NetBook upgrade: RAM or Solid State HD

[cDuck28Z1]

So i've got an Asus 1005HAB with the Atom 270 and am pretty happy with the battery life, but i ALWAYS want more!! Its completely stock with 1gb RAM and only 4 months old. Would it be worth upgrading the RAM to 1 x 2gb or upgrading to a Solid State HD to get the best bang for my buck to increase my battery life, and by how much?? The HD now is a 160gb 5400rpm. I don't really store much on it, to be honest it's mostly movies. If the solid state would be best, i would prefer 60+gb but it's not TOO important that i do. I know the RAM would be cheaper but i know SSD prices are falling pretty quickly, so i can hold out to get the right product if need be.

Any thoughts??

 

[JogaBonito1502]

SSDs are not best-bang-for-buck drives out there. I would hold out a little longer and settle for a RAM upgrade. If you really wanted you could buy a cheap 7200RPM drive to hold you off until you get a SSD, but that would be a luxury.

 

[cDuck28Z1]

...wouldn't the 7200 draw even more power than my 5400??

 

[Remeniz]

How's the laptop performing?

 

[clahman]

How's the laptop performing?

a newegg review. remember to get the laptop upgrade kit, and not the desktop upgrade kit as you need a caddy. so far i've only seen kingston do this and they give a 3 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139137

can't say i've noticed any drop in price, and not likely to in the near future.

 

[cDuck28Z1]

How's the laptop performing?

Runs perfectly fine! I just wanted to increase my batter life wherever possible lol. Im going to New Zealand for the spring and am going to be traveling/hiking around so im trying to keep weight down or i'd just get a 5 or 6 cell battery (whichever they come with)

So if i did upgrade my ram, would i see a noticeable increase in my battery life? i know i would see a slight increase in speed across my system..

 

[JogaBonito1502]

Oh! I completely misunderstood your post. I thought you had good battery life, but you wanted to improve in other areas! Adding another stick of RAM will probably lower your battery life slightly because that's another component you have to power. You're better off spending money on a backup battery.

 

[cDuck28Z1]

Adding another stick of RAM will probably lower your battery life slightly because that's another component you have to power.

I'd have to go to a 1 x 2GB because there's only 1 RAM slot. i could see how it would draw more power with ANOTHER stick of RAM, but with only one stick regardless, i've read a lot of places saying that upgrading your ram will improve your battery life slightely??

 

[iPwn]

Adding more RAM to your laptop (replacing the one stick) will slightly improve the battery life if you run some RAM intensive programs. The RAM usage would replace the HD's Page file usage which consumes more energy. If you don't really use the RAM though, then you're just paying for another stick of something that won't do you any good. (for what you're trying to accomplish)

For the battery life, you're probably going to see better results from an SSD.

 

[ACES WILD]

I threw both of these upgrades you're talking about into my lenovo s10 (also n270) 2gb of ram and a patriot torx 32gb SSD. While the SSD got me some crazy boot times and access speeds (launching programs, etc) I did not see a noticeable difference in battery life. If anything I actually think it decreased it from when I had my 40gb 5400rpm drive in it (barely noticable as said earlier). I put the ram in as soon as a purchased the s10, and then the SSD about 3 months after. Just thought i'd give some insight on this lol.