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I really can't even use a computer that's less than 4 gb these days, especially once chrome gets it's grubby hands all over my RAM. Just running baseline I find

by Vexs 12y ago

I really can't even use a computer that's less than 4 gb these days, especially once chrome gets it's grubby hands all over my RAM. Just running baseline I find that most windows systems take up about two GB of RAM, and after you load up chrome, word, whatever; it hits the 4GB+ range. I mean, we're starting to see phones with 2GB of ram, it's completely unacceptable for a modern tablet.

dman 12y ago
How much RAM does the Ipad have?
- dagw 12y ago
  Does it matter? The normal usage patterns for Windows (and OS X) is very different and requires more RAM than the typical usage patterns on an iOS devices
- mikeash 12y ago
  Current iPads have 1GB of RAM. They also constantly evict background applications and even backgrounded tabs in the web browser. Switching browser tabs on iOS is always a gamble as to whether it'll reload the page or not. This makes it impossible to, for example, write a comment in one tab while referencing some material in a different one with any kind of reliability. iOS is extremely memory efficient but it comes at a cost which can be quite high for some.
  - ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
    The iPad Air 2 is the first iOS device with 2 GB of RAM, I believe.
    - mikeash 12y ago
      Whoops, clearly I'm a bit behind the times. Thanks to both of you for the updated info.
  - knweiss 12y ago
    The iPad Air 2 has 2 GB RAM.
Someone1234 12y ago
Indeed. I currently only have Chrome, Outlook, and Lync open and am using 4.2 GB of RAM. Over half of that is Chrome alone. Now, granted, the OS does use more RAM has availability increases (I have 16 GB) however Chrome is a beast no matter what.
- Joeri 12y ago
  Do you use adblock? Chrome's extensions can eat up more RAM than chrome itself, and you don't always see it as a separate process. I keep my extensions minimal, and can use chrome just fine on a 2 GB system.
icegreentea 12y ago
I really think this comment is overblown. Until 2-3 months ago, I was using a T400 from 2009. It had 4 gigs of ram. I could happily hum away with Firefox with like 30 tabs open, Chrome with like 10 tabs open, IPython notebook chugging away, and Grooveshark/Flash burning up my cycles. While it certainly was not as smooth or as fast as I would have liked it, it certainly never really held me back.
slantyyz 12y ago
>> I mean, we're starting to see phones with 2GB of ram, it's completely unacceptable for a modern tablet. I run Chrome with a lot of tabs open on my Asus Vivotab Note and I don't really feel the pain of having only 2GB. I'm one of those guys with bad habits about closing tabs. The thing you have to remember -- Atoms are serviceable CPUs, but they're nothing like the Core series. If you're looking to do heavy lifting, you should probably go for a Surface Pro anyways.
tjoff 12y ago
8 GB is absolute bare minimum in 2015 (I'd say 2012 but the world seems to disagree). I'd be very hesitant buying something today that didn't have 16 GB. Unfortunately that is quite hard to come by in the ultrabook range. But 2 GB? And maximum 4 ? Just kills me inside. Way to ruin the device.
- gtk40 12y ago
  I don't have anything with more than 4GB. I use Linux often, but my main driver is a Windows tablet (Acer Iconia W700). I used many applications at a time, including stuff like Eclipse, and occasionally a Debian VM with 2GB assigned. I have no trouble with 4GB of RAM, although I was forced to switch away from Chrome. IE11 and Firefox work great though.
- WorldWideWayne 12y ago
  Minimum for doing what? My home workstation has 32GB and I can remote into that anytime I want from every device that I own, so I tend to lean on that.
  - phaus 12y ago
    Most people don't have 2 computers. Also, most people that do have two computers don't know how/don't want to know how to log into their desktop remotely.
  - tjoff 12y ago
    Surfing the web or doing any form of multitasking. But of course, the sad reality is that the only reason there is a 2 GB version is so that they can have a ridiculous premium for the 4 GB version yet still lure customers with the low starting price point. I wonder if, when the market has matured enough, that there will be honest companies making products that tries to make good mainstream products rather than trying to get away with whatever they can. There is no reason what so ever that there should be any high-end smartphone available for purchase with less than 64 GB of storage. But now we have 16 GB and, for a $100 GB premium you get, gasp, 32 GB! Phone storage has not gone up, in many cases down, in the last five years... And that's like 120 years in the tech world. But hey, 2 GB of ram is certainly enough for the 5 min demo you get in the store...
bhauer 12y ago
> especially once chrome gets it's grubby hands all over my RAM Have you considered switching to Firefox, which is a bit more conservative with memory usage? :)

by Vexs 12y ago

dman 12y ago

How much RAM does the Ipad have?

