Do I need more than 1GB of RAM?

[SamJack]

I do not suspect that shortage of RAM is the issue. One way to find out is see if the if your computer constantly driving access the hard-drive to use the swap file. This happens if the physical memory has been exausted and it needs to use the virtual memory (swap file). You will be able to get that info by looking at the task manager.

In regards to whther to get two 256 or 512, If you computer is new and you plan on using it for sometime to come, it may be worth it to get the 512X2. On the other hand, from the way you say how you mostly use your computer, I don't see why you would need anymore RAM at all.

SamJack