Hello all... New guy here. I'm pretty savvy with computers but have a question about upgrading my Inspiron 1501 laptop currently running XP Home 32 bit to Win 7 32 bit. Ran the Win 7 compatibility tool from MS and only significant questionable item was the amount of RAM. Win 7 needs a minimum of 2GB and although I do have 2GB installed, only 1.9GB is detected (probably some allocated to video), so its flagged.The report says RAM upgrade may be "Possible"??? There are a couple of other items, but I can deal with those. Dell site Win 7 compatibility chart does not list the 1501.

Now the the meat of my question. SIW (System Information for Windows utility) says max RAM is 4GB. Crucial site says Max is 2GB. I've had erroneous info about RAM from SIW in the past, so I'm wary of it.I've also has erroneous info about max RAM and even type of RAM from the Crucial scanner, so I'm also wary of that. I do NOT want to even consider running Win 7 with the minimum RAM. Sure would like to find out the actual max RAM for my machine. Anyone got any info or reference site that may be of any help?

BTW... Checked  my owners manual and no info about max RAM there.

Off subject, but I just noticed there is no blinking cursor in this narrative???? Everything seems to work OK, just difficult to navigate around the text when needed and I find it pretty odd. The cursor is present when I'm hovering the mouse over text, but goes away when I click. That has never happened on any other site and I frequent a number if tech forums. Anyone else have this?

Thanks in advance for any help... Raybro