Choosing RAM in a laptop

[dream_26]

Greetings to all forum members!

I am contemplating the choice of RAM for my future Lenovo laptop and decided to share my thoughts and seek advice from experienced users. I have several options, each with its own pros and cons.

1. 16 GB DDR4 2400 MHz (1x16 GB):
- Pros: Cost-effective solution, allows for gradual memory expansion.
- Cons: Low clock speed, which may impact performance in certain situations.

2. 8 GB DDR4 3200 MHz (1x8 GB):
- Pros: High clock speed, positively affecting overall system speed.
- Cons: Limited memory capacity, which may pose challenges when handling resource-intensive tasks.

3. 32 GB DDR4 2666 MHz (2x16 GB):
- Pros: Maximum RAM capacity, exceptionally useful for multitasking and resource-intensive applications.
- Cons: Higher in price and not always fully utilized in everyday tasks.

My tasks mainly involve everyday operations - internet surfing, working with office applications, and multimedia content consumption. However, in my free time, I enjoy photo and video editing, so I want my laptop to excel in handling these tasks.

What RAM configuration would you recommend in this situation? Perhaps someone has experience with similar setups on Lenovo laptops? I appreciate any advice and personal experiences in advance!

 

[casperes1996]

Keep in mind that for most CPU’s dual channel memory is supported so running just one memory stick will perform noticeably worse than running two.
In addition to the clock speed there’s also the cas latencies to consider.

I would just get something at jedec speed like 2400mt/s and get a pair of two sticks.

 

[Technerd108]

Get as much dual channel ram as you can afford. I would get more ram as opposed to faster ram. Th difference between 2400 and 2666 are pretty small. The 3200 might be noticeable but if you have enough ram that slight difference in speed won't matter yet if you don't have enough ram it doesn't matter how fast it is. Physical ram and lots of it is going to be better than less faster ram. There are exceptions to this but in terms of what you are looking at I would buy 32 gb of 2666 ram if it is a lot cheaper than the 3200. Just price out 32gb ram at 2400, 2666. and 3200. What is the difference? At 16gb too. Then you will find a sweet spot where the ram is cheapest at a certain speed. Buy as much as you can 16gb as a minimum unless you are getting 2 4gb sticks. Dual channel ram is more important than faster ram too.

Good luck!

 

[iHorseHead]

The saddest part is that in my country, at least I've seen laptops that have 64GB of RAM and 1TB SSD and they cost as much as MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM.
One of them is on discount though, for example:
ASUS ProArt StudioBook Pro W7604J3D-MY074X 16" i9-13980HX 64GB RAM 2TB SSD RTX3000 Windows 11 Professional
and it's cheaper than MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM. It doesn't look as pretty as the MacBook but it really makes you think before getting a Mac.

Laptop MSI Creator Z16 HX Studio B13VGTO-223PL 16" IPS i9-13980HX 64GB RAM 2TB SSD GeForce RTX4070 Windows 11 Professional is also cheaper than the MacBook Pro.

At least Macs with better RAM are available now, because I remember I needed a laptop and I went for a MacBook Air M1 when it was new. I got myself the base model, because the 16GB wasn't available anywhere. I'm fine with my MacBook as for now though. It works well and I've noticed no issues in performance so far. Now that I look at the activity monitor it does use 6.48GB of Swap Memory though…But still, no slowdowns. I'm not sure why Apple devices are so expensive. I mean the used iPhone 7 32GB can go for $200. I think it's one of the reasons why people might be asking so frequently if the 8GB is enough.
MacBook Air 13'' chip M2, 8-core CPU,8-core GPU, 256GB,16GB - Midnight would cost you $2000 USD and when you look at the PCs you can easily get a better laptop with more ram. I don't know if people have the same issue in the other side of the world. I've mentioned it before, but for that kind of money I could pay my rent for 4 months. I hope my MacBook Air M1 will be supported for at least 3 years and I hope it'll run well. Currently I have no issues though. I just wanted you to take it into account.

It's also one of the main reasons people over here go for Android phones, let alone Macs. They look at the storage and they're like: "It's ridiculous to pay that much money for so little storage". On the plus side, everything else costs a lot less for me too. YouTube Premium is cheap and I guess Apple One is cheaper too. I pay like $10 for Apple One and 2TB of iCloud storage. It's also one of the reasons why I used my MacBook Pro mid 2010 with 8GB of RAM for 11 years and survived on it and I even graduated schools with it and everything. I think the main issue wasn't the ram but CPU. I remember when I was exporting my school's Unity project and it really took me around 48 hours and during that time I couldn't touch my laptop and the fans were spinning at all times. I am afraid my MacBook Air will have the same future, but I hope not. It's just there was a noticeable difference on Snow Leopard and High Sierra. By a noticeable difference I mean really noticeable not like couple seconds. It took me awhile to even open the Word app. I mean like 40 seconds, so going from that to MacBook Air M1 was really noticeable and now I can also run Xcode's simulator with other stuff open. On my old MacBook I really couldn't do that and I had to wait for a long time to Simulator to load and I'm talking like 10 minutes here, but now I don't have that issue with my M1 MacBook Air and I hope it'll stay that way.