HP RAM, why so expensive?

[MrWill]

I have just ordered a HP Elitebook 840 g2. It comes with 4GB RAM (1x HP4GB DDR3L-1600 1.35V SODIMM) and I need to increase that to 8GB.

Looking on their site they want £48 for one more 4GB stick, but looking on Crucial's site they sell 2x 4GB of CL9 RAM for less than that. Is there something special about the HP RAM? I can't find the latency of the HP RAM strangely, which I would like to know.

Am I right in thinking best thing to do here is buy the Cruicial 2x 4GB RAM and just chuck or sell the HP stick, or is there some reason why I should stick with the HP stuff?

Sorry if what I am asking sounds basic, I knew nothing about RAM half an hour ago.

Cheers.

 

[giantbucket]

branded stuff (HP, Dell, Lenovo) is usually just normal stuff with a fancy sticker and usually tested. but normal ram is also tested at a general level. i'd buy whatever is cheap-n-plentiful, and have at it. if it already comes with a single 4G stick, then buy another single 4G stick and add them. i've done that on my Dell without problems. as long as it's DDR3-1600 1.35V SODIMM. which most are anyways.

 

[MrWill]

branded stuff (HP, Dell, Lenovo) is usually just normal stuff with a fancy sticker and usually tested. but normal ram is also tested at a general level. i'd buy whatever is cheap-n-plentiful, and have at it. if it already comes with a single 4G stick, then buy another single 4G stick and add them. i've done that on my Dell without problems. as long as it's DDR3-1600 1.35V SODIMM. which most are anyways.

Thanks for the reply.

Do I need to worry about possibly not having matching latency if I just add a 4GB Crucial stick? I can't find the latency of the HP stuff anywhere, I'd have to ask them. And there is 9, 10, 11 and 13 to choose from in the compatible Crucial ones.

 

[giantbucket]

you usually don't need to worry - the BIOS will simply pick the common settings that should work with both sticks. or wait until you get it, and run CPU-Z / CPU-ID on it to get info on what the memory is actually set at. it might even be DDR3-1333 CL9.