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What is RAM ....

Ok so I have to get this software for uni which recommends 4GB of ram. I've also been recommended to get a laptop with 4GB of RAM and another programme that needs 1GB.
So does this mean that one programme will take up all the memory on my computer!? Or does it just mean the a 4GB RAM would let the programme work the most effectively?
So I guess I need to know what RAM is to work this out....

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Reply 1

anosmianAcrimony

I know that it stands for Random Access Memory, but I don't really know what that means. Sorry.

Reply 2

Andy98

Original post by maths_4_life

RAM is kinda like your laptop's short term memory. In this case it means that the laptop would handle the programme that needs 1GB with no problem. It will struggle to run the two programmes at the same time - I personally would recommend a laptop with 8GB RAM.

Reply 3

Bigdobber

Ewe could look it up on internet

Reply 4

Andy98

Original post by anosmianAcrimony

I know that it stands for Random Access Memory, but I don't really know what that means. Sorry.

See above.

Reply 5

Amellia123

Its kind of like a quick access memory that the program/PC to perform a specific task. Usually the more RAM you have the faster your PC carried out a task (I think)
This can explain it better than me
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm

Reply 6

PaulACP

Yeah, 4 isn't enough these days. Get one with 8 GB.

Reply 7

maths_4_life

Original post by Andy98

Oh I get you! Thank you!

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Reply 8

Bigdobber

I was having a laugh ,notice how I spelled you,does anybody on these sites have a sense of humour.DONT THINK SO

Reply 9

maths_4_life

Original post by Andy98

Could I still have both on the laptop and they would work well as long as I wasn't using both at the same time. Or could I only have one of the programmes on the laptop for it to work well?

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Reply 10

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by maths_4_life

RAM is a type of memory that is like a temporary storage for your computer's processor (the brain) to "think". When the computer is turned off it all disappears. The more RAM you have the faster your PC can run things. If you had 2GB of RAM that software would run more slowly or not at all.

I think you are confusing it with hard drive memory or some other form of permanent storage. That's the space that gets used up permanently when you install new software.

Reply 11

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by maths_4_life

You can have both pieces of software on you laptop. The only limit is the size of the hard rive which is much much bigger than RAM. If the software you want is demanding on the computer's computing capability then you may get slow down if you try using other intensive software along side it. You will already use multiple software at the same time whenever you are multitasking, have a word document open along side an internet browser for example. Those programs are not very intensive nowadays so you have as many windows open as you like.

Reply 12

maths_4_life

Original post by Bigdobber

I was having a laugh ,notice how I spelled you,does anybody on these sites have a sense of humour.DONT THINK SO

I had a good chuckle

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Reply 13

maths_4_life

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

Oh ok so this step up with the two programmes on the 4gb ram lap top would be fine? And I could use them both at the same time if I wanted to?

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Reply 14

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by maths_4_life

Oh ok so this step up with the two programmes on the 4gb ram lap top would be fine? And I could use them both at the same time if I wanted to?

Posted from TSR Mobile

You can definitely have them both installed on you laptop.

Yes you can use them at the same time. Although it varies. It depends on how the software is made and how intensive it is. You may get a bit of slow down if you have very intensive programs running at the same time, but you can only find that out by trying it. I imagine would would be easily able to use a Word processor along side this software that requires 4GB of RAM.

Also it isn't as simple as just adding up the RAM requirements. All that happens is you get slow down if things get to much for the processor. Just install all the software you need and see how it runs.

Reply 15

user382

My Macbook Air 11 has 4GB RAM and it works perfectly. :h:

Reply 16

maths_4_life

Ok I think it will probably be fine then unless I can upgrade for a good price

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Reply 17

Andy98

Original post by maths_4_life

Yeah, the larger one may be a little bit slower though

Reply 18

NX172

Original post by maths_4_life

RAM is short term memory. It disappears when you switch off the machine and is used to allow a program to run in fast access. Imagine you have 4 boxes in your home to store things. This is your RAM, it's close-by so you can get to what you need quickly. Imagine you have some boxes in your parents' home, this is like your hard drive. You store things there for the long term, have plenty of storage space but it takes ages to go there and pick something up.

The act of running a program is the same. If Microsoft Word had to dash to your hard drive for fonts every time you wanted to type something, it would be disastrously slow.

Generally, 4GB is the recommended amount nowadays for light computation. Such as editing documents, browsing the web with a few windows and tabs open, listening to music, etc. For a modern Operating System, perhaps 1GB-2GB of the 4GB would've been already allocated to the operating system ex. Windows 7. Imagine you have a few tabs open in Chome, that's another 600MB gone. You'd be left with 1.4GB~ of RAM to open your university application. If it's computationally expensive, it may exceed this 1.4GB of RAM usage. Once you run out of RAM, your computer will take a huge hit as your computer is now borrowing space from the hard drive to use as RAM, but as we know, making a run to the HDD for every little bit of data is going to be slow. Therefore how much RAM you need depends on how much you're multitasking and how demanding each program is. Always account for some memory being taken by the operating system. For most people, 4GB is ample. If things start getting slow then just close down some things to free up the RAM and things should go back to normal.

~Comp Sci graduate / 4 years working professional in Software