When choosing a laptop, one of the common concern is the choice between 8gb RAM vs 16gb RAM. Both of these Random Access Memory sizes can provide topnotch performance based on the processes you’re going to run.
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RATINGPRICEDell G3779-7934BLK-
PUS Gaming LaptopHP 2019 Premium
17.3 Inch Flagship
Notebook Laptop
The choice between an 8 GB RAM and a 16 GB RAM falls in two aspects. First, knowing what you actually need and second, what you’re willing to pay for.
Here, we’ll give you an idea about how RAM spaces perform and to whom it suits well.What is RAM?
Your laptop has three different memory types: the hard drive, the Random Access Memory, and the Video Random Access Memory. RAM or Random Access Memory pertains to the temporary memory so the processes can easily retrieve the data as long as the computer is on.
Once you turn your laptop on, all the OS and software information will be reloaded to your RAM. It will be removed once you turn the laptop off.
When the RAM isn’t enough to accommodate all the software data in use, it will result to slow operation of the device. This is why individuals with RAM-intensive applications opt for higher RAM.
RAM shouldn’t be confused with the hard drive memory. Think of it as your office desk. Your RAM allows you to spread documents at once so you can use it simultaneously. Meanwhile, your hard drive is a collection of shelves and drawers where you store files that are currently not in use.RAM spaces and how it works
Not familiar with the differences in RAM sizes? Here’s how each RAM fares in performance:
2 GB: This RAM is usually found on average smartphones and tablets. Older laptop models will have this but it will have very slow performance even with basic word processors.
4 GB: This is the entry-level of laptop RAM spaces. It’s fine for basic tasks like Windows and search engines. Still, editing applications and other RAM-intensive software will be slow in this RAM.
8 GB: This is way better than 4 GB and will work well on gaming, Windows, and even in Mac OS. It’s the middle ground for people who need more RAM but can’t spend a ton of money.
16 GB: It’s perfect for serious gamers and those who perform professional work in their laptops. This RAM space can accommodate most RAM-intensive applications.
32 GB+: So far, this is the highest RAM you can get on your laptop. This is ideal for workstations with very demanding processes and enthusiasts that need a different level of computing performance.Processes that consume more RAM
Each application that you run in your laptop will consume a certain space on your RAM. The moment you boot your device, it will start to use up your RAM space.
The most RAM-demanding application is the operating system itself. Your browser comes next, more so if you have multiple extensions and bookmarks.
Some games and video and photo editing software will consume more. The more complex the application becomes, the more RAM it uses.
While browsing, a graphics-heavy website will eat more RAM compared to a plain HTML page. This is also the same comparison to the Minesweeper and PUBG computer games.So how much RAM do you actually need?
8gb RAM vs 16gb RAM? If you’re a serious gamer, an 8 GB RAM will be good, but it will be more rewarding if you invest in a 16 GB version. But if you just want a seamless performance for your simple tasks, the best i7 8gb RAM laptop will be unbeatable.
For Chromebook users, RAM wouldn’t be a big issue. These laptops work and store files on the cloud. Besides, Chromebooks are designed only for simple processes including schoolwork and basic home browsing.
If you’re using MacBooks, 8 GB is the entry-level choice. You’d get more performance if you upgrade to 16 GB.
If you don’t have the money to splurge on right now, choose an upgradeable 8 GB RAM laptop that you can tweak once you have the budget for a bigger RAM.Best 17 Inch Laptops – 8 GB/16GB RAM
If you’re looking for the best 8 GB and 16 GB RAM laptop, here are our recommended units together with our top pick in the end.HP 2019 Premium 17.3 Inch Flagship Notebook Laptop
This 17-inch unit from HP bears the brand’s flagship design. It has a 1600 x 900 WLED backlit display paired with the basic Intel Graphics 620, DTS Studio Sound, and a DVD/CD burner.
The HP 2019 Notebook laptop runs in an Intel i5-7200U processor but you can choose your CPU based on how intensive your processes will be. Currently, it’s available in i5 and i7 Intel and 7th gen and 8th gen versions.
Its RAM is also as versatile as its processor. You can choose from 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB, or 32 GB depending on what you need. With this, the 8gb RAM vs 16gb RAM isn’t an issue. It’s also available in HDD and SSD storage with varying memory sizes.
