Transcription
All right, today I'm going to give you clear guidance as to how much memory you should get in your next laptop and why.
Look, I wasn't going to cover this topic, but after watching countless videos on YouTube on it, I just felt like critical information was being missed. So I'm here today to clarify it. But to understand how much memory you specifically need, I must first explain what memory is and what part it actually plays in a modern computer because it has evolved quite a bit.
An FYI, in case you're new here, just so you know who's giving you this advice, I do have two degrees in computer science and have worked in software development for 13 years.
All right, foundationally, your computer is reliant on access to data to operate. Simple example: you click on one of my YouTube videos, your processor receives data that you have clicked, where on the screen you have clicked, and the context as to what is open on screen, i.e., you've clicked on one of my YouTube videos versus a Microsoft Word document. Based on that information, your computer interprets it and makes some decisions. It decides to start playing one of my videos, which is essentially outputting more data—it's displaying my video on your screen so you can enjoy it.
If your computer has to wait to receive data or to send it out after processing, it will slow down the whole thing. To solve this, each computer has several data options available. The fastest is cache, which is built directly into the physical processor. Cache is very quick but is extremely limited, so it is reserved for speeding up your computer by storing the most frequently accessed data.
Instead, your computer accesses most of its data from memory, also known as RAM. Over the years, as processor speeds have improved, memory speeds have improved to keep up. DDR5 memory has replaced slower DDR4, and quad-channel access to memory is replacing dual-channel.
But in real life, as you use your computer, it will likely need to access more data than can be stored in memory. To solve this, what your operating system does is move programs or parts of programs that you aren't currently accessing out of memory into storage. That's a process called swapping. Then, when you need to access them again, it moves them back.
Here's an example: Let's say you have Microsoft Word open and Chrome. You haven't used Word for a while and you are opening more and more Chrome tabs. Your computer needs more memory to run those new tabs. It runs out and moves the data needed by Word from memory to storage. But if you switch back to Word, your computer needs to first bring that data back into memory for processing. You may notice a slight slowdown as your computer has to wait for this process to occur.
In reality, if you have a modern computer with fast PCI 3 or faster SSD storage, this slowdown won't be that noticeable. However, while you will notice a lack of memory, it will be in applications that hit this situation many times over in quick succession. A good example of this would be rendering a complex scene where you don't have enough memory to hold all the data needed. In these cases, those mini slowdowns can quickly multiply and become major ones.
Look, at the end of the day, many people will imply that you need a lot of memory if you have a lot of applications or browser tabs open. What I'm trying to show you by explaining what I just did is that it's more about what you have open and how you're using it rather than how many things you have open. For example, a laptop with only 8 gig of memory can edit a 4K video project, but once you start layering multiple 4K clips with effects, that laptop will grind to a halt.
In fact, once you bump the footage up to a higher quality level like 10 bit 422, which requires a lot more data, even 32 gig of memory may not be enough. The same goes for software development. If you're developing something that doesn't have huge data dependencies, sure, you don't need a lot of memory. But try to run a complex Monte Carlo simulation on a large data set, and bam, it's game over.
By the way, some people may point out that SSDs have limited writes before the hardware degrades, and you should therefore try to get more memory to avoid frequently using your storage for swapping. In theory, this is true, but for consumers or even pro users, the max number of writes of a modern SSD is enough. I've never seen or heard of any drive failing due to this. This is more something that would occur in a very specific scenario, like one in a data center.
Now, operating systems and software have become more efficient with memory use. For example, Mac OS compresses data in memory. This means your memory can often go significantly further than it used to. Also, many applications have made substantial improvements to memory use. Browsers can clear data from memory in the tabs you are not currently looking at.
For example, you may notice that if you play a video on a browser tab and then switch to another tab, when you switch back, you'll find only the audio was playing and not the video. It does this because when you're not looking at the video itself, all you need to do is hear the audio. So to conserve memory and reduce network traffic, it just stops playing the video portion and only plays the audio.
Oh, and by the way, if you do notice a slight slowdown when you re-access that tab, don't assume it is due to a lack of memory and the swapping process I described earlier. It can be due to other factors, like the time it takes to receive updated data from the internet and due to the increased processing power required to reload the dormant browser tab.
