I wanted 4GB, the maximum supported, and upgrading was done at the store -- the technician removed the top keyboard, then removed the motherboard, since the single memory slot is under the motherboard (No, the motherboard is facing the bottom of the notebook). I wouldn't and couldn't do this upgrade myself. The technician swapped the 2GB with the 4GB, and I am left with a 2GB memory for my older laptop.
Installing Xubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) proved to be a big challenge, and I had to do the install three to four times, resulting in failures, and the destruction of the default Windows 7 installation. The reason for my failures is my lack of knowledge of GPT partitions used in the ASUS X401A, since I am more familiar with MBR partitions used in older and smaller disks. GPT partitions support more than four primary partitions, and is the partitioning technology used in the newer terabyte disks, and in the X401A, even if it has only 500GB. Doing a Google search on "Installing Xubuntu 12.04 on ASUS X401A" did not yield any useful results.
The correct install procedure is to use cgdisk, a GPT partitioning tool, to create a 32MB or larger partition marked "EFI Boot partition", a 8GB Linux swap partition (twice the memory size), a 2-10GB Linux ext4 partition for /boot, a 40-80GB Linux ext4 partition for Linux root /, and optional partitions for /home, /usr, and /var. After partitioning, the rest of the installation is a breeze, as is usual with most Ubuntu installations.
Now, I have a working Xubuntu installation, which I am tailoring for C/Java program development, minor web server testing, and the usual OOwriter/calc/impress/draw daily work routine. I am immensely satisfied with the work that I have done.
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