4 GB Dell Notebooks Can’t Actually Address 4 GB

Thanks to everyone who sent links and information regarding Dell’s Core 2 Duo notebooks that offer up to 4 GB of RAM.

So it ends up these machines will accept up to 4 GB of RAM, but the OS, or at least Windows XP, won’t see all of it as addressable memory. There’s only 4 GB of total address space in these machines, and significant chunks go to things like video cards and other PCI devices. Apple’s 3 GB limit seems reasonable and competitive given this.

It’s also worth pointing out that configuring an XPS M1710 notebook with 4 GB of RAM from Dell.com adds an additional $2750 to the price.

★ Wednesday, 25 October 2006