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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
Well the common view on the “Interweb” is that 2 sticks of RAM takes advantage of a lift in speed by running on Dual Channels i.e. faster, and generally in years gone by thats what I have found. Not sure of the form factor of a Dell laptop but quite a few Laptops, well the last one’s I “cracked” open an Acer and an HP just had one RAM slot so I am guessing you have already checked the Mother Board Specs. Alas its not really a perceptible boost in performance but multitasking is a lot smoother and more fluid I would recommend 2 sticks if you can fit them.
Not really on topic here but I stuck a couple of sticks of 8gb in an 2020 iMac here, curiously the recommended setup is alternate slots say Chan A + B 8gb-4gb-8gb-4gb to take care of the double channel advantage but resulted in a performance of 2333mhz.
If you spread the Ram Chan A + B 8gb-8gb-4gb-4gb gives a performance of 2667mhz allegedly faster but not perceptibly so, but the lift in performance from 8gb (2x4gb sticks) is worth having small visible boost in performance and Multi tasking is very good with a myriad of windows open and never seen Win10 (bootcamp) run so good.
I would give 2 sticks a try though, I am sure most of the knowledegble experts here will recommend at the very least 8gb maybe a bit more for Win11. Hope this helps.
According to Crucial you can put 2 x 8GB sticks in the 2 slots.
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell/inspiron-15-(3558)
cheers, Paul
As I noted above, Dell says max RAM is 8 GB (2 4GB sticks, one in each slot) and Crucial says max RAM is 16 GB (2 8GB sticks, one in each slot).
Was in a similar predicament with an earlier Dell notebook and by going with Crucial I really did double the claimed maximum memory. Dell (or whichever brand) ordered the notebook mainboards several months before launch with the memory set to the maximum known to work at that time; a year or so down the line and Crucial find that their latest spec. memory for that size/voltage can double the originally claimed memory limit.
Re the double channel issue: many notebooks are simply not capable of using dual channel, the possibility has been cut out of the ‘board/bios to keep costs low and basic compatibility high. Not much, if any, of a loss, dual channel is very much swings and roundabouts, faster speeds but slower initial access.
Just fit the max. you can afford. Crucial, and most of the other quality brands, will refund/replace but ensure you go through their memory configurators to select the exact version for your specific machine.
The theory with dual channel memory can be thought of like a funnel. If your memory bandwidth is too narrow, it becomes a bottleneck in the system. Adding a second module of the same capacity can double the memory bandwidth. Whether you’d notice it or not is hard to say, it might depend on what you’re doing with the system.
As I noted above, Dell says max RAM is 8 GB (2 4GB sticks, one in each slot) and Crucial says max RAM is 16 GB (2 8GB sticks, one in each slot).
Was in a similar predicament with an earlier Dell notebook and by going with Crucial I really did double the claimed maximum memory. Dell (or whichever brand) ordered the notebook mainboards several months before launch with the memory set to the maximum known to work at that time; a year or so down the line and Crucial find that their latest spec. memory for that size/voltage can double the originally claimed memory limit.
Re the double channel issue: many notebooks are simply not capable of using dual channel, the possibility has been cut out of the ‘board/bios to keep costs low and basic compatibility high. Not much, if any, of a loss, dual channel is very much swings and roundabouts, faster speeds but slower initial access.
Just fit the max. you can afford. Crucial, and most of the other quality brands, will refund/replace but ensure you go through their memory configurators to select the exact version for your specific machine.
I noticed this with my wife’s laptop. She has a HP Pavilion with an 11th gen Core i5. I increased it from 8GB to 16GB shortly after she bought it but it still shows as single channel. It has 2×8 GB so should be dual channel.
You can only get dual channel if the motherboard is setup to support it, i.e. double the traces. If it only has a single set of traces no matter how many slots you’ll only get a single channel. Of course the memory controller will have capabilities equal to the number of traces on the board. I may not have the terminology exactly but you get my drift. You’ll usually only get dual channel on higher priced computers. It will be listed int the literature as it is a selling point.
Are 2 4GB RAM sticks better than 1 8GB RAM stick?
As a reason to get two sticks instead of one, I would add that with two sticks if one goes bad you still have one working. So, unless you keep lots of RAM sticks lying around having one stick working while you order a new stick to replace the bad one is better than having no working RAM while you wait for a new stick to arrive.
