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I have a Samsung N150 netbook with a dual core atom processor... ram is so cheap these days, but would 8gb of ram really bring much improvement over say 4gb?

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What are you using your netbook for? – EpiGrad Sep 20 '11 at 9:30
And for how long do you plan to use the netbook? RAM for it may be cheap now, but it doesn't mean that it will be cheap in a few years time. – AndrejaKo Sep 20 '11 at 9:32
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I think in a netbook the CPU is typically the more limiting feature...but then again, if you can afford it, why not? – tombull89 Sep 20 '11 at 9:33
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First make sure you are using Windows 7 64 bit, Home premium or better (Home basic supports 4GB, starter is 32 bit only and supports 2GB Only). Otherwise, anything > 3 GB is not too useful. – Akash Sep 20 '11 at 9:35
if you can afford it, go for it. I know for my use case it wouldn't make any difference though, the cpu is the bottleneck. – Sirex Sep 20 '11 at 9:35
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closed as not constructive by slhck, Gareth, Sathya♦ Sep 20 '11 at 11:19

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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

No *

8gb ram is not "overkill"

Think about it in terms of expected lifetime of the netbook, this smaller investment now will make it last a little while longer.

But so long as the price of upgrading from 4gb to 8gb is a reasonable percentage of the netbook. Of course that percentage is up to you to decide, based on your budget.

From experience I see myself and others simply go out and buy new machines when theirs feels a little slow or dated even when upgrades like RAM and hard drive (more capacity, and or faster SSD) are relatively easy to apply to a netbook later on.

*Summary of considerations:

  • Your operating system supports the ram
  • Not too expensive as a percentage of the netbook
  • Upgrade plans in the future
  • Would you rather have the netbooklast a little longer (lifetime) or be in need of a replacement a little sooner.
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Thought I'd add the opposite view point and let people vote. – Nick Josevski Sep 20 '11 at 10:29
and your hardware supports that much ram, and has a spare slot... – Journeyman Geek Sep 20 '11 at 10:36
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up vote 1 down vote

I do not expect that a netbook will have a significant graphics card, so high end gaming is out of the question, and unless you are using it for hardcore software development, then yes, it is probably overkill.

Also, keep in mind that if your operating system is not 64-bit, it doesn't matter, although I suspect that if the netbook comes with 8gb of ram, it should have 64bit os preinstalled.

4gb is probably enough, and 8gb should not justify a significant price difference.

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