Determining the specs for a new laptop or a laptop upgrade can be a delicate balancing act. Memory or RAM is the perfect example of this. The more memory-intensive tasks you do, the more RAM you should have. Many laptop shoppers know this, but not exactly how much to get. These days, most Windows laptops come with 4GB as the baseline configuration, and for good reason. That means the laptop should have user-accessible SODIMM slots, ideally with one unpopulated so you can immediately drop in another module.
For Chromebooks, 2GB of RAM will still limit the number of browser tabs you can have open, but that amount is liveable.
One of the other things we looked at was how memory use impacted game performance, and how much memory you might need in order to multitask while gaming. So long as your gaming rig can handle the game, these simple uses should work without a memory upgrade. Key takeaway: Opt for 8GB of RAM if you want decent performance on less demanding titles, but go for 16GB if you want to play the latest and most resource intensive hits.
But what about those times you need to jump back and forth between programs, flipping back and forth between files and tools? First, we started at a basic level. We opened all of our office files, maxing out the least demanding test we ran. Then we opened up 10 browser tabs, followed by 2 media streams one audio, one video.
On our 4GB system, this was enough to overwhelm the laptop, causing the system to slow to a crawl, and basic functionality to become inconsistent. Mouse clicks failed to register, simple documents struggled to scroll smoothly, and even gathering the screenshots we used to document our testing became difficult.
As we were able, we also ran Photoshop, with 10 photos open. We did this on both the Dell Inspiron 17 and the Alienware 15, without trouble. While it was the only system equipped with the graphics capability needed to run the game, it was also interesting to see how demanding the game was, especially when run in conjunction with our other tests. Simply running the game uses an additional 2GB of memory, but with little difference in memory load between running and actively playing the game, we simply left it running for the duration of testing.
Once these baseline tests were running, we proceed to ratchet up the memory demands incrementally, first by adding another 10 browser tabs, then another 2 audio streams, followed by an additional 10 photos in Photoshop.
The 8GB Dell Inspiron 17 continued with normal functioning. We did this again, bumping up to 30 tabs, 6 stream and 30 photos. Everything still worked, including the game. We repeated the increasing demands, stepping up to 40 Chrome tabs, 8 media streams and 40 photos in Photoshop. Switching between windows became difficult and the laptop finally locked up when we tried to open more browser tabs or photos.
The 16GB Alienware 15 held strong, but the in-use memory approached the 14GB mark, while the amount of free memory dwindled to nearly zero. At this point we started to see programs slow down, with jittery navigation and slowness in loading files as they were opened.
RAM speed also known as clock speed or frequency is measured in megahertz MHz. This measure tells you how many times your RAM can access its storage space per second. Also, it is important to note that desktop computers use a different kind of RAM than laptops. However, you will see a slight boost in performance with faster RAM if your other components can handle it.
Using this recommended speed can also boost performance, but only slightly. Also, you need to make sure that your motherboard supports higher RAM speeds. For RAM sticks with identical speeds and chip versions, lower latency is better. While DDR3 generally has lower latencies than DDR4, the latter compensates with much higher speeds that deliver better performance. Then type Task Manager into the search bar and click Open. Next, click the Performance tab, and you will see how much RAM you have in the top-right corner.
You can also access this window by right-clicking on your Taskbar at the bottom of your screen and selecting Task Manager. Then go to the Utilities folder and open the Activity Monitor app. Finally, click the Memory tab, and you will see how much memory you have next to Physical Memory. Now that you know what RAM is and how much memory your computer has, check out our list of the best desktop computers if you want to upgrade.
You need to make sure that your motherboard actually supports the memory speed your modules are rated for and that it supports XMP most modern motherboards do. As for the performance benefit of faster memory, it really depends. Different applications react differently to faster memory, and there are even differences between Intel and AMD.
This can be critical to performance depending on your configuration. Similarly, certain Intel chips, such as the Core i, take kindly to faster memory. If your system does eventually become restricted by RAM, you can just add more.
Galaxy Buds 2 Best Movies on Netflix. See more What is RAM? This is fine for basic Windows gaming at lower settings, but rapidly runs out of steam. Gamers can enjoy a small performance improvement in some demanding games, too. An introduction to RAM Memory capacity is often confused with the long-term storage offered by a solid-state or mechanical hard drive. DDR6 is in development but not readily available. How much RAM for tablets?
How much RAM for laptops?
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