HP Mini laptops and 2GB bios limit! (we want 4GB)

[valent]

Hi,
if you aren't aware Microsoft has forced HP and other Netbook manufacturers to put some restrictions on their hardware, that is why you currently can't have more than 2GB or RAM installed in your HP Mini laptops.

The good thing is that this is only a bios limit that can be easily undone by a bios update that allows 4GB of ram in your netbook.

I have posted a request through HP support forums that they allow us to have 4GB of ram:
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/...readId=1372515

Please support this request and also ask via phone, email or forums any HP support staff that you can come to contact with to disable 2GB limit from bios.

[valent]

Does anybody have some information if new HP Mini laptops will be able to support more than 2GB of ram?

[mikez]

Hi,
if you aren't aware Microsoft has forced HP and other Netbook manufacturers to put some restrictions on their hardware, that is why you currently can't have more than 2GB or RAM installed in your HP Mini laptops.

Semi-true.
Some are limited by the number of ram slots (1)
and the integrated system chip sets ability to address/drive more than 2G per socket.

So changing the BIOS will not grow more traces or sockets on the motherboard;
Nor more bits in the chip set registers.

The current MS limit for the XP-ULCPC product is 1G byte (shipped).
But that limit is not technical, just a license fee requirement.
Which can be viewed as a restraint of trade violation that may not survive a court test.

A better than a web-site petition is to vote with your pocketbook - just don't buy MS cripple-ware.
That will change the limits faster than a petition.

[fauxpas]

yawn with a capital Y...

Of all the things to try and pump, a useable 4gig ram in a mini?

All I have to offer is lol...

[mikez]

yawn with a capital Y...

Of all the things to try and pump, a useable 4gig ram in a mini?

All I have to offer is lol...

My first reaction also. I posted my second: "not a bios limit".

[Trevor]

Most revisions of the 945 chipset are limited to 2GB, some can physically support 4GB but only address 3.2GB.

A quirk of a chipset that lived far longer than its useful life might have been anticipated to be.

[stankopp]

Does anybody have some information if new HP Mini laptops will be able to support more than 2GB of ram?

Part of the limit is due to the 32-bit OS. You simply run out of address spaces. I can tell by an ad whether a system comes with the 64-bit OS or the 32-bit OS just by the amount of RAM that comes with the system. I have tried putting 4GB of memory in the machine I am using right now (W7 32-bit desktop) and it actually slowed down. I believe that W7 was trying to access all of the memory and could not. I took out one of the 1GB sticks and voila slowdown solved.

So, unless you can find a way to run the 64-bit OS on you MiniNote (either Ubuntu or Windows), there would be no way to easily utilize much more than 3GB of RAM anyway.

I say easily because RAM disk and 3rd party may be able to access the unused memory.

By the way, you only have one slot. Have you priced a 4GB stick?