4 ms·

I disagree. Memory is cheap. Battery life isn't.

by _Algernon_ 5y ago

aurora72 5y ago
High memory consumption eats battery life too
- _Algernon_ 5y ago
  Given that only one of those components tends to have active cooling as a requirement, I'll assume that the difference in energy consumption is at least an order of magnitude. Happy to be proven wrong though.
  - dspillett 5y ago
    Even in the lowest power consuming of sleep modes volatile RAM still needs to be constantly refreshed, so considering a device with a duty cycle like that of a phone or tablet you might find the power being used for memory is more significant than you think. But that refresh is essentially a fixed cost from a software PoV, if the memory is not used it'll still be refreshed, where chunks of modern CPUs can be almost completely turned off when not needed. There are secondary costs of extra memory use though (CPU to populate & later read, IO subsystem activity as there is less free memory for cache, etc.).
codedokode 5y ago
You cannot install "cheap" memory into older laptops. Battery life doesn't matter for laptops as they are mostly used at home.
yrro 5y ago
I have two identical laptops, one with 8 GiB and the other with 32 GiB of RAM. The former lasts over 2 weeks in S3, the latter not even a week.
- ihateolives 5y ago
  Identical as in model, hw and configrations except memory?
  - _Algernon_ 5y ago
    Don't forget age. Battery age is gonna have much more of an effect than subtle hw configuration differences.
  - yrro 5y ago
    Almost. One's a Toshiba X30 and the other is an X40. The CPU differs, but it's powered off in S3 so I am presuming that doesn't matter. Both are the same age as well.
    - yrro 5y ago
      (Forgot to mention--the X40 has the more powerful CPU and the greater amount of memory).
ChuckNorris89 5y ago
DDR5 prices would disagree with you. Plus, most laptop manufacturers rip you off for every RAM spec bump. $400 - $500 to go from 16GB to 32GB?! They can f--k right off! Not everyone is making six figure SV salaries to not flinch at these prices. That's why I love the framework laptop.
- ihateolives 5y ago
  > $400 to go from 16GB to 32GB?! They can f--k right off! That'd be 90-150€ for upgrading average Thinkpad for me, depending on starting configuration.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- zamadatix 5y ago
  Imagine how expensive purchasing twice the battery from the manufacturer would be.
  - aendruk 5y ago
    No need to imagine; we used to be able to buy a second battery before manufactures started gluing them in.
DeadAndHorny 5y ago
Actually memory isn't that much cheap, at least not in a third world country. As browsers are going to be used by everyone, memory optimization is necessary.

I disagree. Memory is cheap. Battery life isn't.

aurora72 5y ago

High memory consumption eats battery life too

_Algernon_ 5y ago
Given that only one of those components tends to have active cooling as a requirement, I'll assume that the difference in energy consumption is at least an order of magnitude. Happy to be proven wrong though.
- dspillett 5y ago
  Even in the lowest power consuming of sleep modes volatile RAM still needs to be constantly refreshed, so considering a device with a duty cycle like that of a phone or tablet you might find the power being used for memory is more significant than you think. But that refresh is essentially a fixed cost from a software PoV, if the memory is not used it'll still be refreshed, where chunks of modern CPUs can be almost completely turned off when not needed. There are secondary costs of extra memory use though (CPU to populate & later read, IO subsystem activity as there is less free memory for cache, etc.).

codedokode 5y ago

You cannot install "cheap" memory into older laptops. Battery life doesn't matter for laptops as they are mostly used at home.

yrro 5y ago

I have two identical laptops, one with 8 GiB and the other with 32 GiB of RAM. The former lasts over 2 weeks in S3, the latter not even a week.

ihateolives 5y ago
Identical as in model, hw and configrations except memory?
- _Algernon_ 5y ago
  Don't forget age. Battery age is gonna have much more of an effect than subtle hw configuration differences.
- yrro 5y ago
  Almost. One's a Toshiba X30 and the other is an X40. The CPU differs, but it's powered off in S3 so I am presuming that doesn't matter. Both are the same age as well.
  - yrro 5y ago
    (Forgot to mention--the X40 has the more powerful CPU and the greater amount of memory).

ChuckNorris89 5y ago

DDR5 prices would disagree with you. Plus, most laptop manufacturers rip you off for every RAM spec bump. $400 - $500 to go from 16GB to 32GB?! They can f--k right off! Not everyone is making six figure SV salaries to not flinch at these prices. That's why I love the framework laptop.

ihateolives 5y ago
> $400 to go from 16GB to 32GB?! They can f--k right off! That'd be 90-150€ for upgrading average Thinkpad for me, depending on starting configuration.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
zamadatix 5y ago
Imagine how expensive purchasing twice the battery from the manufacturer would be.
- aendruk 5y ago
  No need to imagine; we used to be able to buy a second battery before manufactures started gluing them in.

DeadAndHorny 5y ago

Actually memory isn't that much cheap, at least not in a third world country. As browsers are going to be used by everyone, memory optimization is necessary.