These days, 8GB of RAM is plenty for most college students. However, if you are an engineering or business student who plans to process a lot of data with your laptop, then you should consider 16GB of RAM. If you can avoid it, we recommend avoiding laptops with 4GB of RAM unless you are on a budget.
How much RAM do I need for college?
Best high-performance laptops for college
Along with a faster processor, look for 16GB RAM — as opposed to 8GB — to run demanding programs like data crunching or video editing, says Schrock.
Is 8GB RAM still enough 2020?
In short, yes, 8GB is regarded by many as the new minimum recommendation. The reason 8GB is considered to be the sweet spot is that most of today’s games run without issue at this capacity. For gamers out there, this means that you really want to be investing in at least 8GB of adequately fast RAM for your system.
Is 8GB RAM enough 2021?
In a word, 8GB RAM is fine for those who stick to basic productivity, or those who aren’t playing modern games. But if you plan on running something memory intensive and doing another task at the same time, you could end up exceeding your limit.
Is 8GB RAM enough?
8GB: Typically installed in entry-level notebooks. This is fine for basic Windows gaming at lower settings, but rapidly runs out of steam. 16GB: Excellent for Windows and MacOS systems and also good for gaming, especially if it is fast RAM.
What laptop do most college students use?
What is the best college laptop?
- HP Envy 13 (2021) The best overall laptop. …
- MacBook Air (M1, Late 2020) The best Mac for students. …
- Dell XPS 13 (Late 2020) …
- HP Envy x360 13 (2020) …
- Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020) …
- HP Spectre x360 14. …
- Acer Swift 3 (2020, AMD Ryzen) …
- Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 9)
Can you upgrade RAM on a laptop?
While not all modern laptops give you access to the RAM, many do provide a way to upgrade your memory. If you can upgrade your laptop’s memory, it won’t cost you much money or time. … And the process of swapping out RAM chips should take between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on how many screws you have to remove.
Do I need 8GB or 16GB RAM 2020?
8GB of RAM is the sweet spot for the majority of users, providing enough RAM for virtually all productivity tasks and less demanding games. If you’re running demanding applications like video editing and CAD, or you’re a hardcore gamer, then we recommend that you start at 16GB and go up from there.
Is 16GB RAM enough 2020?
So if you are a gamer, you may be able to get away with 8GB, but we recommend going for at least 16GB. 8GB of RAM is fine for those who stick to basic productivity, or those who aren’t playing modern games.
How long will 16GB RAM last?
So you should be fine for the next 5 or 6 years. That being said, DDR5 ram is expected in the next year or so, so that 16GB may not last any longer than that.
Do I need more than 16GB RAM 2021?
Answer: In 2021, every gaming configuration should have at least 8 GB of RAM. However, 16 GB is the perfect middle ground at the moment, so that’s much preferable. 32 GB might be a good idea if you want to make your build more future-proof or use any RAM-intensive software.
How much RAM do I need for Photoshop 2021?
8GB: Mainstream
It’s the minimum recommended for applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro. Sure, spend a lot of time in heavy applications such as Photoshop, and you’re going to feel the limit, but it’s workable.
How much RAM do I need for my laptop 2021?
That leads to our general capacity guidelines. We recommend 16GB of main system memory for most users who want to multitask without incurring the above-mentioned slowdown, and 32GB for heavy multi-taskers or those running memory-hogging programs such as video editors.