Connection-wise, you will enjoy 2x USB3.1, 1x USB 2.0, 1x HDMI, 1x RJ-45, and 1x headphone/microphone combo.
This laptop is highly customizable. Even its colors are flexible that you can choose from black, silver, or blue based on your liking. Just remember that the higher the RAM and hard drive size becomes, the pricier it gets.
All of the versions of this laptop runs in Windows 10 and has a 3-cell 31 WHr battery. This laptop has a moderate weight of 5.29 lbs. which is very understandable due to its large screen size.
✔️Versatile RAM, hard drive, keyboard customization
✔️1600 x 900 high res display
✔️1-Year UpgradePro Limited Warranty
✔️Lightweight than most 17-inch laptops
❌The sound quality can make use of some improvements.
If you want to start with an 8 GB RAM that’s upgradable to 32 GB, the Dell G3779-7934BLK-PUS laptop is for you. It runs in an Intel Core i7 8th generation High-Performance Graphics that’s perfect for serious gaming.
In case you want to save some money, this laptop is also available in an i5 version with the same generation and RAM size.
Its memory is equally powerful with 128 GB of SSD boot paired with a 1 TB of 5400 RPM SATA HDD storage. This laptop also boasts a 17.3-inch display with a LED-backlit display and IPS anti-glare feature.
Dell claims this best i7 8gb RAM laptop to be graphically superior for higher game settings. It’s possible with the built-in NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card with 4 GB of VRAM size. This laptop has a better screen resolution of 1920 x 1080p.
Since this is made for gaming, the Dell laptop comes with dual fans that keep it cool under extreme processes. Also, it has the SmartByte technology that ensures that your streaming content is always crystal clear and seamless.
When it comes to the ports, you will have 1x HDMI 2.0, Thunderbolt 3, RJ-45, 2x USB2.0, 1x SD card, and a headphone slot. It also has a blue backlit keyboard.
All of these are in a small and thin package of just 25 mm. So far, it’s one of the slimmest designs Dell has made for their 17” laptops. However, it’s a bit heavier than the HP laptop above at 7.20 lbs.
✔️Thunderbolt 3 C-port to connect up to a 5k display
✔️25 mm thin, perfect for on-the-go users
✔️Dual fans for serious gaming
✔️SmartByte technology for easy streaming
✔️RAM upgradable up to 32 GB
❌Weak lighting in some areas
❌No DVD/CD reader optionOUR TOP PICK
If you want the most powerful 17” laptop in the market, don’t miss the LG Gram 17” Thin and Light Laptop. Although slim, it boasts a high-res display of 2560 x 1600p and an Intel Core i7 8th generation processor. Moreover, it’s paired with a 512 GB SSD storage.
It has 16 GB of RAM perfect for just about any intensive applications including gaming, editing, and multi-tasking. It’s also made to withstand strong force with its military-grade chassis made from nano carbon magnesium that’s tougher than most laptop shells.
Thanks to its 72Wh battery, the LG Gram can run for as much as 19.5 hours. It’s light in weight, but heavyweight in performance. Add the Thunderbolt 3 port and you’ll have endless visual probabilities with this laptop.
Aside from this hardware, the LG Gram also has a fingerprint reader that cuts the need to enter a password. It also has the Window Hello that gives a secure, easy, and quick way to unlock your laptop.
✔️MIL-STD-810g durability level
✔️Up 19.5 hours of battery life
✔️High-res IPS 16:10 display
✔️Super lightweight at 2.95 lbs.
✔️SSD storage
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❌Average speakers
❌The SATA SSD is a tad slower than mostConclusion
So 8gb RAM vs 16gb RAM? It depends on what you actually need. But aside from knowing the RAM size, you should also factor in the performance of the hard drive, processor, and OS to purchase the best 17-inch laptop.
One of the most asked questions on all Mac forums is whether it is ok to buy a MacBook Pro with just 8GB or it would be better to upgrade to at least 16GB. Answers obviously vary from person to person, but the common consensus is it depends on which applications you are going to use.
The problem with forums is that the more you read them, the more confusing it gets because people are suggesting solutions, but they do not know your circumstances. I don’t know them either, but I can help you to reach a decision by asking some questions and refuting some common myths.
