2GB For The Road - Crucial 2GB PC2-4200 SODIMM

Product: 2GB kit (1GBx2) DDR2 PC2-4200
Provided By: Crucial
Price: $282.99USD

Introduction:

Many people have come to accept that 2GB of memory is pretty much the sweet spot for home computers that are used for gaming and graphic/video editing.  However, many laptop computers ship with 512MB and only a limited number come with 1GB of memory.  You can find some expensive laptops that ship with 2GB of memory, but they are very expensive and are built for the mobile gamer.  Today we are taking a look at a 2GB kit of PC2-4200 from Crucial that is built for mobile users everywhere.  We are going to find out if 1GB is enough to run today's applications efficiently, or if the move to 2GB on your laptop is a worthy upgrade.

Crucial Package

The memory arrived in typical Crucial fashion - in a brown cardboard box that ships inside a UPS Express envelope.  The memory arrived in three business days and was unscathed by the rapid trip up here to Canada.

I thought that it may be shipped in a smaller package as the memory is much shorter than tradition DDR2 modules, but even the anti-static bags are even the same size as regular DDR and DDR2 bags.

Anti-Static Sleeves

The memory had plenty of room to breathe inside the bags and is quite unique to look at.  Each of the modules pictured below are 1GB for a combined total of 2GB for this kit.  You'll notice the two rows of chips on these modules.  There are also two rows on the back side as well for a total of 16chips per stick.  Each of these little BGA chips are 64MB in size and are unbuffered.

2GB of PC2-4200

Below are the specs of these modules as posted by Crucial.

• Part Number: CT2KIT12864AC53E
• Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
• Package: 200-pin SODIMM
• Feature: DDR2 PC2-4200
• Configuration: 128Meg x 64
• DIMM Type: UNBUFFERED
• Error Checking: NON-ECC
• Speed: DDR2-533
• Voltage: 1.8V
• Memory Timings: CL=4
• Specs: DDR2 PC2-4200 • CL=4 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-533 • 1.8V • 128Meg x 64

On the next page we'll take a look at our test system and pull a few benchmarks to see how this works in the real world.