Helping student upgrade hp15-f233wm RAM. Need advice.

[aaron_tx_1967]

I'm a college professor in South Texas. My students are working on their final video projects in an introductory media course. One student's computer has been freezing up while running Premiere, and we realized that this is because his machine only has 4GB of RAM installed.

I have located the HP manual and I know that the maximum amount of RAM the machine can support is 8 GB. I also know that it can accommodate an 8GB chip, a 4 GB chip or a 2GB chip. My question is this: Do these laptops come with 4GB on the motherboard already? If so, that means that I would want to buy a 4GB chip rather than an 8GB chip.

On the other hand, if the laptop came with a 4GB chip installed in the memory slot (rather than it already being on the motherboard), we should buy the 8GB chip. The student could just take out the old chip, plop in the new chip, and be off to the races.

If this were my own laptop, I would just open it up and look inside, but I'm trying to do tech support remotely via Zoom. Also, the student has finals in many other classes, and I'm worried about something going terribly wrong when he tries to upgrade his system.

So... I'm prepared for the likelihood that people in this forum will say 'you cannot tell without opening it up,' but I'm really hoping that someone will say, 'Oh yes! I know that laptop. You should blah blah blah.'

Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

According to the Crucial memory report for that model, it has one memory slot which takes an 8 GB memory chip.

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/hp---compaq/hp-15-f233wm

There is no onboard memory, so you would remove the 4 GB chip, and replace it with the 8 GB chip to max it out.

I don't know how much difference the extra 4 GB of memory will make.

The notebook has an entry level processor (Intel Celeron N3050), with the onboard Intel graphics.

That architecture was not designed for anything more than basic web surfing and whatnot.

Adobe Premier will never run right on there.  You need a notebook with a better processor and a discrete video adapter.

[aaron_tx_1967]

Thanks, Paul. This is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks for also reminding me that the laptop has an ancient CPU. That registered when we first were looking at it, but I was so focused on the RAM that it slipped my mind.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I believe your student would be throwing good money after bad by upgrading the memory in an attempt to get Adobe Photoshop to run better.

[aaron_tx_1967]

Paul - Just to follow up. I think his model has a N3060 which is technically a sixth-generation Intel processor. It sounds like this might just barely slip through the bottom end of the Adobe Premiere minimum requirements. When you say that it will never run right on the system, do you mean that it will still be slow and soon become obsolete? Or do you mean that it won't work at all?

I totally agree that it would be better for him to have a better laptop, but I don't think that's within the realm of possibility for the student right now. If the RAM upgrade would work enough to make it possible for him to finish his project, it might be worth the cost of the RAM if it could get to the finish line.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

It should work but it will never work smoothly.

It is the graphics that is the weakest link.

The N3050 (Braswell) is more like a 4th or 5th gen Intel processor.

I'll tell you what you can do...give this guidance to your student and have him update the graphics driver to the latest version.

That might help as much as installing more memory.

First, create a system restore point so that you can roll back to the current graphics driver you have installed, just in case the updated driver does not work to your expectations.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027538/windows-create-a-system-restore-point

Next, download and save the latest Intel HD graphics driver ZIP file for the model Intel HD graphics adapter the notebook comes with.

This is the latest driver:  Version:  15.40.45.5126   Date: 3/25/2020

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29474/Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-15-40-?product=872...

Unzip the graphics driver file to its folder. Do not do anything with the files in the folder.

To unzip the file, right click on the graphics driver zip file you downloaded, and select Extract All.

Go to the device manager, click to expand the Display Adapters device manager category

Click on the Intel HD graphics adapter listed there.

Click on the driver tab. Click on Update Driver.

Select the Browse my computer for driver software option, and then at the bottom of that window, select the Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.

Click on Have Disk, and browse to the unzipped graphics driver folder>Graphics>igdlh64 (setup information file), click Next, and the driver should install.

Be patient, as it can take a few minutes for the driver to completely install.

When the installation is finished, restart the PC.

To update the Intel HDMI audio driver to the latest version, do this...

Go to the device manager, click to expand the Sound, video and game controllers device manager category.

Click on the Intel HD audio device listed there.   Click on the driver tab.  Click on Update driver.

Select the Browse my computer for driver software option, and browse to the unzipped Intel graphics driver main folder.

Make sure the Include subfolders box is checked, and the driver will install.

Then restart the PC.

If you install the Intel® Driver & Support Assistant (Intel® DSA), after you manually install the driver, it should in the future, automatically install the latest graphics and HDMI audio drivers without having to do the manual install.

[aaron_tx_1967]

You are my hero! Thanks! 🙂

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Please post back and let me know if updating the graphics driver helped any.