4gb ram vs 8gb ram

in have an hp hdx18-1180 it currently has 4 gb of ram im thinking of upgrading to 8gb of ram will this make a difference for the money spent to do the upgrade.

 

Not unless you do really - REALLY system-intensive work. I don't really see it being cost effective in pretty much any scenario. If you want to find out how much it will help you, monitor your RAM usage. In Vista and 7, just install the gadget. In XP, download some add-on. If you ever go past 90%, you may need more, but again, it probably won't be cost effective. If you don't reach 90, you don't need more.
Personally, I rarely exceed 80% and I have 4GB.

 

I wouldn't at this point. Unless you so very intensive multitasking right now, 4GB should be more than enough. RAM prices drop as fast as a lead balloon, so the longer you wait, the better a deal you'll be able to get.

Edit: I basically second what weirdo81622 says.

 

difference only if you do a lot of virtual OS's or are CAD heavy....
you also need (and i dont know the model or OS you have) a 64bit OS to tackle and use the 8gb.

 

As stated above, only if you are running the type of programs that need that much. Like what ryujin said. If not, you wont see a performance boost, and the cost it rediculous. Check how much you are using, as Weirdo81622 said.

 

More RAM doesn't give a "performance boost", it gives the user a capacity boost, thus allowing him to do more things with that amount, but not make a machine go faster from 4 - 8GB.

I'm a 8GB user and I can tell you that. All the above are correct. Why I opted for 8GB is because of intensive photoshopping work. I use around 6-7GB every time. Pretty heavy doing posters, banners, architectural renderings and etc.

Not to mention running multiple OSes via VMware for example.

If you're doing the everyday stuff like gaming, MS words/powerpoint and surfing the net seriously save your money; 4GB is very sufficient unless the needs stated above.

Unless if you tell us what kind of stuff that you're doing then maybe we can take a look at it.

 

thanks im just doing normal every day things such as power point i do have the 64 bit version. thanks for all the advice. i downloaded the gadget as suggested.again thanks for helping and saving me money.

 

Many newer games use a lot of ram. I would get it.

 

Well ofcourse it 8gb of ram would be nice, 4gb is satisfying though. I think you should get the 8gb its a fine addition.

 

If you have 32 bit windows then 8gb no worth at all and if 64 bit then I guess <7 gb ram is only used coz of chipset limitation as well as I have not seen any game that uses 4 gb of ram. 8gb=Money in trash

 

Make sure your hardware can support it, other than that like said above you have to be doing very specific things to break the 4gb barrier in the first place to make 8gb ever do anything for you.

I usually use video editing or very high settings in games as my example but on a laptop its hard to get past those barriers as you wont be playing games with ultra high settings, and video editing & large picture editing would be done on a desktop if you were serious about it, not on your laptop.

When the cost of a 2gb sodimm was only a bit more than 1gb, the move to 4gb was logical, but the new 4gb sodimms seem pretty expensive so the move is not as logical nor as needed. I say use the 4gb of ram, run a resource monitor and see how often you fill up that 4gb, if often or ever then you can think more about an upgrade.