Would be best if you could post the specifics of this particular Asus laptop (laptop model number should be a good start).

Another important thing to highlight would be finding out what operating system you are running on. If you are running on a 32-bit operating system, adding more than 4GB of RAM would not benefit you. You will need to have a 64-bit operating system to use > 4GB RAM. (Refer: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wi...8(v=vs.85).aspx)

As for the 2nd monitor, knowing the laptop model number would help as it would inform us of the video connection types that this laptop is able to support.

This post has been edited by Nickimaru: Jul 24 2014, 01:47 PM

Well I tried looking at the Asus website for that model, but seems a bit hard to find. Closest manuals that I could find based on the model number are:
1. http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLan...CA&hashedid=n/a
2. http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLan...5oCjCCNYm9kGdur

Based on those two manuals, it is a bit hard to verify if your laptop has 1 or 2 RAM module slots, as their diagrams are not too clear. Best would be if you could follow the Asus manual to unscrew the RAM compartment cover to verify if it has 1 or 2 RAM module slots. If it only has 1 slot, then you may need to get a 8GB RAM stick. If it has 2, then best would be to get the same RAM stick model as your current one.

As for your monitor, seems that this laptop comes with VGA and HDMI display ports, so you will need to look out for monitors that support these ports. You mentioned your requirement of 15-17" sized monitors, however most modern LCD/LED monitors come at a minimum of 18.5" sizes. Depending on your budget, getting a VGA-only monitor would be cheaper as compared to getting a HDMI-capable monitor.