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32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

pcworld.com

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Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#31
post #13
post #9

More RAM is becoming the standard because software developed with more RAM is less efficient. And developers tend to have powerful computers "because it's their job", which encourages them to write inefficient code. > 16GB RAM is also a practical capacity for general tasks such as web browsing, office work 16GB RAM to read and write text and see images... I think it just says it all.

My first computer that was directly permanently connected to the Internet didn’t even have 16GB of disk space.

I saw it as a bit of a milestone when people started regularly talking about individual media files that were larger than the whole 80 MB hard drive that held my first Slackware Linux install with X Windows, emacs, and C development tools.

First it was audio, then video, and RAW camera images are almost there with the prosumer digital cameras. And those are compressed files. Software that decompresses the whole thing into arrays of regular samples will need much more RAM...

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#32

Meanwhile your Mac still ships with a shitty 8gb by default

I was about to say that both my M2 Macs (laptop and mini) run fine with 8gb. Haven't noticed any problems. I don't play high-end games, though.

It's always amusing to see how Mx Mac fanbois always forget to add "in my use case".

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s okay given the size. The mobo can handle 8000 mt/s, and I can swap sticks whenever I want. Even my gpu has a sweet 24gb ram - more than an average m2. And I can do more than one if I need to train anything.

You are comparing one of the highest end RAM and graphics card to average M2. Don't you think it's bit disingenuous?

Don't you think it's bit disingenuous to compare only things where your favourite piece has the advantage?

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#34
post #14
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They handle memory management quite differently and the usage patterns on those devices is significantly different. You can get higher memory Apple kit if you need it…

> They handle memory management quite differently Think different (tm). Snark aside you're right, Macs are much better at memory management than Linux, swap handling in particular. But that's a very low bar. > the usage patterns on those devices is significantly different. You're right, Mac users tend to run more multimedia productivity tools that benefit greatly from more RAM! > You can get higher memory Apple kit i…

Most of the people buying an $800 MacBook Air or lower memory variant of an Apple device are not worried about RAM and don’t use it in such a way that it matters. Yes, if you’re a professional using a macOS device you can pay the $400 premium for the highest memory variant. You either have the money to pay it, or the product justifies the amount. They are charging what their customers are willing to pay, it’s also somewhat inflated because the cost of maintaining those less popular SKUs.

Last point I’ll make on this topic, you are going to see more CPUs move to have RAM on die because of the physical limitations on latency. Modern storage speeds are also making this a moot point as RAM may become just another caching layer for ultra fast solid state storage.

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to say that both my M2 Macs (laptop and mini) run fine with 8gb. Haven't noticed any problems. I don't play high-end games, though.

"8GB should be enough for anybody"

640K was enough for anybody when that quote was made.

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to say that both my M2 Macs (laptop and mini) run fine with 8gb. Haven't noticed any problems. I don't play high-end games, though.

It's always amusing to see how M x Mac fanbois always forget to add "in my use case".

I can never quite figure out what the use case is - as I sit here with 2 brave tabs open, my 10.13 mac is using up 13.58gb of ram.

These conversations usually usually end up at "my 8gb ram machine actually swaps constantly, but it's fine because otherwise I'd have to face the cognitive dissonance of justifying this purchase, so I'd rather repeat the apple marketing line they came up with to BS around their poor silicon yields"

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#37
post #9

More RAM is becoming the standard because software developed with more RAM is less efficient. And developers tend to have powerful computers "because it's their job", which encourages them to write inefficient code. > 16GB RAM is also a practical capacity for general tasks such as web browsing, office work 16GB RAM to read and write text and see images... I think it just says it all.

>16GB RAM to read and write text and see images... I think it just says it all.

More could be said about the bloatware, telemetry, surveillance, and adtech built into Windows.

Hard to imagine that 1GB was "a big deal" in my lifetime.

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#38

>computers with little RAM have to swap this data to the hard drive The hard drive? What machine is sold with a hard drive as swap in 2024?

Go to Walmart.com, desktop computer category, sort by low price. Many have HDDs. My parents do the analog version of this for appliances, and if I gave them the task of buying a desktop computer, they would probably buy one like this with a HDD.

The surprising thing is that you can buy a desktop computer (but no monitor) for less than a day of minimum wage in California.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Restored-Dell-Optiplex-790-Deskto...

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#39
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always amusing to see how M x Mac fanbois always forget to add "in my use case".

I can never quite figure out what the use case is - as I sit here with 2 brave tabs open, my 10.13 mac is using up 13.58gb of ram. These conversations usually usually end up at "my 8gb ram machine actually swaps constantly, but it's fine because otherwise I'd have to face the cognitive dissonance of justifying this purchase, so I'd rather repeat the apple marketing line they came up with to BS around their poor silic…

I’m not sure that usage means anything. If it needed more it would be more aggressive in clearing stuff out as far as I can tell.

Re: 32GB of RAM is becoming the standard

#40

Meanwhile your Mac still ships with a shitty 8gb by default

I was about to say that both my M2 Macs (laptop and mini) run fine with 8gb. Haven't noticed any problems. I don't play high-end games, though.

There are two things going on here. The M series seem quite efficient with ram, and Apple are ludicrously stingy with it.
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