1 gig or 2 gig RAM?

If you are thinking of running windows vista on your laptop, then consider a 2 gig RAM. Windows vista is a monster when it comes to consuming memory. 1 gig would be ok for vista basic edition, but for premium, you have to get 1.5 gig or higher. Otherwise, the operating system will function slower than a snail.

On average, windows vista occupies over 500 mb of RAM. Plus, the system will perform very poorly if you have a graphics card that shares memory.

Bottom line is that it's worth paying a little bit extra for a laptop that comes with 2 gigs of RAM and a video card with dedicated memory. It will come in handy in the long run.