5 ms·

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. Unfort

by 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...
  - WorldWideWayne 12y ago
    I'm running Chrome, Excel and Outlook right now on my 2 Gb, Win8.1 Pro x86 Atom tablet and it's great. What kind of problems are you imagining? I love having full control on a tablet that lasts 10 hours and fits in most of my pants and jacket pockets.
  - luddypants 12y ago
    $100 more for 2x RAM and storage, that doesn't seem like a "ridiculous premium". Unless you mean ridiculous in some other way than the actual dollar amount.
    - e12e 12y ago
      Considering that $100 easily buys you an 8GB so-dimm or an 80 GB intel m.2 ssd at retail prices, I think it is pretty steep for an increase of 2GB of ram and 32GB [ed: whops, 64GB, but still] of storage...
bandrami 12y ago
Depends. My development machine is a laptop with 4G of RAM (but a terabyte hard drive). Then again I rarely even fire up X11 when I'm programming, so my needs are pretty sparse.

by tjoff 12y ago

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...
- WorldWideWayne 12y ago
  I'm running Chrome, Excel and Outlook right now on my 2 Gb, Win8.1 Pro x86 Atom tablet and it's great. What kind of problems are you imagining? I love having full control on a tablet that lasts 10 hours and fits in most of my pants and jacket pockets.
- luddypants 12y ago
  $100 more for 2x RAM and storage, that doesn't seem like a "ridiculous premium". Unless you mean ridiculous in some other way than the actual dollar amount.
  - e12e 12y ago
    Considering that $100 easily buys you an 8GB so-dimm or an 80 GB intel m.2 ssd at retail prices, I think it is pretty steep for an increase of 2GB of ram and 32GB [ed: whops, 64GB, but still] of storage...

bandrami 12y ago

Depends. My development machine is a laptop with 4G of RAM (but a terabyte hard drive). Then again I rarely even fire up X11 when I'm programming, so my needs are pretty sparse.