RAM upgrade on Toshiba

[prospero]

Gents
I have an old Tosh Satellite 2800-100 650mhz Celeron 64mb RAM 6 Gb hard drive. It came originally via my mother with Me installed.
In a moment of experimental madness I upgraded it to Xp. It worked except of course it is now terribly slow. I am planning on upgrading it to the max permitted by adding a 128mb stick. My question is whether spending the 35 euros is worth it and is there additional ways to making it run fast enough to surf and do basic word processing. I am planning on giving it to my son as a surprise, he has xboxes and stuff for gaming so it is only for surfing and watching dvd's. Also will this HDD be compatible if I decided it was necessary. I think the BIOS can handle it.
http://www.superwarehouse.com/Toshib...D2181/p/229316

Best Regards
Prospero

[flanzig1]

Your best bet is to add the ram and use Windows 2000. Even with 128m of ram, XP is going to be slow.

[prospero]

Yeah I guess your right, actually it will be 192mb as the machine already has 64mb so I reckon if I turn a few things off it will be tolerable
Prospero

[glc]

The 64mb is on the motherboard, it has 1 slot. You *CAN* put a 256mb module in. That would make it acceptable for XP, but 192 is gonna be pretty doggy.

If all you want to do is add 128, pull XP off it and put 2K on it. The 6gb drive is big enough for 2K for basic uses, I wouldn't spend the money on a bigger hard drive. It won't run bad at all.

[prospero]

Thanks for the tip. I was under the impression that this model will only take upto 192mb. Are you saying that it will take the bigger stick if I splashed out?
Prospero

[glc]

According to the configurator at memoryx.net, yes. Max ram is 320.

http://www.memoryx.net/sat28ser.html

[prospero]

Yes I saw that too but then I went to Toshibas' site and lifted this from the specifications:

standard : 64 MB
maximum expandability : 192 MB
access speed : 9 nanoseconds
data bus width : 64 bit
technology : SDRAM 3.3 V
number of free expansion slots : 1
expansion module sizes : 64 and 128 MB

So I think I can only go to 192Mb
Prospero

[glc]

I see what you are seeing at other configurators, but I've yet to be steered wrong by memoryx - perhaps an email to Toshiba support may clear this up.

[prospero]

ok thanks for your help. If it can only take 192 then you think it will still be to slow for basic surfing etc?
Prospero

[glc]

With 192 and a 6 gig drive, I would not use XP. However, it will run Win2K just fine. That's your cheapest way out - just drop a 128 in and install 2K.

[prospero]

GLC
I much appreciate your help unfortunately I don't have a copy of 2000 so that is an expense I could do without.
Best Regards
Prospero

[glc]

It's legal to borrow a copy and install it on a XP Pro license.

[prospero]

Ok thanks I'll see what I can do. Your help is as ever much appreciated
P

[prospero]

Just to "provide closure" on this thread. I bought the extra RAM so I now have 192mb and she is running just fine. It may not be the fastest laptop ever but she does the job. I have got hold of a copy of W2k just in case I need more speed.
Thanks for all of your help
Prospero