However, even though software applications are implementing efficiency enhancements when it comes to memory use, unfortunately, overall our memory requirements are still increasing. This is because we are using far more data than ever before. For example, we're now watching high-quality video content and more of it.
Look, I've said a lot and it's time to get to the punch line. So here it is: the amount of memory that you need is specific to you and how you alone use your computer. No YouTuber, without monitoring your actual usage, can tell you what amount of memory you should get. The best that I can do is give you a general guide, then show you how to monitor your own memory usage so you can use that data to refine what I said. Finally, I’ll give you some tips that you should consider before you buy.
If you're just using the laptop for casual tasks like browsing the web or doing office work, 8 gig is fine. This is also enough to give you a taste of some other tasks like video editing. If that's your use case, do not waste money or lose sleep stressing over whether to upgrade to 16.
If you are planning to do tasks that you know will require a substantial number of additional applications, such as programming, video or photo editing, or gaming, I'd recommend 16. This is also an ideal amount to get if you plan to keep your computer for a long time.
If you are doing professional level work for intensive tasks like the ones I just mentioned, 32 gig is a good rule of thumb. Professionals tend to work on more complex projects and often work on multiple projects at the same time, and time is money. Our video projects, for example, can be edited 95% as well on a 16 gig of RAM machine, but when you are doing this job day in, day out, that five percent adds up.
The same goes for coding. Small slowdowns multiply and become big ones. Plus, as a coder, there are so many ways that you could easily want this much memory, like by running one or more virtual machines on your computer.
The only people who should go above 32 gig are those who are beyond certain they need it. These scenarios are extremely rare. Here's one that I've encountered: the other day we accidentally filmed one of our videos in 4K 10 bit 422. That is very high quality video and requires a lot more data. 64 gig of RAM was needed.
On the coding or data analysis side, please consider this: once you start to need large amounts of memory, the amount of memory you need can fluctuate greatly based on the data you are running. You probably should be considering running what you're developing on a cloud server; that way you can easily scale up or down the memory as you need it.
Now, to check your own specific memory usage on a Mac, open Activity Monitor and look at memory pressure. If you frequently see yellow or you see red, you likely need more. On Windows, open Performance Monitor and then graph the paging data instructions on screen. If you see continuous very large amounts of paging, your computer is swapping too much, and you likely need more.
Please do not look at memory usage in Task Manager and assume that just because your memory is almost full, you need more. It is normal for your computer to use it all up before swapping out those older programs and data. Just because it states that you're almost at your memory limit doesn't mean that all the data being stored in memory actually needs to be there. That's why I recommend looking at Performance Monitor instead, as this shows the actual swapping going on.
Next, if you are buying a laptop whose memory you can't upgrade later on, make sure to future-proof your purchase and think about getting a little more than what you currently need. Not only, as I said, is general memory usage increasing over time, but you may want to try doing some new things on your laptop that you just don't do today.
But on the flip side, do not over-invest in future-proofing your laptop. That additional money could be saved towards your next one. If you were to ask me should you upgrade your laptop every three years and get 16 gig of memory now, or get 32 gig of memory and upgrade every five, I'd tell you to go for the three option with lesser memory now. A laptop is the sum of its parts, and you will find future models have multiple components that are significantly better than the current generation. Plus, some laptops like Apple's hold their value pretty well in the second-hand market.
Finally, if you are choosing where to spend your money for upgrades, choose the component that you can't upgrade later on. If you have soldered memory, I'd prioritize having enough of that before upgrading something like storage. Most laptops have upgradable storage, and even for the ones that don't, you can always add a fast external drive later. It may not be ideal, but you can do it.
All right, before I go, as this video focused on main memory but didn't cover graphics memory, although the concept is the same, recommendations will be different. I'll post a link to a video from Hardware Unboxed on that topic. They do a good job of covering how much graphics memory you'll need.
Well, that's all for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this video, and it helps you with that important decision of how much memory you should get in your next purchase. I'm going to place links down below to all the products I recommend when it comes to memory and storage upgrades, so check them out.
I'm also going to place a link down there to my new channel on how to be successful in business, so definitely give that a watch. Well, as I said, that's all I got for you. Smash the like button, get subscribed. Not only does it show your appreciation for the insane amount of effort spent making these videos, but as I always say, it makes my mother very proud.
Till next time, go do something awesome with your day, and I will catch you later.