4 Gb Ram -> 8 Gb Ram, huge difference?

[ThatCoolBlueKid]

And, what if one is an "average enthusiast"?

In all seriousness though, I have not yet run into a problem with 4GB of RAM. But then again, my principal uses are Office (multiple document types open at the same time), browsing (with at least 2-3 tabs open) and sometimes I may have a desktop version of a program also running.

I have 10 tabs, Skype, 4 Excel Sheets, 5 Word pages and Music playing and I'm nowhere near lagging with 4GB of Ram.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I have 10 tabs, Skype, 4 Excel Sheets, 5 Word pages and Music playing and I'm nowhere near lagging with 4GB of Ram.

Yeps...agreed! I think one needs to be a bit realistic when thinking about over-compensating for current and future needs. What is at stake is the difference in costs (not necessarily of the RAM) between a 4GB SP3 and an 8GB one. To me, the difference is a bit too much and the benefits are - again, specific to my use-scenarios - minimal.

Of more relevance is the size of the SSD - this I can understand. Though, again, in my case a judicious mix of local, removable, and cloud storage allows me to work with 128GB.

 

[bulls96]

Not trying to start anything or go off-topic, but this is why I've never liked Norton or Symantec products made in the last many years. They throw so much useless information at mostly clueless users (not necessarily talking about you bulls96!! ) that the poor users have no idea what they're looking at, and soon just ignore every single notification coming from that area.

no offense taken.

Anyway, back to topic. Another point I think of its future proofing. Of I was going to keep this fit at least 3 years, hope the next versions of Windows, PhotoShop etc will not have problems with 4gb ram.

 

[kristalsoldier]

no offense taken.

Anyway, back to topic. Another point I think of its future proofing. Of I was going to keep this fit at least 3 years, hope the next versions of Windows, PhotoShop etc will not have problems with 4gb ram.

I thought about the next version of Windows too before buying my SP3 (since I don't use Photoshop, I did not waste my time on it). To all intents and purposes, I think Win 9 (as and when it is released) will work just fine with 4GB RAM - the idea, I think, is to make the OS more efficient. How would other apps etc. work? Most likely there won't be a problem in that area too. But soon enough (I expect this to happen within the next 5 years or so), the norm would end up being 4GB RAM (in the same way as today, for the most part, the norm is 2GB on computers and at least 1GB on phones).

 

[ThatCoolBlueKid]

I thought about the next version of Windows too before buying my SP3 (since I don't use Photoshop, I did not waste my time on it). To all intents and purposes, I think Win 9 (as and when it is released) will work just fine with 4GB RAM - the idea, I think, is to make the OS more efficient. How would other apps etc. work? Most likely there won't be a problem in that area too. But soon enough (I expect this to happen within the next 5 years or so), the norm would end up being 4GB RAM (in the same way as today, for the most part, the norm is 2GB on computers and at least 1GB on phones).

Microsoft has been on a streak of trying to make their OS's more feature-packed and 'lite'er to make them run more smoothly on less advanced hardware (look at their WindowsPhone line, for example). Considering the continued existence of 2Gb Ram Computers running windows (not flawlessly but running never-the-less I think 4GB should be okay for at least the next Windows iteration and maybe even the one after, unless Ram becomes even cheaper than it already is.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Microsoft has been on a streak of trying to make their OS's more feature-packed and 'lite'er to make them run more smoothly on less advanced hardware (look at their WindowsPhone line, for example). Considering the continued existence of 2Gb Ram Computers running windows (not flawlessly but running never-the-less I think 4GB should be okay for at least the next Windows iteration and maybe even the one after, unless Ram becomes even cheaper than it already is.

I agree. This is my assessment too.

 

[hughlle]

Yeps...agreed! I think one needs to be a bit realistic when thinking about over-compensating for current and future needs. What is at stake is the difference in costs (not necessarily of the RAM) between a 4GB SP3 and an 8GB one. To me, the difference is a bit too much and the benefits are - again, specific to my use-scenarios - minimal.

Of more relevance is the size of the SSD - this I can understand. Though, again, in my case a judicious mix of local, removable, and cloud storage allows me to work with 128GB.

Am am still keeping my mind and wallet open about an 8gb i5, but the opportunity cost really is pretty big for me. If I went 4gb, I could get the surface, the keyboard, and the dock, for the same price as just the 8gb. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow when I know I don't need the 8gb of ram and most likely never will, so basically a 128gb storage bump for the price of a dock and keyboard.

 

[GreyFox7]

Am am still keeping my mind and wallet open about an 8gb i5, but the opportunity cost really is pretty big for me. If I went 4gb, I could get the surface, the keyboard, and the dock, for the same price as just the 8gb. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow when I know I don't need the 8gb of ram and most likely never will, so basically a 128gb storage bump for the price of a dock and keyboard.

Or you could make a different tradeoff and go with a USB 3.0 dock unless you specifically need high end display resolution. The Pluggable one can be had for around $100.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Am am still keeping my mind and wallet open about an 8gb i5, but the opportunity cost really is pretty big for me. If I went 4gb, I could get the surface, the keyboard, and the dock, for the same price as just the 8gb. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow when I know I don't need the 8gb of ram and most likely never will, so basically a 128gb storage bump for the price of a dock and keyboard.

I followed a similar decision-path. And, yes, I paid a lot of attention to the opportunity cost, which in the case of the SP3 (between the various versions) is very high, IMO, that is.

 

[ThatCoolBlueKid]

Am am still keeping my mind and wallet open about an 8gb i5, but the opportunity cost really is pretty big for me. If I went 4gb, I could get the surface, the keyboard, and the dock, for the same price as just the 8gb. That's a pretty hard pill to swallow when I know I don't need the 8gb of ram and most likely never will, so basically a 128gb storage bump for the price of a dock and keyboard.

Consider the price of a 128GB mSD Card being about $120 when you consider the upgrade from i5/128gb to i5/256gb.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra...407423403&sr=8-1&keywords=128gb+micro+sd+card

 

[Liam2349]

4GB will be fine. I have a desktop with 8GB, but SP3 is not a performance device. You buy an SP3 because of the amazing features it has.

 

[hughlle]

Consider the price of a 128GB mSD Card being about $120 when you consider the upgrade from i5/128gb to i5/256gb.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra...407423403&sr=8-1&keywords=128gb+micro+sd+card

I would not buy an SD card for it. I would simply compromise with what I keep on it, like I do with every device. And if I really need it, I've already got a spare 32gb card sat in an old mobile phone.