Re: 4 GB memory on standard Vista

"ken tak" <> wrote in message
news: m...
> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could only
> use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB memory.
> Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?

Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.

A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
computers do it and so do almost every other brand
(Even Apple!)

Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.

Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
Nope. The hardware takes some room.

Tom Lake

You need 64-bit version of Vista. Same thing with Windows XP.

"Tom Lake" <> wrote in message
news:gbu5i4$61m$...
>
>
> "ken tak" <> wrote in message
> news: m...
>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could only
>> use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB memory.
>> Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>
> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>
> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
> (Even Apple!)
>
> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>
> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>
> Tom Lake
>
>
>

Tom Lake wrote:
>
>
> "ken tak" <> wrote in message
> news: m...
>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
>> only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
>> memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>
> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>
> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
> (Even Apple!)
>
> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>
> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>
> Tom Lake
>
>
>
As I already said in the other post.

I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
Gigs of Memory?

"Dan Sgambelluri" <> wrote in message
news:7lyEk.7877$...
> Tom Lake wrote:
>>
>>
>> "ken tak" <> wrote in message
>> news: m...
>>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
>>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
>>> only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
>>> memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>>
>> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>>
>> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
>> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
>> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
>> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
>> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
>> (Even Apple!)
>>
>> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
>> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
>> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>>
>> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
>> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>>
>> Tom Lake
>>
>>
>>
> As I already said in the other post.
>
> I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
> Gigs of Memory?



It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to a
perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......

g

K2NNJ wrote:
> You need 64-bit version of Vista. Same thing with Windows XP.

Vista gets my vote here.

Bob

On Sep 30, 8:32*pm, "S.Lewis" <Gossa...@interesting.com> wrote:
> "Dan Sgambelluri" <dsgambell...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:7lyEk.7877$...
>
>
>
> > Tom Lake wrote:
>
> >> "ken tak" <kent...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> >>news:UOednSXirNs1C3_VnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@earthlink. com...
> >>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
> >>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
> >>> only use 3 GB memory. *Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
> >>> memory. Why does Dell do this? *Is there something I'm missing?
>
> >> Dell doesn't do it. *The Binary number system does it.
>
> >> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
> >> Hardware needs some address space to run. *If you fill
> >> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
> >> to take some back to use. *HP computers do it, Gateway
> >> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
> >> (Even Apple!)
>
> >> Think of a 4-quart jar. *Now think of hardware as being rocks.
> >> put some rocks in the jar. *Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? *Yup.
> >> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. *The rocks take up some room.
>
> >> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? *Yup. *Can you fill it all with RAM?
> >> Nope. *The hardware takes some room.
>
> >> Tom Lake
>
> > As I already said in the other post.
>
> > I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
> > Gigs of Memory?
>
> It's like a spare tire. *If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revertto a
> perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......
>
> g

Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs

"Dan Sgambelluri" <> wrote in message
news:05963aa3-297f-4b69-9404-...
On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" <Gossa...@interesting.com> wrote:
> "Dan Sgambelluri" <dsgambell...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:7lyEk.7877$...
>
>
>
> > Tom Lake wrote:
>
> >> "ken tak" <kent...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> >>news:UOednSXirNs1C3_VnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@earthlink. com...
> >>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
> >>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
> >>> only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
> >>> memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>
> >> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>
> >> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
> >> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
> >> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
> >> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
> >> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
> >> (Even Apple!)
>
> >> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
> >> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
> >> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>
> >> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
> >> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>
> >> Tom Lake
>
> > As I already said in the other post.
>
> > I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
> > Gigs of Memory?
>
> It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
> a
> perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......
>
> g

Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
he's ready.

S.Lewis wrote:
> "Dan Sgambelluri" <> wrote in message
> news:05963aa3-297f-4b69-9404-...
> On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" <Gossa...@interesting.com> wrote:
>> "Dan Sgambelluri" <dsgambell...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> news:7lyEk.7877$...
>>
>>
>>
>>> Tom Lake wrote:
>>>> "ken tak" <kent...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>> news: m...
>>>>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
>>>>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
>>>>> only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
>>>>> memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>>>> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>>>> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
>>>> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
>>>> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
>>>> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
>>>> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
>>>> (Even Apple!)
>>>> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
>>>> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
>>>> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>>>> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
>>>> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>>>> Tom Lake
>>> As I already said in the other post.
>>> I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
>>> Gigs of Memory?
>> It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
>> a
>> perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......
>>
>> g
>
> Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
> saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs
>
>
>
>
> 3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
> he's ready.
>
>
yep

Oh. I think he would just have to ask for a 64-bit OS.

"Dan Sgambelluri" <> wrote in message
news:7lyEk.7877$...
> Tom Lake wrote:
>>
>>
>> "ken tak" <> wrote in message
>> news: m...
>>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
>>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
>>> only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
>>> memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>>
>> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>>
>> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
>> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
>> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
>> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
>> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
>> (Even Apple!)
>>
>> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
>> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
>> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>>
>> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
>> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>>
>> Tom Lake
>>
>>
>>
> As I already said in the other post.
>
> I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
> Gigs of Memory?

I have Windows XP Pro SP3 with 4GB memory. If you open Task Manager, and
look at Physical Memory it says 3668060, which is pretty close to 4GB.

"S.Lewis" <> wrote in message
news:TOAEk.43044$. ..
>
> "Dan Sgambelluri" <> wrote in message
> news:05963aa3-297f-4b69-9404-...
> On Sep 30, 8:32 pm, "S.Lewis" <Gossa...@interesting.com> wrote:
>> "Dan Sgambelluri" <dsgambell...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
>>
>> news:7lyEk.7877$...
>>
>>
>>
>> > Tom Lake wrote:
>>
>> >> "ken tak" <kent...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>> >>news:UOednSXirNs1C3_VnZ2dnUVZ_vCdnZ2d@earthlink. com...
>> >>> I brought an Inspiron 1525 laptop with 4 GB memory with Vista Home
>> >>> Premium. I just found out that Vista Home Premium (not 64 bit) could
>> >>> only use 3 GB memory. Only the 64 bit versions are able to use 4 GB
>> >>> memory. Why does Dell do this? Is there something I'm missing?
>>
>> >> Dell doesn't do it. The Binary number system does it.
>>
>> >> A 32-bit machine can address only 4 GB total (2 ^ 32).
>> >> Hardware needs some address space to run. If you fill
>> >> up the address space with 4 GB RAM, the hardware has
>> >> to take some back to use. HP computers do it, Gateway
>> >> computers do it and so do almost every other brand
>> >> (Even Apple!)
>>
>> >> Think of a 4-quart jar. Now think of hardware as being rocks.
>> >> put some rocks in the jar. Is the jar's capacity 4 quarts? Yup.
>> >> Can it hold 4 quarts of water? Nope. The rocks take up some room.
>>
>> >> Is your computer's capacity 4 GB? Yup. Can you fill it all with RAM?
>> >> Nope. The hardware takes some room.
>>
>> >> Tom Lake
>>
>> > As I already said in the other post.
>>
>> > I think he is asking, why is Dell selling a Laptop that is 32bit with 4
>> > Gigs of Memory?
>>
>> It's like a spare tire. If any of the RAM goes bad, he can just revert to
>> a
>> perfectly reasonable 2gb w/o missing a beat......
>>
>> g
>
> Of course, But it is in a way false advertising though as they
> saying it has 4 Gigs when it really only has 2 Gigs
>
>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>
> 3.12GBs, I think. Look at it this way, if he ever goes XP/Vista 64-bit,
> he's ready.
>