So how much Ram do you need?

College Life
1

<p>For a typical college student who writes papers and surfs the web how much Ram is needed (desktop computer has Vista)? </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>Vista is a memory hog. 2 gigs or more and it should run okay.</p>

<p>I personally can make do with 128 MB.</p>

3

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<p>Technology is THAT far behind in Alaska? ;)</p>

4

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<p>No, I’m just a control freak who counts processes.</p>

5

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<p>What’s the point of having RAM if you don’t use any of it? ;)</p>

6

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<p>There is none. But I don’t need to worry about my software outrunning my hardware (necessitating a new purchase) and I can actually understand and control my system.</p>

7

<p>RAM is not that expensive that this should even be an issue…especially for a desktop. Assuming your computer uses DDR2 (which is probably the case), you can buy 4 gigs worth of RAM off Newegg real cheap.</p>

8

<p>I maxed my Macbook (the first ones that came it in 2006) out 2GB. I remember the time where 512MB was plenty. I’d rather have more memory than less to compensate for future stuff. I believe the newer laptops can be maxed out at 4GB (or is it 8?). I’d just max it out because by the time you graduate, I’m sure comps will require that as the bare minimum.</p>

9

<p>32 bit OS maxes out at about 3.25 gig. To recieve any benefit beyond that you need to be running a 64 bit OS.</p>

10

<p>2 gigs, which is now the standard, is fine for the current versions of any OS.</p>

11

<p>64-bit OS’s are as ubiquitous as 32-bit. thats only an issue if you’re upgrading a system</p>

<p>2 gigs is the recommended req for vista, but medium/upper range laptops ship with 4 gb now. the max option i’ve seen on a laptop is 8gb.</p>

12

<p>I have four GB on my two latest laptops and that’s more than enough for what I do. Newer MacBook Pros can handle 6 or 8 GB but I don’t run things on my laptops currently that need that much. A coworker runs several VMs on his laptop and those are memory hogs so he would like to upgrade to 6 or 8 but he doesn’t know if he can do it (he has an older model). I have two desktops in the office that can take up to 24 GB or RAM. One has 3 or 4 and the other has 9 - that’s going to be used as a server system running a special version of 64-bit Linux.</p>

<p>If you’re running XP, 2 is fine. If you’re running Vista, I’d say 3 or 4 (even if you can’t use it). If you’re running a 64-bit OS, I’d say go with 4. For Mac OSX, I’d say 2 is enough unless you’re going to be running programs which use a lot of it.</p>