# [SOLVED] 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?



## qaznqwerty (Nov 25, 2009)

Hi all,
I'm planning to buy laptop having i3 Core processor and Windows 7 - 64bit OS and also 512 mb Ati 5470 GPU.
I want to know whether 3gb is sufficient or should I upgrade to 4gb ram. I will use it for Word, Surfing, light gaming (crysis, GTA3, etc), audio-video, and also for work to install databases and application servers.

Will i see any improvement going from 3 to 4 gb, for now and also while a year down the line. Or does it really not make that much of a difference.

You may think why I'm wasting so much time on thinking about 1gb. But its just that I have shortlisted two models of laptops, one having 3 gb and other 4gb of almost same price and config. And here the 3gb one looks better than the other, but there is no option to upgrade the ram in this model.
So its choice betweem the two models, or so to say the choice between 3gb or 4gb.

Things I have in mind - its 64bit OS and not 32 bit OS hence I am not restricted to only 3gb. Win7 will work with min 2gb and since i have atleast 3gb will that be enough, or If I do go for 4gb will I ever get around to using that extra 1gb.
Since its unequal (2:1) combination in the Ram slots, Dual Channel mode will not work i think (I know Dual channel would anyway give only 5% increase in performance, but still its tempting)
And most importantly, since I will be having 512mb discrete GPU memory, hence no part of the main memory is assigned for display the full 3gb is available for the programs. And also its kind of like having 3.5 gb memory.

Please advise from your experience ray:


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## tallin (Apr 26, 2008)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

Short and sweet from me, *you can't have to much memory *-

Who knows what you will want in 12 months time, :wink: you may become a hot shot gamer. Take the option of 4GB is my advice,


> And here the 3gb one looks better than the other,


Can you elaborate on this?

kind regards,


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

personally I do not see where it will make much difference in your case based on what you said your computer usage is.


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## qaznqwerty (Nov 25, 2009)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

The 3gb one is a Sony Vaio and the 4gb one is Dell inspiron.
Personally i liked the sony vaio, but its just that they do not allow upgrading the Ram from 3gb.
I didn't mention the brand names before, because i was afraid then the thread might slip into another debate on Sony or Dell. :wink:


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## Lord Chaos (Jan 1, 2005)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

Sony Vaio is a sleek machine.

You really shouldn't let the RAM issue be the deciding factor, look into things like weight, usability, connections, look&feel, etc. before pondering too much about the RAM. Gotta remember that none of your programs can use more than tops 2 Gb of memory, this leaves 1 Gb for Windows + other programs, so 3 Gb will work just as well if you don't have other heavy programs open together with the game.

Since when has Crysis gone under "light gaming", its a very graphics intensive game and as such I don't see how your computer will run that at anything but really low settings.


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## qaznqwerty (Nov 25, 2009)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

Well both the Sony and Dell have almost same features. The Sony looks better, but the Dell has 4gb ram.
Yes with ATI 5470 all good games in low settings only.

Windows 7 recommends 2gb for its OS. So will just 1gb be enough for all the programs


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

I'd rather take a Lenovo over either.


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## goldmercury (Aug 7, 2008)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

I'd go with 4GB, 2 sticks of the same size work better in DDR than sticks of different sizes?

Also you'll have more RAM


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

You will not see any marked difference between 3 & 4GB of RAM and I doubt you will ever use 3GB in a laptop.


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## qaznqwerty (Nov 25, 2009)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

Confused,
Some saying it will make no difference, others it will give performance improvement.
Guess will never know till after I buy and see for myself ?


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## CYBER-hELPER (May 18, 2010)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

just buy whats cheaper and upgrade it down the road when the time is right you won't see much difference in 3 versus 4 gb in ram . i have 2 lap tops a toshiba and a gateway one has 3gbram the other 4 and theres really no difference in speed that you will notice


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## goldmercury (Aug 7, 2008)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

it all depends on what your doing at the end of the day, if your photoshoping the more ram the better if your surfing the web buy a 10 year old laptop as really you don't need a lot of power to surf the interwebs just a good broadband connection


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## qaznqwerty (Nov 25, 2009)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*

Have bought the Vaio with 3gb. 
Noticed that the OS doesn't take more than 1gb. Also if req will upgrade the 1gb card to 2gb, but then the 1gb card will become useless (well can keep it as a backup ram)
Only thing making this lap slow is the bloatware and not the RAM. :smile:


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

*Re: 3GB or 4GB Ram for Laptop ?*



qaznqwerty said:


> Confused,
> Some saying it will make no difference, others it will give performance improvement.
> Guess will never know till after I buy and see for myself ?


The only way you will see a marked improvement is if you use memory intensive applications. 3GB will suffice for most everyday laptop use. My ACER has 4GB of ram running 7 x64 and it run's the same as it did with 3GB. The only time I notice a difference is when I am heavily multitasking or editing large files.


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