Gateway Upgrades Retail PCs To Up To 6 GB Of Memory

[Eidorian]

I've seen some HP models with 6 GB in this past Sunday's ads. They're really gearing up for back to school. I don't even have 6 GB of RAM.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Gateway,5795.html

 

[mkrishnan]

It's kind of insane that a $1200 computer comes with 6GB of memory... I somehow doubt very many "Back to school" purchasers are going to use that much RAM.

 

[PlaceofDis]

they just do this, and usually use cheap ram to inflate the number and make it seem like its necessary when its not. bigger #s = better syndrome.

 

[mkrishnan]

I know with OS X, Linux, and WinXP, it's fairly hard to get the computer to use >2GB in "general purpose computing" -- opening lots of Office docs and a bunch of browser tabs and windows and playing videos and stuff isn't going to use that kind of memorry. Is Vista different in this regard?

 

[Eidorian]

2 GB is enough for everyday use in Vista. To be honest I'm considering 4 GB to be the minimum for everyday use today.

 

[ReanimationLP]

Yeah, both HP and Gateway are now shipping machines with 6GB of RAM installed, in 2x2048MB modules, and 2x1024MB modules.

 

[zakatov]

Vista, just like OSX uses all the available memory for disk caching, so even if the open apps don't use that much memory, the computer will still work faster because it doesn't have to hit the HD as much when opening apps and/or files. I say good for them, RAM is cheap (4GB kit from Crucial: $103), Apple should follow.

 

[gkarris]

2 GB is enough for everyday use in Vista. To be honest I'm considering 4 GB to be the minimum for everyday use today.

I was at an MS seminar and the speakers were talking about how Vista's real min is 2 Gig, 4 Gig for AVERAGE computing.

So 6-8 would be for normal computing.

Assumption too is 4 Gig will be the new MINIMUM for Windows 7...

People are maybe trying to buy machines that are future-proof (i.e. PS3).

 

[godslabrat]

Maybe I'm turning into a cranky old codger prematurely, but I just do not get this concept. HOW have we gotten to the point where 2GB of RAM is considered the minimum for a computer, even if all it's doing is opening up a web browser and word processor? Normally I'm not one to use MS as a scapegoat, but in this case it's warranted. My old Windows 98 machine ran decently on 32MB of RAM, and even XP could deal with only 256MB... now we have Vista, and it's supposed to be able to run under 512MB, but we've all seen that worthwhile performance does not start untill you hit a gig.

And what does Vista do with that extra memory, that XP and 98 couldn't? I have yet to get an answer to that question. I do know that OSX mops the floor with Vista, and requires half the memory. So, it's not just the evolution of technology... I really think the Windows Resource Beast is pushing consumers into a never-ending and totally unnreeded cycle of upgrades

 

[BornAgainMac]

Things like the Dock, Widgets, Search, Time Machine, Firewall all take up some memory on the Mac. I am sure Windows has a lot of programs running too out of the box. Those are the differences from the Operating System of the 90's.

 

[t0mat0]

4GB ram on XP is worthwhile. But really you'd need Vista for more. I thought XP just bails out after ~4GB anyhow. If the OS can actually use that increase in RAM, then great. Better than hard drive thrashing.