Why is the system memory reporting in System Information less than 4GB with 4GB or more installed?

Why is the system memory reporting in System Information less than 4GB with 4GB or more installed?

This is a limitation of the 32 bit Operating System.
If a computer has 4 gigabytes (GB) of random-access memory (RAM) installed, the system memory  that is reported in the System Information dialog box is less than expected.
For example, the System Information dialog box may report 3,120 megabytes (MB) of system memory on a computer that has 4 GB of memory installed (4,096 MB).
Various devices in a typical computer require memory-mapped access.
This is known as memory-mapped I/O (MMIO). For the MMIO space to be available to 32-bit operating systems, the MMIO space must reside within the first 4 GB of address space.
To avoid potential driver compatibility issues, the 32-bit version of an operating system limits the total available memory.

If a computer has many installed devices, the available memory may be reduced to 3 GB or less.
However, the maximum memory available in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista is typically 3.12 GB.

How do I use the Acer Hardware Vendor Detection Utility to find the correct drivers for my computer?

You may have noticed that when downloading drivers from our support site that some drivers may have multiple versions from various vendors. Using the Acer Hardware Vendor Detection Utility, you can determine which driver version is correct for your computer.

To use this utility follow these steps:

1.    Open your web browser and go to Acer Product Support.

2.    Select your product.

3.    Click Select Your product By Model.

4.    On the new window, scroll and select your product line and model from the lists.

5.    Click Confirm once you have your product line and model selected.

6.    Click on the Download Hardware Vendor Detection Utility link at the top of the list of drivers.

7.    Click Run to download and install the utility.

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