The Full 4GB

By John Swindells 06 Aug 2010 | Comment
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This lovely laptop came with 4GB RAM and the OS ready to go, save for a few configuration screens. Unfortunately I quickly found out that the installed OS was the 32-bit flavour of Windows 7, which has a 3GB memory limit. This seemed inherently wasteful, and I was rather taken aback that HP would deliver the laptop like this. However, the accompanying recovery DVDs were for the 64-bit Windows 7 and the necessary drivers, so I got stuck in and re-installed. The drivers disc was essential, since virtually none of the auxillary devices (including the network/wireless ports) were working. After the OS and driver installation I finally had a full 4GB of RAM in my 64-bit Windows 7.

Naturally a full OS install isn't for the non-technical, so I don't know who thought that delivering a new notebook like this was remotely fair. It's hard to imagine an HP designer coming up with that and then announcing, "I'm a PC and this was my idea!"

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by mehdi on 16 February 2011
Hi !! I've recently got one !!

it's really nice except the fact that the print finger doesn't work, and I'm wasting 1GB of Ram because of the 32 bits flavor of windows !!

What do you advice me, does the 64 one work well, no problem with programs ?!

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by John Swindells on 16 February 2011
The only 'bug' I've experienced with 64-bit windows is that the wireless adaptor dies very occasionally - but it might do that with the 32-bit version too, I don't know. I've had no problem running programs, so would definitely recommend it - just to get that extra GB!

To get the fingerprint scanner working, read my page on the matter: SOLVED: Fingerprint Scanner

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