Running Linux MInt, is upgrading my RAM 1GBDDR2-->2GBDDR2 worth it?

[Jeff Bollinger]

I just installed Linux Mint 13 x86 on this old thing It runs fine with Linux Mint but is a bit sluggish opening programs and when clicking it takes a second or 2 to register the click. I was wondering if this would be improved if I upgraded from 1gb to 2gb of RAM? Or is the cpu the main bottleneck?

 

[robo7425]

I have a netbook with similar specs. I was using win xp when I upgraded from 1Gb to 2 Gb and didn't see much of a performance increase. I'm running mint currently and it is sluggish. I think its more the CPU than the memory holding you back.

 

[cat1092]

I believe that the RAM upgrade (to 2GB DDR2) is justified, provided that the PC is otherwise healthy. Adding RAM is the quickest way to add speed to an otherwise weak or middle of the road unit. It will help with multitasking & will allow the user to create a smaller swap space, which will force the RAM to do more work, which is faster than the HDD.

Still, I agree that the CPU is a bottleneck, in the case of this computer, running an Xfce edition of Linux Mint would be preferable over the main edition. Though, I run the main edition (Mate) on lesser hardware in the IBM T42 ThinkPad & it's fine, it's faster than XP Pro on the same notebook (1.73 Pentium M "Dothan", 2 x1GB DDR RAM). I did upgrade that notebook to 2GB, it only had one stick of 1GB when I obtained it & it did make a difference.

My CPU is the bottleneck also, that Pentium M has more of the performance of a P3 than P4.

Cat