OT Wrong advertised specifications

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul M. Cook said:

It undoubtedly comes with Vista Home. Minimum for that is 2 GB RAM.

Vista

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

alone uses up almost 900MB of system RAM without running any apps.

Paul

What??? Minimum for Vista Home Basic is 512mb.

It will "run" at that size but it won't be useable.

Quoted message said:

Now, maybe the
minimum to run more than one or two apps at a time is more but
surely not 2gb for Home Basic.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx

Quoted message said:

Just try running it with 512 and it will go virtual and drive your
performance down to a crawl. A brand new Vista Home system with no apps
running typically will demand 860MB of RAM If you only have 512 it will
constantly swap to disk and that destroys performance. 2 GB is the
practical configuration. Microsoft claimed XP was fine in 128 but you could
never do anything with it with that little RAM. An extra gig for that
computer is like 50 bucks. Money very well spent.

You'll have to forgive me. I have only been in this business for 24 years
and I make a living as a IT consultant.

Paul

How 'bout a big mac on the way out?

s

"Terry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.

She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
swap.

This is a lot of work. What, if anything, extra should she expect for
her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

They also would have told you that since computer
memory is never sold in 256mb increments anymore, having a
machine with 768mb is nearly impossible.

That is most certainly not true.

http://www.pricewatch.com/memory/

Bob

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Terry said:

I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.

I'd be willing to bet that most computers you'd find at Circuit
City or Best Buy have the exact same issue (I am surprised at
some higher-end spec computers that use integrated video cards).
I think the better advice is having a clue what you're looking
at (and not posting computer related questions in off-topic
newsgroups -- if you'd posted it in a computer-related newsgroup
to begin with the first or second answer would likely have been
correct). They also would have told you that since computer
memory is never sold in 256mb increments anymore, having a
machine with 768mb is nearly impossible.

256 MB is very common. It's a 512 stick with only one side populated. Not
at all hard to manufacture. Very common and some systems still can be
bought with that little base memory.

Paul

Terry said:

A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.

She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
swap.

This is a lot of work. What, if anything, extra should she expect for
her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?

Hi,
Maybe it has 1GB of main memory but the video card maybe sharing the
memory taking away 256MB. Look at the spec. of video chip. Cheap PCs
are built that way instead of having video memory separate.

catalpa said:

"Terry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

HeyBub said:

Terry wrote:
> A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
> is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
> advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.
> She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
> Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
> swap.
> This is a lot of work. What, if anything, extra should she expect for
> her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?
Walmart customer service is likely wrong. Depending on which system
function
is doing the reporting, she could very well have 1G of installed RAM with
256K taken up by the on-board hardware video circuitry. In such case,
Windows reports only the memory available to it, which is !1Gig - 256K =
768K.

She went to Acer's web site and it turns out that it is true that 256k
is being used for video.

They are just padding the numbers. It is a good thing she found this
information before she packed it up and took it back for nothing.

I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.

Download and run the free CPU-Z utility from http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
. It tells you exactly what processor, FSB, motherboard and RAM (total, type
and speed) you have. Then you can match the advertised specs against what is
actually in the computer.

A much better one is Belarc Advisor.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It tells you everything about your computer.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

In article <[email hidden]>,

Terry said:

A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.

She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
swap.

This is a lot of work.

Poor thing.

Quoted message said:

What, if anything, extra should she expect for
her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?

An apology and the offer of the correct processor with the stated memory
for the same price she paid for the first one. Do you think she's
entitled to more than that?
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
For your listening pleasure: http://www.am1500.com/pcast/80509.mp3 --
from the MN State Fair, 8-29-07

"Steve Pope" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul M. Cook said:

"Steve Pope" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

HeyBub <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> Depending on which system function is doing the reporting,
> she could very well have 1G of installed RAM with 256K taken
> up by the on-board hardware video circuitry. In such case,
> Windows reports only the memory available to it, which is !1Gig -
> 256K = 768K.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Are you sure about your arithmetic there?

Quoted message said:

1024 - 256 = 768. 1 GB = 1024 megabytes.

Now I agree with that version.

Steve

You certainly answered my questions about weaseling credentials

Paul M. Cook said:

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Terry said:

I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.

I'd be willing to bet that most computers you'd find at Circuit
City or Best Buy have the exact same issue (I am surprised at
some higher-end spec computers that use integrated video cards).
I think the better advice is having a clue what you're looking
at (and not posting computer related questions in off-topic
newsgroups -- if you'd posted it in a computer-related newsgroup
to begin with the first or second answer would likely have been
correct). They also would have told you that since computer
memory is never sold in 256mb increments anymore, having a
machine with 768mb is nearly impossible.

