How important is it to have to option to upgrade to 4 Gb RAM?

Hi all,

I'm shopping around for a new notebook and in the process I came across this question: does it really matter to be able to upgrade to 4 gb RAM?

Quite some laptops that are on the market now support max. 2 gb RAM. So can I get one of these without worries or should I really hold out for one that supports 4 gb?

So the question is really:
do you think that in the next 2-3 years there will be a time that the average notebook user will
a) feel the need to upgrade to over 2 gb RAM and
b) RAM memory larger than 1 gb will be cheap enough to justify putting into a 2-3 year old notebook (instead of just keeping the old laptop for little stuff or finding it a new home and purchasing a new one, including more RAM etc. for the heavy lifting)?

I would appreciate your views.

 

Of course, its depends how the user use his/her note. As for me, since I have my notebook for at least 2 years now, 1 GB is plenty for average non-gamer user for XP...but as Vista, I am thinking about 2 GB will do enough.

JC

 

I wouldn't worry about getting a laptop that supports 4GB of RAM. Many new laptops do though.
Even with Windows Vista (which you should have 1GB of RAM for in order to have the OS and a few programs open to be able to run smoothly), I doubt that, with the exception of gamers and users of heavy programs (Photoshop, 3D modeling software, and so on), users are going to need more than 2GB. Around 1GB or over, but not more than 2GB.

 

2GB should be suitable for some time - at least a year or two.

 

2 gb is more then enough for most things right now, unless you let windows take it all, because it will. There is no reason for it now, besides bragging rights and if you need that much with a program like soildworks, photoshop, or extreme video encoding/ decoding.

 

For typical use, 2GB should be more than sufficient for now.

 

edit: do you play alot of games on the laptop? if not you'll never need that much. few years ago I upgrade to 1gb ram and still uses even now.


also to get 4 gb full upgrade will cost around 400$, I don't think ill ever spend that much

 

To give you guys an idea of the RAM trends, four years ago I bought a notebook with 512MB SDRAM, and today it still comes standard on most notebooks. Getting 2GB today will guarantee you at least another four years before you need to upgrade again.

 

In the future, Yes..
Not now yet...

 

I wouldn't let the maximum RAM capacity be a deciding factor in my buying decision. As mentioned, there are a lot of systems with 4 GB max capacity available already anyway.

I think 2 GB will be enough for a while--at least until you're going to want a nother notebook.

 

Technology doesn't not necessary workout that way. Have you heard of the law of acceleration returns? Look it up in wikipedia.

We have different definitions for "typical use." But the comments mentioned already should be sufficient enough to explain it.

 

Without getting too much into it, lets just say you have the Gator's word that in four years, 2GB of RAM will come as the standard minimum on all basic home computing laptops. And the performance then will be similar to 512MB today for Windows XP. Yes, I borrowed the DeLorean to check out some things.

 

Thanks for all the replies.
So my conclusion would be that the possibility to upgrade to 4 gb is more a sales pitch right now then something that anyone (except of course the few who really find use for it and are willing to spend the money) would really want to do during the life cycle of a notebook.

 

Right. Most notebooks are kept for 2-3 years and in that time I think 4Gb may become like 2Gb is now, i.e. good for advanced gaming and high end applications but really of little use to a regular user. One would certaonly hope 2Gb sodimms come down in price in that time!

 

yep.. you also won't benefit anything having 4gb of ram while the programs you're running doesn't need that much. And there isn't really any program that I know of using alot of memory ram.

If you want to know how much ram the programs you are running uses, just right-click the taskbar, choose task manager, and click on processes toolbar.

 

I guess if you are running a VM (virtual machine) you would have the freedom to make use of 4 gb's of ram. For those that don't use VM's, they work by allocating ram directly to the guest OS.

Even then 4gb of ram seems to me a bit much.

 

By default, Windows XP 32-bit only lets applications have access to 2GB, with the other 2GB going to the Windows kernel. It is possible to give 3GB to applications by starting Windows with the /3GB switch (in the boot.ini file), with only 1GB given to the kernel.

So, if you using 32-bit Windows then applications will only ever be able to access a maximum of 3GB. However, if you use 64-bit Windows (eg. x64, Server 2003, Vista 64-bit) which can access 128GB then the 4GB path is probably a worthwhile upgrade path option, even if you only get 2GB now.

 

I thought XP could only use up to 3Gb?

 

Not if you use XP x64, which can handle up to 128GB.

 

XP could handle 4GB if it were not for some of that 4GB address space being reserved for system hardware (buses, links, etc). You actually see around 3.25-3.5GB depending on your system configuration.

 

Even when I run alot of heavy programs in Vista at the same time, it still runs decent on 2Gigs. Even if you had 4Gigs, running alot of stuff won't keep things running perfectly smooth. You got to factor in the processor and the HD speed etc: etc:

 

Not sure about the AMD's, but it's been proven that Core 2 Duo's perform quite a bit faster in benchmarks when 2GB is installed compared to 1GB.

I agree 2GB is probably more than enough for most people at the moment, although this will no doubt change over the next few years with new games/apps/OS's that are released in the future.

 

Im upgrading to 4 gb as soon as the dimms cost 200$ each.

Might upgrade to 3 gb first then 2 gb.

Cant have too much ram

Or if you can, its nowhere near 4 gb thats too much
16 gb is probably too much....


12 gb ram i could use.

 

Wow, thread back from the dead.

Anyway, what OS are you running?

 

The poll answers that question. Only a handful of people need to have 4 GB of ram. 2 GB of ram should be plenty for now.

 

what if you disable or lower virtual memory to 10mb.
that way it will only rely on physical memory.
i know 1GB for me still uses the VM.

wont the system benefit from a 2GB or more?

with 2 GB, will you be able to have VM disabled and play games?

 

2gb is recommended for gamers. Running XP with 2gb, i almost never have less than 800mb to 1gb of free ram even under heavy multitasking and gaming. 4gb is a waste of money unless you plan on opening 20 apps and using them all at the same time, which is pretty pointless in the end.

 

Well I think 2GB is enough for now, but who knows what the future holds? I used to run Command and Conquer 3 on my E6600 laptop with 2GB of PC6400 Ram and it would hit 96% memory usage.

At some point in two years you may either want to upgrade or replace your laptop. I think having the ability to extend to four gig will be a key selling point if you do sell it, however if you upgrade then you can replace the RAM along with the HD if required.

I recently choose between the R20 Samsung and the N100 Lenovo, one of the factors for choosing the R20 was the ability to go to 4GB over 2GB limited of the N100. I had my previous laptop for 2 years, I sold it on at above 50% of the price I purchased it for, but it was still in a workable condition, I sold it to finance the desktop which I sold to finance the R20! But in two years I have a better chance of upgrading or selling the R20 than the N100.

2GB was deemed the sweet spot for XP, people have said 4GB for Vista, I'll see how Command and Conquer 3 runs on my laptop in terms of memory usage and I'll see, but 2GB is enough for now.