Moron thinking about buying memory for a laptop

[Passacaglia]

So, the title pretty much says it all. Okay, I wouldn't say I'm a moron. I know how to do things, but I don't know much about the laptop itself, i.e. how I put it in. But that's the second question.

The first question is what kind of memory can I use and how should I get it? It's an IBM ThinkPad T22. The guys at Best Buy told me that I need to get a kind of memory that was more expensive, so I wasn't sure if I should trust that.

And the second question -- where does it go? Best Buy had some installation service, which I think cost more than $30 -- I figure I can handle that myself. Or at least I can handle asking you guys!

[stevew]

www.crucial.com

[jeff061]

Installation is usually straightforward, it depends on the laptop. You will either need to unscrew a plate on the bottom of the laptop or you may have to lift up your keyboard(not sure if newer models do that), then just snap it in at an angle and push down til it clips. I have once seen a laptop that had the memory banks underneath the hard drive, not sure how common that is.

[dawgfan]

I'm not familiar with that particular ThinkPad model, but other ThinkPads I've worked with are fairly straightforward in their design. You should either have or be able to easily locate a thorough manual for your model. In that manual should be a section describing how to replace or install memory chips. Additionally, it should document what type of memory chips are used in your model. Once you've figured out what memory chips to use, I'd suggest browsing newegg.com to see if it's available there (I definitely recommend them for price and delivery reliability). If your ThinkPad is an older model and the memory chips for it are hard to find/not made currently any more, you should be able to find 2nd hand ones for sale on eBay.

The installation should be pretty easy - usually there's a clip that releases the chips from their slot, and installing them is just a matter of correctly lining up the chip with the slot and firmly pressing down until the chip clicks into place. Unless your model is poorly designed, getting access to where the memory is located should be pretty simple, just a matter of locating the panel and unscrewing it.

Once you boot the laptop back up, check the BIOS boot screen to confirm that it sees the correct amount of memory.

[jeff061]

Newegg is my favorite. But Crucial is solid to and it should be easy to find your memory there. Just go here and select your model.