256 MB is very common. It's a 512 stick with only one side populated. Not
at all hard to manufacture. Very common and some systems still can be
bought with that little base memory.

Paul

Fine, so they still make it. When was the last time you saw a
machine sold with memory in something other than 512mb
increments. I just checked all of the desktops being sold at
Walmart and they all have 512mb, 1gb or 2gb. I have not seen a
machine sold with an odd amount like 768mb in a long time.

Bill

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Terry said:

What, if anything, extra should she expect for
her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?

An apology and the offer of the correct processor with the stated memory
for the same price she paid for the first one. Do you think she's
entitled to more than that?

Surprise! She already got it and didn't realize it.

Bill

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul M. Cook said:

"Bill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Terry wrote:

> I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.

I'd be willing to bet that most computers you'd find at Circuit
City or Best Buy have the exact same issue (I am surprised at
some higher-end spec computers that use integrated video cards).
I think the better advice is having a clue what you're looking
at (and not posting computer related questions in off-topic
newsgroups -- if you'd posted it in a computer-related newsgroup
to begin with the first or second answer would likely have been
correct). They also would have told you that since computer
memory is never sold in 256mb increments anymore, having a
machine with 768mb is nearly impossible.

256 MB is very common. It's a 512 stick with only one side populated.

Not

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

at all hard to manufacture. Very common and some systems still can be
bought with that little base memory.

Paul

Fine, so they still make it. When was the last time you saw a
machine sold with memory in something other than 512mb
increments. I just checked all of the desktops being sold at
Walmart and they all have 512mb, 1gb or 2gb. I have not seen a
machine sold with an odd amount like 768mb in a long time.

Last week. My neighbor got a HP from Costco. Base RAM was 256MB. I
installed an extra gig for him.

Paul

"Uncle Monster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

catalpa said:

"Terry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sep 4, 9:21 pm, "HeyBub" <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Terry wrote:
>> A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
>> is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
>> advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.
>> She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
>> Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
>> swap.
>> This is a lot of work. What, if anything, extra should she expect for
>> her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?
> Walmart customer service is likely wrong. Depending on which system
> function
> is doing the reporting, she could very well have 1G of installed RAM
> with
> 256K taken up by the on-board hardware video circuitry. In such case,
> Windows reports only the memory available to it, which is !1Gig - 256K
> =
> 768K.
She went to Acer's web site and it turns out that it is true that 256k
is being used for video.

They are just padding the numbers. It is a good thing she found this
information before she packed it up and took it back for nothing.

I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.

Download and run the free CPU-Z utility from
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php . It tells you exactly what processor, FSB,
motherboard and RAM (total, type and speed) you have. Then you can match
the advertised specs against what is actually in the computer.

A much better one is Belarc Advisor.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It tells you everything about your computer.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

Thanks for the link. Much more information, but it also has some minor
problems. It gives the wrong total for installed memory (it subtracts out
the video shared memory), but each slot is specified correctly. And it
doesn't bother to read the SPD to specify the rated speed of each RAM
module. Very useful for the list of Microsoft hotfixes.

Paul M. Cook said:

Dedicated video RAM is slower than DDR2 RAM as it uses the
restricted PCI bus speed

PCI video cards are long gone, it's years they're all on the north bridge
thanks to the AGP port.
Moreover:
1) the RAM mounted on video cards is way faster than the system RAM and with
a superior bandwidth
2) it is directly connected to the GPU so the GPU-to-video-memory path is
shorter, thus quicker
3) a video card using it's own RAM doesn't slow down the whole system as
integrated video cards (using system RAM) do

--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

In article <[email hidden]>,

Terry said:

A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.

She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
swap.

This is a lot of work. What, if anything, extra should she expect for
her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?

Your friend should expect nothing. Wal-Mart didn't get to be the world's
largest retailer by giving away things to its customers. Your friend
should get what was advertised, but if she expects more than that, she's
likely going to be disappointed.

