Toshiba Satellite A300 - Manual (Page 27)

User’s Manual 1-3
Introduction
Main Memory
Disclaimer
Part of the main system memory may be used by
the graphics system for graphics performance
and therefore reduce the amount of main system
memory available for other computing activities.
The amount of main system memory allocated
to support graphics may vary depending on the
graphics system, applications utilized, system
memory size and other factors. For PC's
configured with 4 GB of system memory, the full
system memory space for computing activities will
be considerably less and will vary by model and
system configuration.
If your computer is configured with two 2 GB memory modules, the mem-
ory might be displayed as approximately 3 GB only (depending on the
computer's hardware specifications). This is correct because the operating
system usually displays the available memory instead of the physical
memory (RAM) built into the computer. Various system components (like
the video adapter's GPU and PCI devices like Wireless LAN, etc.) require
their own memory space. Since a 32-bit operating system cannot address
more than 4 GB of memory these system resources overlap the physical
memory. It is a technical limitation that the overlapped memory is not avail-
able to the operating system. Even though some tools might display the
actual physical memory built into your computer, the memory available to
the operating sys-tem will still be approximately 3 GB only.