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Your next Windows PC may need at least 16GB of RAM (www.ghacks.net)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

why no 12 GBS of RAM? IDK

Because computing architecture is based around powers of 2, and having memory that follows that pattern is more efficient.

What I think you guys all mean with 8 GBs of RAM is the bare minimum for nowadays standard is if you use it for IT related topics or you like to hoard stuff in it (which ain’t bad, unused RAM is wasted RAM after all) or simply depend on heavy programs which ain’t the web browser,

I would disagree. Even casual usage these days is much more demanding than it once was. Try having Chrome, Spotify, and Discord open all at once. You're going to start pushing that 8 GB further than you'd imagine. Plus, look at the new apple silicon macbooks. They put 8 GB in as the baseline saying shit like "since we designed it to all work together, it's more efficient", and real world test have shown that to be complete nonsense.

4 GB is completely unacceptable for deskop/laptop usage and would be a miserable, if not nearly unusable experience.

16 GB right now is definitely the baseline any new machine should have. I have a MacBook Pro from 2015 that has 16 GB and it still feels reasonably comfortable to use.

I do agree with your central premise here that it's absurd that we need so much. But it's just what happens as hardware advances, software developers push the limits of what the hardware can handle. Either that, or they're just lazy and don't bother optimizing since they think the machine can handle it (looking at you Chrome devs, and anyone who uses Electron).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Because computing architecture is based around powers of 2, and having memory that follows that pattern is more efficient.

But what about Android phones? I see there are not many issues on that side with that amount.

Try having Chrome, Spotify, and Discord open all at once. You're going to start pushing that 8 GB further than you'd imagine.

Yeah, I see a pattern here, all of that is Chrome lol.

My former work PC (which I mentioned before) that had 4 GBs of RAM required to be running always Windows 11 with Chrome, Microsoft Dynamics, Outlook, Microsoft Word, Excel, Sumatra PDF and some other few apps, so yeah I agree it was miserable, but I remember I could have Spotify as well, and AFAIK there are still Chromebooks shipped with 4 GBs of RAM? Granted they are more alike to a phone than a PC.

(looking at you Chrome devs, and anyone who uses Electron).

Definitely, my girlfriend uses a lot Notion on my Mac, and while the RAM isn't an issue there we can see the fans spinning non stop when it is in use lol, I told her to open it on a Firefox tab and it was much much quieter.