You get what you pay for. Next time, your friend should visit a local
mom & pop store to buy a PC and have it built to her specifications or
make life really easy on herself and buy an Apple computer. Either way,
she would get a lot more compute for her money and better tech support.

catalpa said:

"Uncle Monster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

catalpa said:

"Terry" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> On Sep 4, 9:21 pm, "HeyBub" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>> Terry wrote:
>>> A friend of mine just bought a new computer at WalMart. The computer
>>> is a complete set with speakers, mouse, keyboard and monitor. It was
>>> advertised with 1G of memory and the system reports that it is 768K.
>>> She contacted WalMart and Walmart acknowledges that it is a mistake.
>>> Now she has to unplug everything, pack it up and take it back for a
>>> swap.
>>> This is a lot of work. What, if anything, extra should she expect for
>>> her troubles from Walmart or Acer (brand)?
>> Walmart customer service is likely wrong. Depending on which system
>> function
>> is doing the reporting, she could very well have 1G of installed RAM
>> with
>> 256K taken up by the on-board hardware video circuitry. In such case,
>> Windows reports only the memory available to it, which is !1Gig - 256K
>> =
>> 768K.
> She went to Acer's web site and it turns out that it is true that 256k
> is being used for video.
>
> They are just padding the numbers. It is a good thing she found this
> information before she packed it up and took it back for nothing.
>
> I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.
>
>
Download and run the free CPU-Z utility from
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php . It tells you exactly what processor, FSB,
motherboard and RAM (total, type and speed) you have. Then you can match
the advertised specs against what is actually in the computer.

A much better one is Belarc Advisor.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

It tells you everything about your computer.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

Thanks for the link. Much more information, but it also has some minor
problems. It gives the wrong total for installed memory (it subtracts out
the video shared memory), but each slot is specified correctly. And it
doesn't bother to read the SPD to specify the rated speed of each RAM
module. Very useful for the list of Microsoft hotfixes.

There is another program called Sandra that gives
a lot of hardware data. I have huge collection of
software and links and one day I'll get around to
organizing them all. One day and another day.....

http://www.sisoftware.net/

[8~{} Uncle Monster

In article said:

Walmart customer service is likely wrong. Depending on which system function
is doing the reporting, she could very well have 1G of installed RAM with
256K taken up by the on-board hardware video circuitry. In such case,
Windows reports only the memory available to it, which is !1Gig - 256K =
768K.

Bzzzzt! Wrong answer, but thanks for playing.

1G - 256K = 1048320K = 1023.75M

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Terry said:

Quoted message said:

Walmart customer service is likely wrong. Depending on which system
function is doing the reporting, she could very well have 1G of
installed RAM with 256K taken up by the on-board hardware video
circuitry. In such case, Windows reports only the memory available
to it, which is !1Gig - 256K = 768K.

She went to Acer's web site and it turns out that it is true that 256k
is being used for video.

They are just padding the numbers. It is a good thing she found this
information before she packed it up and took it back for nothing.

I guess not buying at Walmart is good advice.

If it's this one:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5969100

She got a 2.4GHz machine with 160GB SATA drive. For $498.00 (with 17" LCD
monitor, keyboard, mouse, DVD drive, VISTA Home Basic, a bunch of [censored]
software, etc.)

Specifications on WalMart's web site include:

"256 MB shared graphics memory"

Shawn Hirn said:

You get what you pay for. Next time, your friend should visit a local
mom & pop store to buy a PC and have it built to her specifications or
make life really easy on herself and buy an Apple computer. Either
way, she would get a lot more compute for her money and better tech
support.

She paid (probably) $498.

You can't even get an Apple iPhone for $498.

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:48:18 -0700, none <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Steve Pope said:

HeyBub said:

Depending on which system function is doing the reporting,
she could very well have 1G of installed RAM with 256K taken
up by the on-board hardware video circuitry. In such case,
Windows reports only the memory available to it, which is !1Gig -
256K = 768K.

Are you sure about your arithmetic there?

Steve

Whether the math is correct or not (confusing Kb with Mb),

Less confusing than confusing Kb with KB (kilobits with kilobytes).

Quoted message said:

I'm glad
somebody here understands that, depending on the hardware, Windows will
sometimes report less RAM than is physically present. The computer was
probably not defective. Don't let that ruin a good Walmart-bash though,
I don't much like the place either.

"Vilco" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul M. Cook said:

Dedicated video RAM is slower than DDR2 RAM as it uses the
restricted PCI bus speed

PCI video cards are long gone, it's years they're all on the north bridge
thanks to the AGP port.

Guess again. AGP is what is gone. PCIe is the new standard. AGP died
years ago. PICe is factors faster than AGP.

Quoted message said:

Moreover:
1) the RAM mounted on video cards is way faster than the system RAM and
with a superior bandwidth

Nope. The bandwidth is identical.

Quoted message said:

2) it is directly connected to the GPU so the GPU-to-video-memory path is
shorter, thus quicker

Nope. It is not. Shortness means nothing, speed means everything.

Quoted message said:

3) a video card using it's own RAM doesn't slow down the whole system as
integrated video cards (using system RAM) do

You are partially right here. What you describe is potential. What out get
out of the box is not the same.

Paul