Atom Memory Compatibility

[Vegan]

OK I have an Intel Atom CPU on my netbook system board, seems to be a catch all device.

So the $64 question is, can I use any SODIM DDR2 with the N450 processor.

Seems to be lots of offerings on eBay so I wanted to be sure I am not going to be disappointed.

The netbook is a Compaq Mini CQ10-400. I have the servive manual and its not very specific on the memory compatibility.

Reason I ask is I have seen a lot of abuses with portable machines in the past.

[Adolfo_S_Intel2]

Intel processors are memory independent, in other words, as long as the laptop supports the RAM, the processor will also support it, so basically you need to contact the laptop manufacturer and check compatibility between the laptop and the RAM that you want to buy.

[Vegan]

The Atom has an intrinsic memory controller. Desktop processors still use a dedicated device. That is changing though.

[idata]

It pains me that information for memory isn't readilly available.

The Atom is not alone in this confusion heck macbooks had this issue for some years too.

The problem started with internal memory controllers supporting 32 bit data interfacing.

Microsoft also added to the issue when they required limiting the amount of memory that netwbook could support if they wanted to use windows 7 and crippled windows 7 starter to also have a low memory limit...1GB, or full expanded 2GB.worse yet some have only one slot.

Some of the netbooks have had hackers perform some tweaks to get upto 4GB memory.

Some can have windows 7 64 bit installed and some can even have the memory increased to 6 or 8 GB under windows 7 64.

But that history all said it still comes down to search the internet for a particular netbook manufacturers model number and see what offers have found possible.

out of the box, netbooks have been crippled by the OS manufacturers and the Hardware manufacturers.

Newer dual core Atoms are beginning to show up in hardware able to naitively support 4, 6 or 8 gb. so do your research before buying.

[Vegan]

Given the vast range of memory modules on the market, I am disappointed not to be able to identify anything concrete.

I have contacted HP who obviously wants to sell me their overpriced memory.

I have searched and searched for memory compatibility manuals, nothing.