I bought an ASUS A9RP for my girlfriend for Christmas (more detailed specs on newegg). Both sites advertise it as having a Celeron-M 420 (1.6GHz), however I've just noticed that it's actually got a 440 (1.8GHz). I then started checking the other specs and noticed that Windows is only reporting 384MB of RAM (System Properties says 384MB of RAM, Windows Task Manager reports a total of 39260 KB of Physical Memory and dxdiag also says 384MB RAM). Both websites say that it's got 512MB of RAM. After escaping the POST splash screen, the BIOS reports 384MB + 128MB shared memory. Is this 128MB reserved for the graphics card? I'm fairly sure that desktop PCs with graphics cards that steal some main RAM still report the full amount of main RAM once booted into Windows. Are laptops different because components are more integrated or something? Can I tweak the amount of shared memory (couldn't find anything in the BIOS)? The only two requirements for this present were 512MB of RAM and built-in wifi, so I'm feeling kind of cheated at the moment
Yes the laptop has 512mb of ram in total and 128mb is reserved for the graphics card, I don't know about all PC motherboards but my sister has a PCCchips motherboard with a SiS gfx card and windows only reports 320mb of ram when the PC has a 256mb & 128mb stick of ram and 64mb reserved for the gfx card.
Yeah, unfortunately onboard graphics tend to steal ram, and it's often not mentioned or made clear. Since graphics are basicly unupgradable your only real option is to upgrade your ram. You could take it up to the 768 mark and that'd leave you with half a gig for yourself. Not many options other then that, sorry.
You may be able to adjust how much RAM the graphics uses somewhere in the BIOS. On my friend's computer you can adjust it from 256mb right down to 32mb. I'd set it as low as possible so you have as much RAM as possible for everyday tasks.
Thanks for confirming that. I'll check the BIOS again, but I didn't see anything the first time I checked. If I were to buy another 512 stick, would this be the correct type?