Once you get all the required information, you (hopefully) will be able to make an informed decision which works best for you.
TLDR; Is 8GB enough for a MacBook Pro? In most cases, for anyone asking this question, 8GB of RAM would be enough for surfing the internet, checking emails and working with documents. People who do coding or computer design professionally and can actually benefit from additional RAM already know the answer.
And now let me prove my point of view.Three reasons why you should never buy a MacBook with only 8GB of RAM1. You change your mind every day
Last year you were an astronaut and were making deals with aliens on the board of Enterprise. Today you are a famous chef in a restaurant with 34 Michelin stars. And you suspect that tomorrow you may abruptly change your career and become a glorious JavaGrape and HDLM developer in a furniture store in Tinytown, AL.
As we all know, furniture store developers suffer from an outsized need for 16GB memory in order to track dozens of sofa purchases per year.
You asked the developer in the furniture store and she suggested to future proof your MacBook because otherwise, you will miserably fail as a glorious developer.2. Buying a MacBook is like car shopping
You still remember the worst mistake of your life when you bought a 2 door Mini convertible in 2016. As soon as you signed the credit application you found out that the girl you met last week at your friends’ house is planning your wedding in May.
Within three weeks after buying a car you had buyer remorse. What were you thinking? How are going to fit your wife and three children that were born 10 days after the wedding to the Mini convertible?
No, you will not make this mistake again with your laptop. You will future proof and buy a MacBook with 43GB of RAM so you can watch pictures of your triplets in 3D.3. Buying a MacBook is like buying a new iPhone
I met a lot of people who flip burgers in McDonald’s and they own last generation iPhones which cost a little less than MacBook Air.
“What’s the secret of the financial success of those amazing people?”, you wonder. How they manage to upgrade expensive iPhones every two years? The secret is simple and it’s called 18-month special financing (no interest if paid in full).
Let’s assume that the base MBP model with 8GB will cost $1799.00. With 18-month special financing, you will have to pay $100 per month (let’s ignore taxes). Can you afford payments? Ok, let’s move on.
Now, let’s add $200 and upgrade the memory to 16GB. Now, you have to pay $111 per month. Can you still afford the payments?
You nod. Your face lits up with a smile. You hide a heap of crumpled dollar bills in the back pocket of your Duluth pants and go to Apple site to apply for credit.Two reasons why even 8GB is too much for you1. What is RAM?
If you know that a Ram is a pickup truck from Dodge, you know that the right number is 3500, not 8. You frantically scroll the web page and finally ask me for help.
“Al”, you say, “there is no 3500 option. I would settle on 2500 or 1500, but I can’t find them either!”
“Calm, Padawan”, I reply, “8 is not 8. 8GB is 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 which is equal to …err… more than 3500 for sure. So pick 8 and don’t worry!”2. You reading this article
If you’re reading this article there is a 93% chance that you are either a newbie or not very good with tech. If you were using Apple laptops for many years you would be scaring mortals on forums with unrealistic demands for computing power.
But, let’s get serious. We will use an elimination process to find those fancy people who will benefit from extra memory.Why?
When solving any problem, it’s best to start with the “Why?” question. In our case, the question is, Why are people asking about choosing between 8GB and 16GB? There are two answers:
*Apple allows to upgrade CPU, RAM and storage at the time of purchase and many people seem to start desperately googling to find out if upgrades are required or worthful. By the way, if are wondering if storage upgrade is required as well check my post about 128GB minimum storage for MacBooks.
*The buyer knows that RAM in MacBooks is soldered to the motherboard and there is no way to upgrade it later.
If you’re already aware of limited MacBook upgradeability, then you should answer another question: If it was possible to add memory later would it solve your problem?
If you have previously owned a laptop, did you ever upgrade memory on them? Or did you buy another laptop?
In case if you have never upgraded old laptops, then chances that you would care about MacBook upgradeability are virtually zero. So stop worrying and go ahead with the new MacBook Pro with 8GB (or the same amount of RAM you already have on your current laptop).Myth of future-proofing
When asking about RAM upgrades, most users talk about future-proofing their purchase. What does that mean?
