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I know they just tried to bring price under the $1000, but selling a laptop with 4gb of RAM in 2017 is criminal.

by usaphp 9y ago

jrs95 9y ago
Yeah. And if you need 16GB it's just hilariously expensive
prodmerc 9y ago
RAM is like what, $10 per GB? I'm assuming they use the exact same motherboard across all models. This is never about the end user price, just profits. I really wonder how many low end models some companies actually produce - I've always been sure they're just using them to push people to buy the mid-range one.
- Retric 9y ago
  Consumer prices for cheap ram is 2.5$/ Gig, I assume they pay less than that. https://www.walmart.com/ip/16GB-Kit-2x-8GB-Modules-PC3-10600-1333MHz-ECC-Registered-DDR3-DIMM-Server-240-pin-Memory-Ram/111151747 https://www.walmart.com/ip/16GB-Kit-2x-8GB-Modules-PC3-10600... Though 4GB of Laptop ram seems to be ~29$ so YMMV. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crucial-4-GB-DDR3-SDRAM-Memory-Module/26779669 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crucial-4-GB-DDR3-SDRAM-Memory-Mo...
- ikeboy 9y ago
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R8XC6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R8XC6 This model is selling about 200 units a month just on Amazon. Most popular one on that listing is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R9136?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R9136?th=1, rank 1000 estimated 250 sales a month. I'm estimating all the models on that listing together are selling about 1000 units a month. Edit: went back and found some more listings: https://www.amazon.com/HP-14-inch-E2-7110-Windows-14-an013nr/dp/B01F4ZG68A/ https://www.amazon.com/HP-14-inch-E2-7110-Windows-14-an013nr... My tools are telling me this single item is selling 1500 units a month. https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-Processor-Generation/dp/B01K1IO3QW/ https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-Processor-... estimated 2500 units a month. Just look through https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-Laptop/zgbs/pc/565108/ https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-La... for the top laptops. Top 5 are all 4GB RAM. Extrapolating a bit I'd say low end laptops are selling in the mid 5 figures of units per month on Amazon, or possibly low six figures. And it seems that low end outsell high end in terms of number of units, at least - but since the high end can be 3 or more times the price, it's difficult to say how the total amount paid compares with this quick back of the envelope calculation.
  - prodmerc 9y ago
    Interesting, thanks! I was going to ask who buys them but they I remembered my neighbors don't even have a computer. Just smartphones and tablets...
1_2__4 9y ago
Small memory footprints not-concidnentally help significantly with both power consumption and benchmarks. It's a win all around for the manufacturer to short change the standard ram offering.
ac29 9y ago
I'd agree that a $999 laptop should come with 8GB or more of RAM, but 4GB isnt really so small. I'm not sure what common workload (I'm not talking about a typical HN user, who often has VM's or memory hungry development needs) you think needs >4GB. I opened 10 tabs in Chrome (the most memory hungry browser), streamed a show in the Netflix Win10 store app (the most memory hungry version of Netflix streaming I'm aware of), and opened a document in Word and Excel. Well under 4GB usage. As an additional anecdote, I do IT on our office work computers and they rarely crack 2GB usage. Again, there is no reason a $999 laptop should only come with 4GB RAM, but a $500 one? I don't see why not.
- devwastaken 9y ago
  >Well under 4GB usage. I idle at 3GB by just having Spotify, chrome, Discord and a number of other communication applications. Perhaps on a new install of windows, you'd be under 4, but over time usage always increases well over 4GB. Even 8GB is not really good anymore.

I know they just tried to bring price under the $1000, but selling a laptop with 4gb of RAM in 2017 is criminal.

by usaphp 9y ago

I know they just tried to bring price under the $1000, but selling a laptop with 4gb of RAM in 2017 is criminal.

jrs95 9y ago

Yeah. And if you need 16GB it's just hilariously expensive

prodmerc 9y ago

RAM is like what, $10 per GB? I'm assuming they use the exact same motherboard across all models. This is never about the end user price, just profits. I really wonder how many low end models some companies actually produce - I've always been sure they're just using them to push people to buy the mid-range one.

Retric 9y ago
Consumer prices for cheap ram is 2.5$/ Gig, I assume they pay less than that. https://www.walmart.com/ip/16GB-Kit-2x-8GB-Modules-PC3-10600-1333MHz-ECC-Registered-DDR3-DIMM-Server-240-pin-Memory-Ram/111151747 https://www.walmart.com/ip/16GB-Kit-2x-8GB-Modules-PC3-10600... Though 4GB of Laptop ram seems to be ~29$ so YMMV. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crucial-4-GB-DDR3-SDRAM-Memory-Module/26779669 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crucial-4-GB-DDR3-SDRAM-Memory-Mo...
ikeboy 9y ago
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R8XC6 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R8XC6 This model is selling about 200 units a month just on Amazon. Most popular one on that listing is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R9136?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3R9136?th=1, rank 1000 estimated 250 sales a month. I'm estimating all the models on that listing together are selling about 1000 units a month. Edit: went back and found some more listings: https://www.amazon.com/HP-14-inch-E2-7110-Windows-14-an013nr/dp/B01F4ZG68A/ https://www.amazon.com/HP-14-inch-E2-7110-Windows-14-an013nr... My tools are telling me this single item is selling 1500 units a month. https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-Processor-Generation/dp/B01K1IO3QW/ https://www.amazon.com/Acer-E5-575-33BM-15-6-Inch-Processor-... estimated 2500 units a month. Just look through https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-Laptop/zgbs/pc/565108/ https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Computers-Accessories-La... for the top laptops. Top 5 are all 4GB RAM. Extrapolating a bit I'd say low end laptops are selling in the mid 5 figures of units per month on Amazon, or possibly low six figures. And it seems that low end outsell high end in terms of number of units, at least - but since the high end can be 3 or more times the price, it's difficult to say how the total amount paid compares with this quick back of the envelope calculation.
- prodmerc 9y ago
  Interesting, thanks! I was going to ask who buys them but they I remembered my neighbors don't even have a computer. Just smartphones and tablets...

1_2__4 9y ago

Small memory footprints not-concidnentally help significantly with both power consumption and benchmarks. It's a win all around for the manufacturer to short change the standard ram offering.

ac29 9y ago

I'd agree that a $999 laptop should come with 8GB or more of RAM, but 4GB isnt really so small. I'm not sure what common workload (I'm not talking about a typical HN user, who often has VM's or memory hungry development needs) you think needs >4GB. I opened 10 tabs in Chrome (the most memory hungry browser), streamed a show in the Netflix Win10 store app (the most memory hungry version of Netflix streaming I'm aware of), and opened a document in Word and Excel. Well under 4GB usage. As an additional anecdote, I do IT on our office work computers and they rarely crack 2GB usage. Again, there is no reason a $999 laptop should only come with 4GB RAM, but a $500 one? I don't see why not.

devwastaken 9y ago
>Well under 4GB usage. I idle at 3GB by just having Spotify, chrome, Discord and a number of other communication applications. Perhaps on a new install of windows, you'd be under 4, but over time usage always increases well over 4GB. Even 8GB is not really good anymore.