Looking for a new laptop

[neverbot]

1. What is your budget?
I am open to any but hopefully under $1,500

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
15" - 16"

3. What screen resolution do you want?
1366 x 768 or higher

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
portable replacement

5. How much battery life do you need?
open to it

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
No

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Programming, writing papers, photoshop, watch videos, listen to music

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
500GB or more

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
No

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
DVD Rom/Writer

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
prefer: samsung, asus, lenovo
don't like: hp, sony, acer, apple, dell

13. What country do you live in?
Canada

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
I need a laptop that has at least 8 GB ram
A light weight laptop (if possible)
Good graphics processor (if possible)
Bluetooth needed
HDMI
USB (3 min.)
multi card slot (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)
key pad (if possible)
good cpu processor (intel core i5 or higher)
-----------------------------------------------------
The laptop I currently have is a Samsung SF510
It has 2 GB of ram
500 GB HDD
15.6'" LED HD
Its heavy

I love this laptop but the ram is a huge problem. I have debated to either buy a new laptop all together or buy new ram for my laptop. Hopefully with your help, I will be able to decide if I should get a new laptop or replace my ram.

Thank you!

 

[C12Friedman]

If the Samsung is performing satisfactorily, I'll suggest upgrading ram especially if running a 64bit version of Windows, there will be an improvement. If running a 32bit OS, there may not be much advantage since the OS is limited to using only 3GB.
Also there's a "trick" involved so read the manual before. There's a button to press inside before you swap it.
I'll also recommend using the Memory Locater Tools offered by most ram brands (Crucial and Kingston would be the best bets IMO) to find guaranteed compatible memory