Question Laptop has one 4GB stick of RAM when 8GBs was advertised.

[DrGreen]

My sister bought a laptop from Staples and the sticker next to the keyboard says 8GBs of DDR4 RAM. The laptop was water damaged, so I opened it up and found one stick of RAM that says 4GB 1Rx16 PC4 - 2400T. Did she get ripped off?

 

[jeremyj_83]

My sister bought a laptop from Staples and the sticker next to the keyboard says 8GBs of DDR4 RAM. The laptop was water damaged, so I opened it up and found one stick of RAM that says 4GB 1Rx16 PC4 - 2400T. Did she get ripped off?

Possibly. There could be 4GB on-board as well. When you power on the laptop does it show 4 or 8GB RAM in Task Manager?

 

[DrGreen]

I haven't been able to get it running because of the water damage.

 

[jeremyj_83]

I haven't been able to get it running because of the water damage.

Then I would take it back and ask for a replacement. There is no reason that it should have water damage being new.

 

[kanewolf]

Then I would take it back and ask for a replacement. There is no reason that it should have water damage being new.

User damage would not be covered by return/RMA. Water damage is usually user induced damage.

 

[Wolfshadw]

It's quite possible the 8GB is, as mentioned above, 4GB onboard plus a 4GB module installed. It's also possible that the other RAM module is located elsewhere. If the unit was purchased from a clearance shelf/table and marked AS IS, then she's out of luck on returning it.

-Wolf sends

 

[Joe Eh]

If you only see one RAM Slot the likely it has the other 4GB integrated onto the motherboard. This is something they do in order to keep the price down of the system. A company would not risk its reputation on something like this.

The only case where RAM would be missing intentionally would be in Open Box Returns. You get some people that Return a laptop giving whatever reason and then after inspecting it they took out a stick of RAM, but this usually occurs with Laptops that have a higher amount of RAM like 32Gb or 64GB.