Also, buy the Dell RAM as many (including myself) have had problems with using Crucial RAM in Dell computers. (My trouble was with Dell desktops and was not recent – I’ve had Dells since 1999).
Call Dell. I’ve been surprised at what I could get by calling that is nowhere on their site. You still may not get it but it’s worth a try. Plus, I have gotten better prices by calling.
I’d be fine with Dell RAM
Dell doesn’t manufacture RAM it buys RAM like from SK-Hynix…
Adding RAM the new stick should be exactly the same as the one installed (make, speed..)
Just fit the max. you can afford. Crucial, and most of the other quality brands, will refund/replace but ensure you go through their memory configurators to select the exact version for your specific machine.
^^^This^^^
I never buy replacement RAM from Dell. It tends to be more expensive and as noted, they don’t make it anyway.
If you use Crucial’s RAM wizard and buy suggested RAM directly from Crucial, they guarantee it will work. We have upgraded dozens of Dell (and other brand) laptops (and PCs) over the years with Crucial RAM suggested by their wizard and not once ran into compatibility problems.
I recently upgraded my own MSI laptop’s RAM from 1 x 8GB to 2 x 8GB by adding 1 x 8GB of Crucial RAM. I will note that the price from Crucial was $10 less than the exact same from Amazon! 
And note the original RAM is not Crucial.
Adding RAM the new stick should be exactly the same as the one installed (make, speed..)
Sorry, but that is no longer completely true – while in most – not all, but most cases they should have the same technical specs (speed, size) to ensure dual channel, they do not have to be the same brand. For example, my MSI came with Hynix 8GB PC4-21300 DDR4-2666MHz and I paired that with Crucial 8GB PC4-21300 DDR4-2666MHz. It works perfectly with no problems.
My secondary PC even has different brands and speeds for its pairs. That is, it has Corsair Vengeance LPS 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000MHz and the 2nd pair is Kingston Fury Beast 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz DDR4. They work great together for 32GB total, running in dual channel. The only downside (if you can call it that) is they all work at the slower, 3000MHz speed.
Many many years ago, it was necessary for pairs to be exact matches. But over the years, compliance with design specifications during the RAM manufacturing process, across the entire industry, have improved most significantly – thus ensuring RAM, regardless the brand, meets the design/published specs. RAM reliability has also improved such that it is actually hard to find any RAM from any maker that does not have a lifetime warranty!
Additionally, CPU and motherboard memory management capabilities have also improved most significantly. This ensures 2 or 4 (or 3 or 6 for triple-channel) sticks, regardless their brands, even if slightly mismatched due to Man not yet able to create perfection 100% of the time, will still work together just fine.
Decades ago, RAM sold in pairs as dual-channel were actually individually tested, matched, and packaged as dual-channel pairs before they left the factory. This was an expensive, logistical nightmare for the RAM makers – and those expenses were passed along to us consumers. Today, manufacturers do NOT test every stick – they don’t need to. They just grab two off the production line, toss them in the same package and ship them out.
Last, the “marketing hype” claiming twice the performance for dual-channel RAM was just that, “hype”. Performance typically improves, just nothing close to twice.
Still, more RAM typically provides the most bang for your upgrade $$$. I would much rather have 1 x 8GB of slow RAM in single channel than 1 x 4GB of fast RAM in dual.
Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!
I use Samsung brand RAM chips on my family’s Dell Inspiron 620 desktop PC and my aunt’s Dell Inspiron 580 desktop PC and they worked very well and never caused any problems on those Dell PCs.
in fact, the Inspiron 620 machine came with one 4Gb Samsung 1333mhz RAM stick and so I bought another 4Gb Samsung RAM chip with the same exact speed a few years ago and that PC currently has 8Gb of RAM
My computer has two memory slots, and the maximum for the computer is 16 GB. I had 4GB x 2 for a total of 8. I wanted more memory, and since I can mix and match, all I had to buy was one stick of 8 GB. I now have 4GB + 8GB for a total of 12 GB, plenty for my needs.
If you can mix and match on your computer, you may be able to upgrade one slot, rather than having to upgrade both, and thereby save a bit of money.
Therefore, I would start with 1 x 8GB, so that one day I could add an 8GB stick (or maybe a 4GB stick) and wouldn’t have to throw away one of the two smaller memory sticks.
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