4 ms·

If my memory serves me correct (no pun intended), when I was a kid I remember bugging my mom to buy me like 2 or 4 1 MB modules, it was at least 50 bucks or 100

If my memory serves me correct (no pun intended), when I was a kid I remember bugging my mom to buy me like 2 or 4 1 MB modules, it was at least 50 bucks or 100 bucks each. Now everyone's going to talk about how cheap everything is by comparison - but someone needs to talk about how oppressively hungry browsers and OSes are compared to in the past. This is no HIMEM.SYS

markus_zhang 4mo ago
I think it would be better if one has the discipline to just use older machines and play older games and only visit certain websites that can be visited on older version of browsers. A second-hand 16GB laptop can go a long way. But yeah that probably sucks from time to time, especially for young people.
- loloquwowndueo 4mo ago
  Second-hand? lol my main driver has 16gb and just peachy. What do you folks do that needs so much ram to browse the web.
- pishpash 4mo ago
  You can do a lot on old machines but developers also need to optimize a bit. Youtube almost plays on a 20-year-old machine, which means with some effort it'll play just fine. Most the other sites work just fine.
- ryukoposting 4mo ago
  My laptop has 8 GB. I write blog posts, I have a dozen-ish tabs open, I do KiCAD things (including 3D renders!). Works great. I was doing Verilog synthesis on a similar machine in college in 2020. The truth is that, if you do the same things you were doing with your computer 10 years ago, well then you don't need a new computer! If all you do is write books, a Pentium III will do the job just as well as a brand new PC. Of course, the web throws a wrench in this. Word 2003 is still far more capable than Google Docs, yet tons of people opt for the cloud slop because it's convenient and free-as-in-beer. And, Google Docs will continue to become less efficient with time.
- zahlman 4mo ago
  > only visit certain websites that can be visited on older version of browsers. A second-hand 16GB laptop can go a long way. My desktop has 8 and I have no problem keeping multiple tabs open using up-to-date Firefox.
Aurornis 4mo ago
There’s been a sharp divergence in memory requirements. Talk to developers and they think that 32GB is the bare minimum these days, with 64GB or more preferred. They’ll point to Electron and Chrome tabs and everything else. Then you sit down with an average computer user on their 8GB RAM MacBook Neo and they’re in love with how fast and smooth it is, even with their chrome tabs and the company Slack up and Spotify in the background. I still have an older 8GB machine to kick around with on the go when I don’t want to haul the expensive laptop. It’s fine, even for a lot of development.
- Schlagbohrer 4mo ago
  How do you explain this discrepancy? Is it because the OS is agressively fencing in and pruning these wasteful software?
  - master_crab 4mo ago
    Containers is often the reason. You start a container and you are immediately pulling in a quarter to half a gig or more (often the latter).
  - pmontra 4mo ago
    Because they use one or two apps at at time, the ones they must spend all their time to perform their job. E.g. Excel and a web app to work on invoices and a stack of paper documents. I see 8 GB on Windows PCs too.
  - ack_complete 4mo ago
    Some tasks simply require more RAM. Compiling big software, for instance, wants as many CPU cores as it can get, and each compiler instance needs some amount of RAM to run efficiently. It's not unusual for a 32-core build to need 32-64GB of RAM to run at full speed. Work on a smaller program, though, and 16GB is absolutely fine.
  - tancop 4mo ago
    [dead]

markus_zhang 4mo ago

I think it would be better if one has the discipline to just use older machines and play older games and only visit certain websites that can be visited on older version of browsers. A second-hand 16GB laptop can go a long way. But yeah that probably sucks from time to time, especially for young people.

loloquwowndueo 4mo ago
Second-hand? lol my main driver has 16gb and just peachy. What do you folks do that needs so much ram to browse the web.
pishpash 4mo ago
You can do a lot on old machines but developers also need to optimize a bit. Youtube almost plays on a 20-year-old machine, which means with some effort it'll play just fine. Most the other sites work just fine.
ryukoposting 4mo ago
My laptop has 8 GB. I write blog posts, I have a dozen-ish tabs open, I do KiCAD things (including 3D renders!). Works great. I was doing Verilog synthesis on a similar machine in college in 2020. The truth is that, if you do the same things you were doing with your computer 10 years ago, well then you don't need a new computer! If all you do is write books, a Pentium III will do the job just as well as a brand new PC. Of course, the web throws a wrench in this. Word 2003 is still far more capable than Google Docs, yet tons of people opt for the cloud slop because it's convenient and free-as-in-beer. And, Google Docs will continue to become less efficient with time.
zahlman 4mo ago
> only visit certain websites that can be visited on older version of browsers. A second-hand 16GB laptop can go a long way. My desktop has 8 and I have no problem keeping multiple tabs open using up-to-date Firefox.

Aurornis 4mo ago

There’s been a sharp divergence in memory requirements. Talk to developers and they think that 32GB is the bare minimum these days, with 64GB or more preferred. They’ll point to Electron and Chrome tabs and everything else. Then you sit down with an average computer user on their 8GB RAM MacBook Neo and they’re in love with how fast and smooth it is, even with their chrome tabs and the company Slack up and Spotify in the background. I still have an older 8GB machine to kick around with on the go when I don’t want to haul the expensive laptop. It’s fine, even for a lot of development.

Schlagbohrer 4mo ago
How do you explain this discrepancy? Is it because the OS is agressively fencing in and pruning these wasteful software?
- master_crab 4mo ago
  Containers is often the reason. You start a container and you are immediately pulling in a quarter to half a gig or more (often the latter).
- pmontra 4mo ago
  Because they use one or two apps at at time, the ones they must spend all their time to perform their job. E.g. Excel and a web app to work on invoices and a stack of paper documents. I see 8 GB on Windows PCs too.
- ack_complete 4mo ago
  Some tasks simply require more RAM. Compiling big software, for instance, wants as many CPU cores as it can get, and each compiler instance needs some amount of RAM to run efficiently. It's not unusual for a 32-core build to need 32-64GB of RAM to run at full speed. Work on a smaller program, though, and 16GB is absolutely fine.
- tancop 4mo ago
  [dead]