RAM: 4gb or 8gb?

im on the hunt for a new laptop and would like some advice on Ram. The laptop would mainly be used for schoolwork word, excel powerpoints etc), internet browsing, music and videos. Im not one for any heavy downloading or gaming. Any advice would be appreciated :smile:

Reply 1

username612415

Buy a 4GB laptop. If you find that's enough, fantastic. If not, RAM sets are cheap and easy to install. It's a win-win.

Reply 2

Iqbal007

Original post by RK94

you should ask us to help in the search, 4gb is more than enough...

Reply 3

RK94

What would you recommend? Was thinking about the MacBook! Seen some heated arguments about MacBooks on this site though haha

Reply 4

Iqbal007

Original post by RK94

What would you recommend? Was thinking about the MacBook! Seen some heated arguments about MacBooks on this site though haha

Hate to say it, but thats a complete overkill for your needs and waste of money currently

Reply 5

mfaxford

Original post by RK94

What would you recommend? Was thinking about the MacBook! Seen some heated arguments about MacBooks on this site though haha

If you want to spend over the odds for some hardware and have to get used to MacOS then go for a macbook. But for most stuff you can get a Windows Laptop for less.

I did have a Macbook Pro previously and whilst it was a nicely put together machine and MacOS at least partially suited my needs (I do a lot of stuff on Linux/Unix systems) I've gone back to windows for laptops as it was cheaper to get a decent laptop and there's a lot more choice over specs.

Reply 6

julianna316

I'm hitting the 4GB limit on my PC.

Firefox takes huge ram space overtime, I also have 2 version of skype running and other things.

I'm upgrading to 8GB

Reply 7

D4N1710

I have 4gb on my Laptop with Windows 8 Pro and Office 365 along with Chrome and multiple windows usually open at any one time and have McAfee running full wack, I usually peak at about 2.5GB being used, so 4GB should be more than fine.

Reply 8

ViperZona

In my old laptop (Dell XPS L702x) I had 6GB's of RAM. Ram upgrade kits are easy to come by. As you'll be using this for schoolwork and surfing the web I suggest you get one with 4GB's of ram.

Reply 9

CelticSymphony67

Anyone know how much it would cost to upgrade my Asus X55c 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM? Cheers in advance.

Reply 10

tooosh

Original post by CelticSymphony67

Anyone know how much it would cost to upgrade my Asus X55c 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM? Cheers in advance.

Probably more than it's worth. DDR3 prices have shot through the roof recently. It's like the floods of last year all over again, except there hasn't been anything like that this year...

But you're looking at £30-50 depending on your current RAM config. If it's 2x2GB you need to get rif of both sticks, if it's 1x4GB you can just add another 4GB stick.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 11

CelticSymphony67

Original post by tooosh

Cheers. I have noticed that the prices have shot up recently. My local computer shop said they would do it for me for £50. I'm still debating whether it is actually worth it.

Reply 12

tooosh

Original post by CelticSymphony67

Cheers. I have noticed that the prices have shot up recently. My local computer shop said they would do it for me for £50. I'm still debating whether it is actually worth it.

If you're not using any apps/enough apps to saturate 4GB plus a decent size swap file then I wouldn't bother. I do quite a lot at once but I only wish I had 8GB in my laptop a couple of days a week :tongue:

Reply 13

Meaux

8GB will be pretty future-proof for the next few years. 8GB imo.
However not really needed on a macbook. Upgrading RAM on a macbook is too expensive.

I have 4GB on my macbook & 16GB on my desktop. I use mac & windows so ^^

Reply 14

danny111

I disagree.

I have found modern laptops to be purposefully difficult to take apart (else you could clean vent easily, replace heat sinks and other things and they would last a lot, lot longer). Plus, I doubt laptops come with extra RAM slots so OP would have to replace 2x2gb by 2x4gb anyway and have paid for the 2x2gb for nothing.

Yes for someone who isn't clumsy you could take it apart and replace bigger RAM, but why the hassle? I bet buying the 8gb version in the first isn't that much more expensive than buying 8gb yourself and then installing it.

Saying that, if he does not intend to use it for gaming, 4gb will probably be enough anyway.

Reply 15

tooosh

Original post by danny111

SODIMM slots are specifically positioned to be easily accessible though.

Reply 16

danny111

Original post by tooosh

SODIMM slots are specifically positioned to be easily accessible though.

Hm, I have never replaced RAM slots on a laptop I have to admit. Replacing the heat sink though, ****ing hassle. I had to remove the keyboard first!!!! And before that the thing that holds the keyboard on and that was so stuck.

Reply 17

tooosh

Original post by danny111

Yeah I had to remove everything from everywhere to clean my CPU and GPU heatsink. But the RAM cover is usually directly accessible from the bottom or just one layer in.

Reply 18

username612415

Original post by danny111

As toosh said, RAM is intentionally easy to replace in virtually every non-ultrabook laptop. Unlike other laptop components you'll find RAM is very rarely proprietary or soldered/boxed in, some laptops even have hatches in the base allowing access to the DIMMs without even needing a screwdriver :yep: