Kryten is a Series 4000 mechanoid, the neurotic robotic servant appearing in cult British sitcom Red Dwarf. So what's he got to do with your computer, apart from the somewhat stereotypical link between geeks and science fiction? Well, the Kryten character was played (in all but the first appearance) by the actor Robert Llewellyn. An actor who has been hired by computer upgrade outfit Crucial.com to present an information video encouraging people, surprise surprise, to upgrade their laptop memory rather than throw it away just because it's running slowly or freezing regularly.
Crucial has undertaken research recently which shows that an estimated 5,528 tonnes of computer scrap is produced in the UK every year from desktop and laptop computers alone. That's the equivalent of 790 double-decker London buses, for example, or more than 580 million British pound coins. Yet 73% of those surveyed admitted they had thrown out a computer, and 38% said they did so as they wanted a device that booted faster, ran faster and could handle multiple simultaneous tasks. This 'scrap' correlation is another link to Llewellyn, interestingly, as he also hosted the popular UK cult TV game show 'Scrapheap Challenge'.
"I'm no stranger to the amount of useful items we throw out in the UK; I've seen all sorts of interesting things that people discard as rubbish" Llewellyn says, adding "although people like me can usually find a use for this so called ‘waste,' it would be much simpler and cost-effective if we could think more carefully about how to improve the lifespan of the products we use at home."
Amen to that. Yet for some reason this logic does not seem to apply to laptops and PCs. Most probably because normal folk, unlike those of us who frequent IT support forums such as DaniWeb, think that a memory upgrade is the preserve of Bill Gates and his mates. Anything that can dispel this myth, and save the planet from unnecessary computing waste pollution, has to be a good thing. Which is why we recommend pointing any non-tech relatives and friends at this video featuring Robert Llewellyn, and if they have any problems in performing an upgrade, or their computer is still running slowly afterwards, introducing them to the PC Hardware forums here at DaniWeb where a community of helpful folk are on hand to guide and advise.
