Shipping 'inadequate' PCs

[TXHookem]

Not sure that this is a question, really... it's just a gripe.

So... four months ago, I bought a new HP Pavilion ze4800. Ever since, it has been driving me crazy... it was so freakin' slow!? By midday, I would usually have to reboot the system since it was like trying to watch paint dry. Hooorrrrribble!

I finally had someone take a look at it and they said, "you only have 196 MB of memory - XP requires at least 512 MB". Right after that conversation, I bough 512 MB and upgraded the machine to 700 MB. Now it works fine.

Now... why in the world would HP ship PCs with not enough memory? Not only was it running slowly, I've been badmouthing HP for the past four months. Talk about bad publicity. It's known that XP needs 512 MB? Why ship with 196 MB? Baffling!?

 

[zzzz]

Microsoft claims, "128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)"

 

[TXHookem]

I call utter and total b.s. on that recommendation. Unless you plan on just running notepad and paint... but not at the same time.

 

[YChang]

A. Perhaps some of your memory was being shared for video, hence you see 196 MB.

B. XP technically will run on 128, reasonably well on 256, but of course better at 512 and above.

 

[kevwun]

XP is slow on 128, but will work fine on 256 or 384.

 

[hookem115]

I have 256 and XP runs fine.

 

[TexasOwnzYou]

i guess it all depends on how much multitasking you're doing.

 

[TXHookem]

I usually have Outlook and Explorer open (two windows, generally) + either Excel or Word (sometimes both). I then open/close as needed Adobe Acrobat Reader, eFax and Windows Explorer.