4 GB memory on standard Vista

"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message
...
On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" wrote:
"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message

...



Tom Lake wrote:

"ken tak" wrote in message
news:UOednSXirNs1C3_VnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@earthlink. com...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?

Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.

A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake

As I already said in the other post.

I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
Gigs of Memory?

It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
a
perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......

g

Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs





3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
he's ready.

S.Lewis wrote:
"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message
...
On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" wrote:
"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message

...



Tom Lake wrote:
"ken tak" wrote in message
m...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)
Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.
Tom Lake
As I already said in the other post.
I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
Gigs of Memory?
It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
a
perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......

g

Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs




3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
he's ready.


yep

Oh. I think he would just have to ask for a 64-bit OS.

"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message
...
Tom Lake wrote:


"ken tak" wrote in message
m...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?

Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.

A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake



As I already said in the other post.

I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
Gigs of Memory?

I have Windows XP Pro SP3 with 4GB memory. If you open Task Manager, and
look at Physical Memory it says 3668060, which is pretty close to 4GB.

"S.Lewis" wrote in message
. ..

"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message
...
On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" wrote:
"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message

...



Tom Lake wrote:

"ken tak" wrote in message
news:UOednSXirNs1C3_VnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@earthlink. com...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?

Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.

A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake

As I already said in the other post.

I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
Gigs of Memory?

It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
a
perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......

g

Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs





3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
he's ready.

Tom Lake wrote:


"ken tak" wrote in message
m...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?

Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.

A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake




Video shared memory?

--
Steve W.

ken tak wrote:
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
Ken Tak


missing?
nope

big deal ?

Somewhat speculation here. The memory may come in pairs. Getting 3GB is not
always that easy. Pairing up 2x2GB might permit better memory bandwidth by
ping-ponging btween the two (interleaving). As always I may be full of it.

Mike

"ken tak" wrote in message
m...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home Premium.
I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could only use 3 GB
memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB memory. Why does
Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
Ken Tak

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake




Video shared memory?

Could be. Any PCI slots, bridge chips, network adapter,
you name it. Most hardware needs some address space.

Tom Lake

"S.Lewis" wrote in message
. ..

"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message
...
On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" wrote:
"Dan Sgambelluri" wrote in message

...



Tom Lake wrote:

"ken tak" wrote in message
news:UOednSXirNs1C3_VnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@earthlink. com...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?

Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.

A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake

As I already said in the other post.

I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
Gigs of Memory?

It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
a
perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......

g

Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs





3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
he's ready.

plus, if your intention was to have the maximum memory recognized by vista
(3gb), and your system supports dual channel memory, then you would want 4gb
(2 x 2gb). otherwise people would be complaining about how they were sold a
2gb and a 1gb and that they were 'cheated' out of possible performance gains
that dual channel memory would provide... but the 4gb ram / 3gb usable does
have the same smell of the 17" crt monitors that were only actually offered
a 16.5" *viewable* image. the result of that class action was a .50 check
that was sent out with postage of more than half its value.

Mike Marquis wrote:
Somewhat speculation here. The memory may come in pairs. Getting 3GB is not
always that easy. Pairing up 2x2GB might permit better memory bandwidth by
ping-ponging btween the two (interleaving). As always I may be full of it.

Mike

"ken tak" wrote in message
m...
I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home Premium.
I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could only use 3 GB
memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB memory. Why does
Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
Ken Tak



they tend to stick in 1 x 2gig and 1 x 1gig
or 2 x 1gig and 2 x 512

kinda stupid really

but he's talking about the 4gig 32bit address limit
dell don't seem to support vista 64 for consumer stuff, somewhat short
sighted of them, i'm sure they wil get around to it soon when poeple
start buying 8gig of ram, then finding out they can only use 3gig or so
of it....