Laptop Memory - How Much Memory do I Need?
As the saying goes you can never be too rich or too thin, so goes it with Laptop memory you can never have too much. But the real question is what is the minimum memory needed to do get my job done.
I will pass on the special requirements of gamers and assume you know what you need, but rather focus on the typical mobile users who are using their laptops for work and a little personal enjoyment i.e. iTunes, DVD movies and etc.
Minimum Memory
For a Windows XP laptop the minimum memory range is 512KB to 1 GB of RAM memory and less for older versions. However that assumes an anti-virus and another application like MS Word are not running at the same time. The more applications you have running at the same time, the more your laptop has to move parts of the application to the hard drive which is a big performance penalty.
The more programs you have running at the same time a higher RAM memory helps improve performance. So if you are running your IM, Music player, and your Word Processor on the minimum memory requirement you will see a performance hit - either a longer time to respond or drops in music.
The maximum memory in your laptop that you can use on a Windows XP or Vista 32-bit version, which is what most of users currently have, is 4GB. The 64-bit version of the operating systems can address much more memory but there is problem with availability of hardware drives support and availability of 64-bit application software to use. For most of the applications that we would use on our laptops there is little performance gains by going to 64-bit software, of course as time passes the newest software will also be written for 64-bit OS so a good bet here is to buy a 64 bit microprocessor and use a 32-bit OS until the market makes the shift to 64-bit software.
Lots of things affect overall performance like using Ethernet connections, hard drive performance, and the number of programs running at the same time. These all impact overall laptop performance. Here is a set of general guide lines to help you estimate how much RAM memory you might need.
512MB
Will let you do basic things like run one application at a time, not really what I expect you would want to do.
1GB
Will allow you to use your application and not have to shut down other applications. You will notice that applications will launch faster and switching between them is easier.
2GB
Will allow to be running your MS Office, iTunes, and favorite IM with no major disruptions.
4GB (The most memory for a 32-bit laptop system)
Will allow you to be running multiple heavy resource programs like MS Office, MS Project and iTunes and not feel like your machine is going away for long periods of time before it does the action you want.
4+ GB
The new 64-bit computers can run either the current 32-bit OS and application software or the new 64-bit OS like Windows Vista but with very few software drivers and applications available for you the potential of not be able to use hardware and some older applications that might still be running at 16-bit is high.
