Can I buy a new computer and add RAM?

Yes... but what they said is true.. check out the max SUPPORTED ram before you buy a system...BUT.. a 32 bit OS will only recognize around 3GB of RAM, so unless you buy a 64 bit system, you'll be wasting your money on the other gig of RAM. Even Vista Ultimate only recognizes 3.25GB of RAM in my system.. I have 4x1gb sticks. 64bit systems ARE available, but not many programs as of recently are compatible with 64bit because every OS until just recently was 32bit. Just something else to consider. Good Luck!!

The salesman is talking a load of bull, any PC can have it's memory upgraded by the user, even laptops.

What he is on about is that upgrading the computer yourself may invalidate the warranty provided by the computer manufacturer. Most add a clause into the terms and conditions of their warranty stating that any upgrading has to be done by them or they do not have to honour the warranty at all. Others will simply not cover 3rd party parts. Currys in the Uk for example (soz a british company) was where I bought my first PC. I paid them to upgrade the memory of my pc (from 32 to 64mb - that's how long ago it was!) I added my own cd writer. Ultimately the power supply blew due to a surge before a power cut and I had to put it in for warranty repairs. Curry's, in their infinite wisdom fixed it, replacing the motherboard and PSU but would not reinstall the extra RAM (though it was installed by them under the warranty conditions) and disconnected the CD Writer claiming that they were not part of the warranty! Of course the RAM was eventually replaced after a little bit of heavy persuasion and threats of legal action. The writer wasn't as it was fitted by me. How 3rd party upgrades are treated under warranty is really up to the manufacturer and retailer and will vary between them.

Ask him for the motherboard models. If they only have 2 RAM slots and the 2GB of RAM are 1GBx2 then you'd have to replace them with newer sticks rather than simply adding more sticks. Keep in mind that every motherboard can only support certain kinds of RAM. I'm not sure if this is correct, but you might void the Dell/Compaq warranty if you muck around with the hardware.

Each computer can normally take more, but only a certain amount per slot, a certain type, and a certain maximum over all.

My Dell has none of it's original memory.

Just find out the names of the computers and google how much RAM they can handle.

Edit:

This site will help a ton.

Crucial.com

buying a sparkling CPU may well be a greater suitable thought, the documents the region has presented isn't sufficient, you may take purely few issues decrease than attention once you install or upload or develop the RAM:- you may nicely known what form RAM it is like -DDR, DDR2, SD, etc etc etc, you may nicely known optimal memory or RAM your CPU can help like a million GB, 2 GB....and frequency (unsure what its actual call is)of RAM like 441 Mhz, you may rather locate each little thing you may nicely known by ability of beginning your CPU each little thing is stated interior the RAM or I could say the long chip, "optimal memory ability: 512 MB at present put in memory: 640 MB" wackiest element I rather have ever study.

Well, here's the thing. To have 4.0GiB RAM, you have to have a 64BIT OS. Otherwise you will only be able to have about 3.25GiB RAM. But if you get more RAM, then make sure that it is Kingston brand. Kingston RAM is compatible with 99% of all other RAM.

No. Just a way for them to steal your money, unless Dell has somehow made a custom motherboard where you can't upgrade anything anymore.

newegg.com has ram sticks for sale, just buy one, pop it in into the empty slot, the end.

Yes,IF you didn't buy it with the max amount allowed by the motherboard.. you will need to find out the max ram and type (ddr,ddr2 ect.) used on which ever sys you buy.building your own isn't that hard if you buy the parts,and if youhave an old sys with still useable parts ie cd/dvd, power supply,case ck e-bay or tigerdirect.com

good luck

most consumer pcs are upgradable. unless its a super custom one of a kind system which i doubt walmart would have. so the answer to your question would be that it is upgradable. dell and hp and many others are producing mainstream/economical pcs so all their parts are common and not very special.