Memory upgrade from 3GB to 4GB or 6GB?

Right now I'm at 3GB. I have Win 7 Pro 64-bit, so I can definitely take advantage of the upgrade.

If I upgrade to 4GB (buy a 2GB), it costs me $46.
If I upgrade to 6GB (buy a 4GB), it costs me $100.

From what I'm reading on the forums, very few people actually benefit from more than 4GB. I'm probably not one of those few (with some occasional exceptions). However, I do intend to keep my laptop for a few years before buying a new one, and I figure I'll probably upgrade to 6GB at some point. And instead of paying the $100 or $80 or whatever then, I might as well pay an extra $54 and upgrade now.

Any thoughts? Is my reasoning good?

 

Why do you need 6GB of RAM? If you don't have specific programs in mind (such as VMs), you probably won't benefit from it at all. 4GB is plenty for nearly all users, and I would argue that even 3GB is plenty of buffer for most users. If you do know that you will need 6GB, then yes, it probably would be a smarter upgrade to jump directly to 6GB. Otherwise, I would encourage you to stick with either 3GB, or move to 4GB.

 

i would get 4GB but it depends on ur uses.. 4GB is really more than enough in most cases..

 

Going to 4GB would not be noticeable.
6GB would be more 'future proof' should your needs go up and you give your system double more headway.

Besides, you have a 64bit OS, might as well take advantage of it properly.
With 6GB, you are doubling your RAM capacity and therefore would have more headway (especially for a 64bit OS) for various programs.

If $54 is not that big of a difference to you, then go with 6GB.

 

I just went from 2g to 8g in an Alienware m11x and am startled by the difference.
The first thing I noticed was the startup time was dramatically lessened.
Ram is so cheap now,why not if you can?

I am just aggravated that they fill both slots from the factory so I had to remove everything it had to upgrade.

 

Look back into the past, how long did you keep each of your laptop? If it's about 3 years then I'd say just upgrade to the maximum capacity of memory (usually 8GB) and you won't be thinking of upgrading all the time. Typically each generation of technology won't live longer than 1.5 years and you'll find it more and more difficult to purchase compatible memory modules in the future.

 

3GB is enough and you really don't need to buy more.

 

Thanks for the advice everybody!!

Well I kept my last computer for about 5 years. I'm 1 year in with my current one. If I decide to keep it for the same amount of time, I imagine, programs will start to take advantage of more RAM within the next 4 years, right?

 

3gb is good enough if you want spend a lil bit more and get a SSD. Prices are somewhat dropping on the intel G2. I was in the same boat as you, was planning on upgrading my ram but decided to get intel G2. You will benefit more from a SSD then ram