New Dell computer....

I personaly leave my computer running 24/7 for weeks at a time. I can get up to 7 or 8 gigs of use not running any games or production software. That is just web browser and messengers. So yea any one that uses a 64 bit OS can benifet from having more than 8 GB of RAM. Windows 7 is one of the best Microsoft OSes to date, though it still has many issues and holes in it. The more resources you can throw at it the better. It is true that processor speed is a big deal, but with so many compines following suite to Adobe and multi threading it that is becoming less and less of an issue. What once took a 3 Ghz minium to run now only takes a 2.1 and across two or three threads. This is going to start getting really huge and manditory soon. Now that Intel is getting close and AMD has already droped out octicores and decacores, software compines are getting with the picture and making things multicore friendly.

I don't think I need 12 gigs of RAM just to surf the web...I think you've been oversold a bill of goods. You don't need a monster computer to do simple tasks.

Correct, dj

And, if, one has 64, can benefit from 4G or more, not 8G

Cheers,
Drew

My music sample programs eat up memory for breakfast...the more the merrier. 8 gigs seems to work just fine for my needs. If I wasn't doing the music, 1 or 2 gigs of RAM would be plenty for me just to surf the web. I got by with 1 gig for many years. 2 would be a luxury, 4 seems to be the standard on new computers now days, 8 well that's just great for the music programs, some guys do have 12 but for surfing the web ?? I don't think so.

8GB is quite plenty for most users, but some apps can easily soak up 10 or more GB of RAM. Like having open your OS & 2 VM's at the same time (yes, some users does this, but I haven't). I like to lend those 3GB RAM so that they act as real installs, & perform as such.

Like I stated in my earlier post, 4GB is no longer the standard (or "sweet spot"), although many computers ships with that amount, a lot of them will hold 8GB. Even many lower-end models will hold that amount. However, it's correct that those users who does nothing but web browse, shop & pay bills online, socialize, just basic stuff, 4GB will be fine. But I can't say that it will be that way 3 years from now.

Technology doesn't stand still, like time, it's constantly changing. One good thing on the horizon though, beginning with Windows 8, resource usage (in particular CPU usage) will be lowered. This may include some of the things that you like, read on.

Building a rich and extensible media platform - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Cat

Specific usage is something 'special'.

But, certainly, the accepted (take em for granted) norms have changed.

Then, again, we know most Folks have more computer than they will ever use.

The point I was trying to make, and I can see that I didn't do it very well, is that you never want to "bare minimum" any production machines. If you have more than you need that is good, not bad.

I know that quite well, Naiya. Even on a consumer computer, "bare minimum" doesn't cut it. That's only what the OS needs to run on. It doesn't count a lot of programs, especially resource intensive ones. These are the minimums for Windows 7. "Minimums" aren't to be confused with "Optimal", which are much more.

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

This won't cut it for a home computer, let alone a production one. Yes, it'll boot up & run, but very few programs can be installed & performance will be like crap with these specs. These are netbook specs. Even my 8 year old ThinkPad T42 running XP Pro SP3 has higher specs than this, except the last. It does have DirectX 9 graphics, but not the required driver for Windows 7. Anyway, both of my Windows 7 computers have DirectX 11.

I have learned over the past few years what to look for in a computer, and when buying my last, my MSI notebook, it was not an impulse purchase. I wanted a few things that were performance related pre-installed. First, a 1GB DDR3 dedicated GPU, as one cannot add a card after purchase (well, that's not entirely true, but it would be very expensive), an i5 CPU, 6GB or more RAM & USB3 ports, at a cost below $800. After a week of searching notebooks & it's specs (not just the OEM's word) on performance related sites, I found the one for me, at a cost of $749. Many notebooks of similar specs w/o a dedicated GPU cost over $1,000. I know how to shop for computers, it does all it needs for me, the CPU hardly ever goes past 30%, except briefly at startup.

I did upgrade the RAM to 8GB & recently installed a M4 SSD.

Newegg.com - MSI FX603-064US Notebook Intel Core i5 480M(2.66GHz) 15.6" 6GB Memory 500GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M

Note that I was one of the reviewers of this notebook, the same username that I have here.

My next desktop will be twice as powerful as my notebook is, possibly 3x more so. I don't know what the Intel CPU selection will be at that time, but I do know that I want 24GB of performance RAM installed & a 5GB NVIDIA GPU installed (I expect these to be available by then). I may initially accept one that has less RAM, as long as it will hold 24GB. My budget will be in the $1,500 to $2,000 range for everything, may add a bit more for the monitor if necessary.

Cat

We (IT Pros) have long known Microsoft's minimums & realistic, in practice values do not jibe, @ all. "running" an OS & using an OS are a long way apart... increase the (demand) scenario, such as CAD, games, music & or video production or just 'personal' wants & the gap increases several-fold.

Cheers,
Drew

My point is that I got a nice little computer for $399 that's far from bare minimum, but not too pricey.

3.30GHz.

12 gig RAM

500 Gig Hard drive

2nd 500 Gig Hard drive for back up

2- 64 gig SSD's

Yes I paid extra for the back up drive, memory upgrade, and SSD's, but it's a great computer that'll do the job for me within my budget. The 2nd generation i3 cpu does a fine job with my programs.