Upgrading DDR2 SDRAM

[the1andonly3003]

Looking for some advice.
 
I am upgrading my memory from 4GB to 8GB on my Vaio FW290.  Is there a particular brand I should look for, or particular specs that fits Vaios only?
 
Is this something I can find at Microcenter, or dig around on Amazon?
 
https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=VGNFW290&template_id=1&region_id=1&tab=manuals#/manualsTab

 

[Harry Hooper]

Go to Crucial.com, enter your model info or download their small diagnostic app, and they'll spit out a list of memory upgrade options. Quality is top-notch and prices are competitive. Having said that, you can score used RAM on eBay for very low prices.

 

[Couperin47]

eBay definitely: no one has made DDR2 in almost a decade, it's all 'old new stock' at obscene prices, tons of perfectly good used pulls from machines being thrown away...

 

[the1andonly3003]

eBay definitely: no one has made DDR2 in almost a decade, it's all 'old new stock' at obscene prices, tons of perfectly good used pulls from machines being thrown away...

i just looked up the specs from crucial and looked at Amazon..."new" is going for $200...1/4 of the price I can get for a similar, more current laptop
 
how has RAM memory progressed since 2008 (when I was shopping for my current VAIO)? what is common for gaming machines these days?

 

[Couperin47]

i just looked up the specs from crucial and looked at Amazon..."new" is going for $200...1/4 of the price I can get for a similar, more current laptop
 
how has RAM memory progressed since 2008 (when I was shopping for my current VAIO)? what is common for gaming machines these days?

 
That's the point: from the retailers once memory becomes obsolete the prices actually go up, all DDR2 memory is now more than twice the price of when it was current, it's called ripping you off...so you buy used pulls as tons of computers that used this stuff goes to recycling.
 
I don't quite 'get' your 2nd question: current mainstream laptops currently use DDR3 1600 SODIMM modules, which are much faster and completely incompatible with anything that used DDR2. Todays laptops start with 4 Gig, most can handle up to 16 Gig, but most current laptops still only have 2 memory slots, so if it came with 4 Gig (usually as a single stick), you still have to remove/sell that and add 2 8 Gig sticks to get to 16, most today would just add one 8 Gig stick and settle for 12....
 
Right now a PAIR of 8 Gb DDR3 1600 SODIMM for a typical laptop can be had for under $90... in short there comes a time when it doesn't pay to bother upgrading an old laptop...

 

[derekson]

Even at eBay prices it seems silly to bother upgrading a laptop that is old enough to use DDR2 RAM. For $300 you could get a massively better laptop that has enough RAM in it already. 

 

[Couperin47]

Even at eBay prices it seems silly to bother upgrading a laptop that is old enough to use DDR2 RAM. For $300 you could get a massively better laptop that has enough RAM in it already. 

 
I totally agree, constantly telling people who being me ancient laptops precisely that....