At what point would laptop benefit from more RAM?

[paulri]

You know, I think I'll just spend the extra 40 bucks and get 16 gigs. I'll keep this for at least 2 years and then be sure to buy MUCH more ram than I think I'll need, for my next laptop.

Anyways, thanks to everyone here for helping me out.

 

[ZeeOSix]

16 GB should be plenty, and worth the extra $40.

 

[paulri]

Just got some crucial ram at newegg. A lot of places weren't in stock. I bought the full 16 gig upgrade. I'll keep this for 2 more years and then get a new laptop, but this should be fine for now. Really this is the only thing that I don't like about it after 5 years.

 

[bunnspecial]

FWIW, I have a parallel thread running where I(foolishly) bought a new, unupgradeable computer with 8gb RAM.

Going from a 10 year old computer with 16gb, I can see the difference in tasks that are RAM bound, which unfortunately is a lot of things these days. The one I bought was supposed to be "completely fine" with 16gb because of CPU-RAM-SSD integration that makes swap probably among the fastest on the market, but you can still see when swap is hitting it.

 

[paulri]

Well the web and computing evolves. When I first got this, I was nowhere near 94% of RAM maxed out. In fact, as late as 3 years ago, I wrote in another forum that the LEAST amount of RAM I've had was 2.8 gigs. Now, the most I was getting was 400-600 megs. Perhaps it was that I've started running so many browser tabs open simultaneously. Regardless, like I said above, I'm never going to buy a laptop without a LOT more RAM than I currently think I'll need--unless it would be far cheaper to just do the upgrade myself. RAM upgrades are usually pretty quick on the laptops I've owned.

FWIW, I have a parallel thread running where I(foolishly) bought a new, unupgradeable computer with 8gb RAM.

Going from a 10 year old computer with 16gb, I can see the difference in tasks that are RAM bound, which unfortunately is a lot of things these days. The one I bought was supposed to be "completely fine" with 16gb because of CPU-RAM-SSD integration that makes swap probably among the fastest on the market, but you can still see when swap is hitting it.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Regardless, like I said above, I'm never going to buy a laptop without a LOT more RAM than I currently think I'll need--unless it would be far cheaper to just do the upgrade myself. RAM upgrades are usually pretty quick on the laptops I've owned.

When I bought my laptop about a year ago, Dell didn't even have an option to add just RAM to the computer. It came with 8 GB of RAM, so I just bought another 8 GB stick of RAM on Amazon for $35 and put it in myself, which was pretty easy. Dell's website had the downloadable manuals in PDF, so that helped see how to do it, which was a plus.

 

[paulri]

I have seen some units that Dell or HP would allow you to upgrade certain parts only. But yeah, if a RAM upgrade that is only part of a larger package of hardware that you don't want, then forget it.

I don't think I've ever had to take off anything more than part of the outer cover of the laptop, to upgrade RAM. Those are usually pretty easy, at least on the ones I've had.

Now re-applying thermal compound to the CPU, that was another story.

When I bought my laptop about a year ago, Dell didn't even have an option to add just RAM to the computer. It came with 8 GB of RAM, so I just bought another 8 GB stick of RAM on Amazon for $35 and put it in myself, which was pretty easy. Dell's website had the downloadable manuals in PDF, so that helped see how to do it, which was a plus.

 

[ZeeOSix]

I have seen some units that Dell or HP would allow you to upgrade certain parts only. But yeah, if a RAM upgrade that is only part of a larger package of hardware that you don't want, then forget it.

I don't think I've ever had to take off anything more than part of the outer cover of the laptop, to upgrade RAM. Those are usually pretty easy, at least on the ones I've had.

Now re-applying thermal compound to the CPU, that was another story.

Yeah, I just had to remove the back cover, then the RAM slots were right in the open. Just a little tricky snapping in the new RAM stick to ensure it was well seated and locked in. Booted up and the computer recognized the new RAM and all was well.

 

[PandaBear]

I have seen some units that Dell or HP would allow you to upgrade certain parts only. But yeah, if a RAM upgrade that is only part of a larger package of hardware that you don't want, then forget it.

Once upon a time Dell was online only, and you can buy whatever config you want and that's how they becomes who they were. Until they got so big that nobody else could keep doing this way and make money, and then they start building in China as a whole unit and then ship them to the US on a boat.

Now because they are pre build instead of custom build, you cannot have too many custom config to sell in retail stores. You have to keep them as a package and you have to pick trim level like a car.

I too recently got a $450 HP Ryzen 4700G that came with 8GB / 250GB. It was a beast just right for dad, except the 8GB single stick. So I went eBay shopping and found someone else who toss his 8GB (exact same model number) on eBay and bought it for $25.

I could go buy a kit on newegg for $100, but why do that when I can just wait for someone else to pull theirs and make mine a matching set?

 

[JMJNet]

Now re-applying thermal compound to the CPU, that was another story.

It is not that bad to re-apply heatsink paste.
Most of them will dry up after 5 years or so.
The mfg usually put too much also.

I usually clean the old one from CPU and heatsink.
Then I rub the heatsink with a small dab of car polish to clean it further before putting it back with a pea size of new paste on the CPU.

 

[paulri]

The teardown took a while. Applying the thermal compound, once everything was off, was not bad at all. But tearing down a laptop and hoping that everything will work when you put it back together 'cause this isn't your day job--not fun.

It is not that bad to re-apply heatsink paste.
Most of them will dry up after 5 years or so.
The mfg usually put too much also.

I usually clean the old one from CPU and heatsink.
Then I rub the heatsink with a small dab of car polish to clean it further before putting it back with a pea size of new paste on the CPU.

 

[paulri]

Well the 16 gigs arrived this afternoon. Thankfully I just took off one cover & battery and there it was so that was quick. I'll see if that was what was slowing down my laptop.

 

[paulri]

Available RAM: 8.3 gigs.

Man, I kind of feel like Jeff Bezos looking at his bank account. Can't believe I've got that much.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Available RAM: 8.3 gigs.

Man, I kind of feel like Jeff Bezos looking at his bank account. Can't believe I've got that much.

She's "turboed" now.

 

[Jetronic]

is it working better?

I'm on an old 32 bit core2 du laptop with 4GB, waiting for my (delayed) HP probook with 16GB. This one stops responding for 5-10 secs every once in a while, I suspect page swapping. 221 MB free right now.

 

[paulri]

221 megs of ram is less than I had when mine was slow.

Right now, its too hard to say in that I just haven't spent that much time on my email (which is where the delays would be noticed most of the time). But in the day I've had the upgrade installed, it has been fast. Time will tell.

 

[paulri]

Yes, the RAM upgrade must have resolved the issue, because I have seen the lagging email issue pop up only one time since the upgrade. Right now, I have 68 processes for Edge (web browser) listed in Task Manager, and another 5 for the browser that has my email accounts open--and 6.8 gigs of RAM available.

221 megs of ram is less than I had when mine was slow.

Right now, its too hard to say in that I just haven't spent that much time on my email (which is where the delays would be noticed most of the time). But in the day I've had the upgrade installed, it has been fast. Time will tell.