dagw 12y ago
Does it matter? The normal usage patterns for Windows (and OS X) is very different and requires more RAM than the typical usage patterns on an iOS devices
mikeash 12y ago
Current iPads have 1GB of RAM. They also constantly evict background applications and even backgrounded tabs in the web browser. Switching browser tabs on iOS is always a gamble as to whether it'll reload the page or not. This makes it impossible to, for example, write a comment in one tab while referencing some material in a different one with any kind of reliability. iOS is extremely memory efficient but it comes at a cost which can be quite high for some.
- ZanyProgrammer 12y ago
  The iPad Air 2 is the first iOS device with 2 GB of RAM, I believe.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    Whoops, clearly I'm a bit behind the times. Thanks to both of you for the updated info.
- knweiss 12y ago
  The iPad Air 2 has 2 GB RAM.

Someone1234 12y ago

Indeed. I currently only have Chrome, Outlook, and Lync open and am using 4.2 GB of RAM. Over half of that is Chrome alone. Now, granted, the OS does use more RAM has availability increases (I have 16 GB) however Chrome is a beast no matter what.

Joeri 12y ago
Do you use adblock? Chrome's extensions can eat up more RAM than chrome itself, and you don't always see it as a separate process. I keep my extensions minimal, and can use chrome just fine on a 2 GB system.

icegreentea 12y ago

I really think this comment is overblown. Until 2-3 months ago, I was using a T400 from 2009. It had 4 gigs of ram. I could happily hum away with Firefox with like 30 tabs open, Chrome with like 10 tabs open, IPython notebook chugging away, and Grooveshark/Flash burning up my cycles. While it certainly was not as smooth or as fast as I would have liked it, it certainly never really held me back.

slantyyz 12y ago

>> I mean, we're starting to see phones with 2GB of ram, it's completely unacceptable for a modern tablet. I run Chrome with a lot of tabs open on my Asus Vivotab Note and I don't really feel the pain of having only 2GB. I'm one of those guys with bad habits about closing tabs. The thing you have to remember -- Atoms are serviceable CPUs, but they're nothing like the Core series. If you're looking to do heavy lifting, you should probably go for a Surface Pro anyways.

tjoff 12y ago

8 GB is absolute bare minimum in 2015 (I'd say 2012 but the world seems to disagree). I'd be very hesitant buying something today that didn't have 16 GB. Unfortunately that is quite hard to come by in the ultrabook range. But 2 GB? And maximum 4 ? Just kills me inside. Way to ruin the device.

gtk40 12y ago
I don't have anything with more than 4GB. I use Linux often, but my main driver is a Windows tablet (Acer Iconia W700). I used many applications at a time, including stuff like Eclipse, and occasionally a Debian VM with 2GB assigned. I have no trouble with 4GB of RAM, although I was forced to switch away from Chrome. IE11 and Firefox work great though.
WorldWideWayne 12y ago
Minimum for doing what? My home workstation has 32GB and I can remote into that anytime I want from every device that I own, so I tend to lean on that.
- phaus 12y ago
  Most people don't have 2 computers. Also, most people that do have two computers don't know how/don't want to know how to log into their desktop remotely.
- tjoff 12y ago
  Surfing the web or doing any form of multitasking. But of course, the sad reality is that the only reason there is a 2 GB version is so that they can have a ridiculous premium for the 4 GB version yet still lure customers with the low starting price point. I wonder if, when the market has matured enough, that there will be honest companies making products that tries to make good mainstream products rather than trying to get away with whatever they can. There is no reason what so ever that there should be any high-end smartphone available for purchase with less than 64 GB of storage. But now we have 16 GB and, for a $100 GB premium you get, gasp, 32 GB! Phone storage has not gone up, in many cases down, in the last five years... And that's like 120 years in the tech world. But hey, 2 GB of ram is certainly enough for the 5 min demo you get in the store...

bhauer 12y ago

> especially once chrome gets it's grubby hands all over my RAM Have you considered switching to Firefox, which is a bit more conservative with memory usage? :)