26
Ram in phones?
(lemmy.ml)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
26 points (79.5% liked)
Android
17668 readers
99 users here now
The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!
Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.
🔗Universal Link: !android@lemdro.id
💡Content Philosophy:
Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.
Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: !askandroid@lemdro.id
For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: !lemdroid@lemdro.id
📰Our communities below
Rules
-
Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
-
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to !askandroid@lemdro.id.
-
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to !androidmemes@lemdro.id.
-
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
-
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
-
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
-
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
-
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
-
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
-
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.
Quick Links
Our Communities
- !askandroid@lemdro.id
- !androidmemes@lemdro.id
- !techkit@lemdro.id
- !google@lemdro.id
- !nothing@lemdro.id
- !googlepixel@lemdro.id
- !xiaomi@lemdro.id
- !sony@lemdro.id
- !samsung@lemdro.id
- !galaxywatch@lemdro.id
- !oneplus@lemdro.id
- !motorola@lemdro.id
- !meta@lemdro.id
- !apple@lemdro.id
- !microsoft@lemdro.id
- !chatgpt@lemdro.id
- !bing@lemdro.id
- !reddit@lemdro.id
Lemmy App List
Chat and More
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Entry-level MacBooks come with a pathetic amount of RAM.
Web browsing needs RAM everywhere. High resolution displays need video memory which isn't dedicated memory in phones but comes from overall RAM.
You need notebooks and desktop PCs with at least 16GB.
16gb is fine if you can afford it and you are doing lots of thinks on your computer but isn't necessary if you just have a few tabs on a budget machine.
I would never spec a Windows machine with less than 16.
Even for a casual user. The problems it causes aren't worth saving $50.
If I was able to upgrade a 4GB notebook to 16GB ten years ago for little money, it's not a budget matter (unless it's Apple who charge insane amounts of money for 16GB).
As an owner of a second hand entry level Macbook, it's constantly swapping. You don't notice it that much because today's SSDs are very fast, but undoubtedly this will affect the lifetime of the device and reflects a poor choice in memory specifications.
I would respectfully disagree with the last point. For Joe Schmoe who is just scrolling Reddit you will probably be fine with 8-12gb, especially if you intend to cut down on your budget.
Joe Schmoe cutting down on budget shouldn't throw away money on MacBooks then. I had a low-end notebook 10 years ago that I upgraded for little to 16GB RAM 10 years ago.
Video memory is shared with main RAM on "Joe Schmoe" notebooks. It's really noticeable when a few browser tabs are open. Source: Me when I had an 8GB RAM HP notebook with an iGPU.
Linux uses half the RAM Windows does in a fresh install. 8GB can absolutely be done on a Linux system without worry. To aid systems with 4-8GB RAM, Windows compresses. This has allowed OEMs to ship systems with 8GB as a minimum. This just isn't enough for multitasking. The CPU is tasked with constantly compressing and decomposing if you're attempting to multitask. This can make an already cheap laptop feel a little more sluggish. 16GB has always been the minimum for gaming systems and these days it's becoming apparent 32GB is needed. 8GB is just pitiful for a computer these days.
Addressing the OP, mobile devices used to only need 2-4GB for the longest time. The OS wasn't that heavy because the ARM CPU could only do so much. As the CPUs improved, higher resolutions were used, prettier animations and more features got added. This all needs more RAM. Android developer options will tell you how much RAM you're using. A feature of Android is to keep a process cached in RAM that's been recently used. This is present to aid in battery life. Even if you swipe the app away from recents list, a portion is cached so the next time you start it, the CPU doesn't have to work as hard to load it up. You can see this under Running services > Cached processes. This means it's more beneficial for the mobile device to have more RAM.
The point isn't that 8gb is unusable for light tasks. I have a $300 Lenovo with Windows and 8gb RAM and I don't see any problems.
The point is that a $1500 premium device should come with 16gb RAM at minimum, because for the manufacturer the cost is almost nothing. Yes, Apple makes much more money selling extra 8gb of RAM for $300 rather than just put a 16gb chip for literally pennies and adsorb the cost but that's because they're scammers
I mean, 8 gigs of RAM is overkill depending on what you're doing.
For general computing sure, but if you build out a device for a specific purpose, you can really cut down on a crap ton of resources including memory.
Unix principle, adopted by Linux. Do one thing and do it well.
Applies to more than just software design.