http://www.edgetechcorp.com/memory/upgrade.asp?cid=30022
Why add memory to my computer?
Adding memory will improve your computer's performance. Specifically, it will speed up opening new applications, running multiple applications at once, and switching between software applications (multi-tasking).
How does additional memory improve performance?
One task that additional memory speeds up is opening a new software application. Let's take this as an example. When you open a new application on your computer, your computer's CPU fetches the application from the hard drive and stores it in RAM memory. It stores it in RAM because RAM is very fast relative to the hard drive. When RAM gets full, and you open a new application then the CPU needs to kick out one of your open applications, put it back on the slow hard drive, fetch the new application from the hard drive, and place the new application in RAM. Basically, it swaps the applications.
This game of swapping wastes time. Ideally, your computer could have an infinite amount of RAM. Then your CPU would fetch an application once from the hard drive, save it into RAM, and never need to kick out another application. There is no such thing as infinite RAM, but you can max out the RAM on your computer by adding the maximum amount of memory to each socket.
What type of memory do I need?
Your Dell Inspiron uses PC-2700 type memory.
What is the maximum amount of memory that I can add?
Your Dell Inspiron can support up to 1280MB of memory. For optimal performance install the maximum amount of memory in each socket.
How much memory does my system have now?
Your system comes standard with 256MB of RAM. If you have upgraded your system then you may have a different amount.
What are banks and sockets?
A bank is a group of memory sockets. A socket is where a memory module is inserted. A bank can have one or more sockets.
One or more of the sockets in your system is already filled with memory. When you upgrade your system, you can either add memory to one of the open sockets and/or remove memory from a filled socket and replace it with a higher capacity memory module.
How many banks and sockets does my Dell have?
Your Dell Inspiron 2200 has 1 bank of 1 socket