is the 8gb ram worth it?

[jakebake]

Hi guys! So I preordered the i5 128gb pro 3 but now thinking I should have gotten the 8gb ram version. Its mostly for school but I will play some games on it as well. How much of a difference will the extra ram make? I dont need the extra storage so wish it was not an extra 300 dollars. Lastly, I was able to get the 10% student discount. Is this only for one order? I tried using it for the 256 gb i5 version to see the exact price but it wouldnt work. Maybe I have to cancel my other preorder first.

One more thing… anyone know if the devices should arrive on the 20th? Thinking about preordering at the microsoft store instead

 

[unruledboy]

if you won't buy a new one within 2 years, maybe think about how good the performance will be in windows 9 or windows 10 and all the memory hungry apps.....

 

[daniielrp]

all the memory hungry apps.....

Such as....?

8GB is not necessary unless you are running a program that will really, really need it. Obviously if you can afford it is always better for "future proofing", but for school work and gaming (the type of games the Intel 4400 is capable of playing) I can't imagine 4GB being a problem.

 

[kozak79]

It's not just about running a program that needs 8 gb of RAM, it's also about running many applications at the same time without having to close one or the other. If you are just using Word and browsing the web, 4 GB is fine. If you need photoshop open, also maybe illustrator and chrome or internet explorer, if you start reaching the ram limit, windows will start using your hard drive as a scratch disk and things will get really slow.

I've ran into memory issues editing multiple images in photoshop with 8 gb. And on my work workstation I even run into memory limits with some tasks using up all of my 64 gb or ram. Playing BF4 on my laptop I sometimes get "Low Memory" popup with 8 gb of ram.

 

[Seneleron]

Are you sure you have enough pagefile? I had that problem on the SP2 4 gig with Diablo 3, then I had it with the 8 gig SP2 with Diablo 3. Turns out it was just whining for more than 1 gig pagefile...

 

[ipaq_101]

Depends what you will be using it for in school, just for taking notes and writing a paper, 4GB is plenty. I got it for business school because they do run a lot of financial models, data heavy tasks that require a lot of processing power and memory. I am sure 4GB would work but it would be slower, that's the only reason I opted for 8GB.

 

[Zkyevolved]

4gb is more than enough for 90% of the people. It really depends on what you're going to be using it for. I'd say that 4 is more than enough. For very aggressive apps I use my desktop with a large screen and better internals. But the surface is more than up to the task of heavy apps but 4gb is plenty.

I just bought the surface pro 2 8 months ago, which for computers is not that long ago. But for a phone or tablet with android or ios it is. I totally want the surface pro 3 but the sp2 with 4gb ram is awesome. I'd say get what makes you happy. I believe 4 gb is enough for a normal user and even for a lot of heavy users. But 8gb is awesome to have too... decisions decisions. Lol.

 

[scottysize]

It's not a single program that causes the problem. It's running multiple programs at once. I always say, go big on RAM and stay in the middle on CPU. More RAM wins out every time you have a slowness problem. And let's face it, all version of MS are RAM hogs.

Now, let the Scott bashing begin.

 

[Jvette]

The difference between 4gb and 8gb is like night and day. If you ever plan on running photoshop you really need the 8gb. You also have to remember that the sp3 is a 64 bit and can really use up ram. Opening and leaving applications open will really push 4gb where 8 will handle it much better. So it really doesn't mean the SP3 will run faster but will work better with more programs open at a time.

 

[daniielrp]

The difference between 4gb and 8gb is like night and day. If you ever plan on running photoshop you really need the 8gb. You also have to remember that the sp3 is a 64 bit and can really use up ram. Opening and leaving applications open will really push 4gb where 8 will handle it much better. So it really doesn't mean the SP3 will run faster but will work better with more programs open at a time.

Nah, I run Photoshop a lot editing or creating pics and it never feels slow. Even on my old laptop that had a 1st gen Core i5 with 4GB never felt slow running photoshop. I agree more memory is better but getting for the sake of getting it is not a prudent use of money.

 

[jakebake]

Thats what I was thinking. Ill never use photoshop but my gf uses it on a two year old imac with 4 gigs ram just fine. I open a lot of sites at once but even on my gaming desktop I had 4 gigs for a long time and recently upgraded to 8 and not sure it made much of a.difference. I am a finance major and just about to get to into actual finance classes in the fall. Right now besides gaming and browsing only programs I run are think or swim, excel and occasionally stat programs.
How much of a difference will the upgrade make for gaming? Arg I wish they had a 128/8 version.

 

[scottysize]

Thats what I was thinking. Ill never use photoshop but my gf uses it on a two year old imac with 4 gigs ram just fine. I open a lot of sites at once but even on my gaming desktop I had 4 gigs for a long time and recently upgraded to 8 and not sure it made much of a.difference. I am a finance major and just about to get to into actual finance classes in the fall. Right now besides gaming and browsing only programs I run are think or swim, excel and occasionally stat programs.
How much of a difference will the upgrade make for gaming? Arg I wish they had a 128/8 version.

On your gaming desktop, and this might sound stupid, so forgive me if it is; are you running 32-bit version or 64-bit version? I only bring it up because 32-bit is what a lot of gamers use to run because the games ran better on it. I still have buddies I play with that will not install 64-bit because their old games won't work with 64-bit.