC133 SDRAM SO-DIMM, for a total of 1GB RAM. That's probably where you need to be to run XP SP3 efficiently (384MB was a LOT in the Win98 days). But, even with 1GB RAM, you will still have a fairly weak (by today's standards) ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 GPU that is going to give you issues with some types of web content.

[schen]

Neil is exactly right about this. I just replaced my daughter's X30 (very similar hardware as the A30) due to the sluggishness. I had it maxed out with 1Gb of RAM (2 x 512Mb sticks). It was useable, but in a limited sense. You're probably aware that the Windows world is all about RAM. A friend brought me a Compaq that had a P4-M processor, but only 512Mb of RAM which ran WAY worse than the X30. Unfortunately even though it was the "next generation" it had a 1Gb RAM limitation, so that's all I was able to get in it. I'll have to say that it RAM quite a bit better though!

Good luck with this. I really like the A30 chassis and in fact have several A31s running in my wife's 3rd grade classroom, but they all have 1.5Gb of RAM though.

[gdrunk]

I love the A series too. Congratulations on your new A30!

I had an R31 for a while last year, with the 1.13GHz PIII and 512MB RAM. The only difference I believe between my old R31 and your A30 is the graphics card.

512MB will make a difference over 384MB, and I'd recommend trying it to see how responsive it feels to you.

One thing I would say is I found when I briefly upped my old R31 to 1GB the difference was fairly marginal for the cost (512MB PC-133 sticks are expensive even used compared to smaller modules). I found with my R31 with web browsing I'd be pushing the limits of the CPU well before I ran out of RAM. Your milage may vary, of course.

In fact, a month later I sold the two 512MB sticks and bought an A31 with the proceeds!

Sticking with the A30, one thing I would recommend before anything else is a clean install of Windows XP. With machines of that age the aim of the game is to reduce the resources you're using to as little as possible.

[RealBlackStuff]

Or hunt VERY deep on the web for Windows XP FLP.

[Unknown_K]

I stick 1GB of RAM into my A30's (they can take 2x512MB PC133) when I can find the RAM cheap. 1GB on a WinXP running P3 1ghz+/512K cache isn't that bad (comparable to older P4 laptops). A fast HD also helps (Windows XP likes using swap files even with 1GB of RAM).

[purple_ant]

Tnanks to all who replied to my questions. I knew I could get some good info from this forum. I enjoyed reading about your machines and your experiences with them. There's just something about these old, black bricks--I love 'em.

I will eventually up the memory on my A30 to 512MB. I may play around with some of the Linux distros, Puppy or something else that's small and simple to use. I just installed Opera 12.14 and it seems to run faster on this machine than IE does.

Thanks again to everyone.