Future-proofing is basically fear. A fear that one day Apple will release a new upgrade and I will not be able to use my MacBook. Or a fear that one day I decide to be a programmer or a designer and I will need more resources and now I am stuck.
Let’s first address the first fear. I always recommend having automatic upgrades on so the OS (operating system) on your laptop is up to date, has all enhancements (including performance improvements) and is secure. But the thing you don’t have to upgrade to the new OS.
In 2018, macOS Mojave introduced using about 2GB of RAM for itself. This figure stayed almost the same since 2013, which means that with 8GB of physical RAM, you have about 6GB for all applications.
If for some reason Apple decides to release a new OS which will demand 8GB then you don’t have to upgrade. If you made a mistake and upgraded you can always go back, especially if you have a Time Machine backup.
I work in the computer industry and I have customers who are still using 30-year old software!
Now, what about a career change? Well, I think I covered this already.What’s the worst thing is going to happen?
Every time I am faced with a dilemma, this is a question I ask myself.
Let’s assume that I have only 8GB, and I installed an application that needs a lot of memory. In 99% of cases, it means that the application will run slow and only in 1% of cases it will not run at all. If there is not enough memory, the operating system starts swapping data between memory and the disk drive.
Back in the day, when we had HDDs, it would mean that the application will be unusable. Now, with faster SSDs, the performance is simply terrible but still tolerable.
If you have such an application, you may be forced to close all other apps to free as much memory as possible, which is inconvenient but doable.Do you really need a MacBook?
This is actually a very good question. If you never had a laptop before, why do you think you need a Mac?
If you want to play games then you should know that the MBP is not a gaming laptop. Gaming laptops have specific requirements and the main requirement is a dedicated GPU (graphics processing unit). You can buy a gaming laptop cheaper than an MBP with the possibility of the future upgrade for half the price.
If you are a LAMP developer then maybe you better off with a Linux laptop?PC laptop vs MacBook Air
Since we started questioning the feasibility of MacBooks as a class laptops, let me share a story about my laptops.
In 2014 I bought two laptops. First was a MacBook Air with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. The second was a Dell XPS 15 (for the price of 15-inch MBP) with 8GB RAM and 512GB HDD. A year later, I upgraded my Dell with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD because I wanted to run a SQL Server on it.
Now, after 5 years, I have a chance to check a future proof myth. I don’t use either laptop for anything serious. On both of them, I only edit Word documents and browse the internet.
MBA runs as well as it used to 5 years ago. When I open the lid, it’s instantly on. When I edit documents, I see no lag. It still has an original battery which holds for hours.
Dell is another story. Did you notice that after 5 years, PCs get …tired. When I open a lid on Dell it takes 8-10 seconds until Windows shows a sign of life. It’s like waking a teenager for school.
When I type on my Dell, I have to periodically stop and see how letters are slowly popping up. One cool thing that Dell has is a TouchScreen Display which is very helpful. Because the touchpad on Dell stopped working three years ago. Did I mention that I had to replace the battery on Dell?Memory For Mac 8 Gb Sd Card
As for internet browsing, I call Google Chrome an equalizer. It’s equally painfully slow on both laptops.How much memory do you really need on macOS?
According to LaptopMag 8GB will let you do anything except high-end gaming. They even backed up those numbers with some testing. Anyway, I kind of agree with them and you can use the chart below as a reference (at least for the near future).
I would add some exceptions:
*If you’re planning to run VMs on a MacBook Pro, then you have two options: run only one VM at a time with low RAM settings or go for 16-32GB.
*If you’re planning to work with Photoshop, Illustrator, and other design software, it won’t hurt to have 16GB.
*If you’re planning to run Windows on MacBook go for 16GB.Conclusion
*If you still not sure let me give you very simple tips:
*If you can afford additional $200 go for 16GB
*If you already have 8GB MBP and you notice a memory pressure go for 16
*If you’re buying for credit, go for 16
*Otherwise, buy MacBook Pro with 8GB
It’s very hard to tell how much power you need for a laptop when you not good with tech. But remember you have a 14-day return window. Install all apps during that time, open them all and stress test the system. Use the activity monitor to see if you benefit from memory or CPU upgrade.Memory For Mac 8 Gb Micro Sd
Topics:8gb Ram Mac
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