RAM - 8Gb or 4Gb

[sml]

I bought a new Sandy Bridge notebook and will be increasing the RAM from the 2Gb.

a) Can I replace the DDR3 10,600 1333 with DDR3 12,800 1600?

b) I use my notebook for internet, office, watching movies .. I have never tracked my RAM usage .. do you think 4Gb is plenty? Right now I am using 1.5Gb with a few browsers open. With a moving running it doesnt seem to use much more RAM.

[sml]

hmmm does this tell me the max RAM speed is 1333MHz ... with my 2520M ..

Processor Number Architecture L3 Cache Max Turbo Frequency Memory Speed Chipset
Intel® Core™ i5 Processor Power Optimized Performance i5-2540M 32nm 3MB 3.30 GHz 1333 MHz Intel® QM67 Express Chipset
Intel® HM67 Express Chipset
Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
i5-2520M 32nm 3MB 3.20 GHz 1333 MHz

[Meow27]

If you are getting consumer grade ram (not gaming grade) then it all amounts to the same speed due to CAS latency (in short, the speed of which data moves through the ram)


It almost makes no difference which one you get, unless the CAS latency is below average (the lower, the better)