Weekly poll: how much RAM is enough?

03 December 2023
Some phones these days have as much as 24GB, with others you can't get more than 8GB. And what's with virtual RAM, anyway?

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • Kx7
  • 04 Dec 2023

As for my personal experience:
Mobile:
Basic usage (usually for elder) 4gb, good for most people 6gb, long term usage 8gb, heavy gaming 12gb (android)
Laptop or PC:
Basic usage 8gb, advanced usage at least 16gb dual channel (windows)

I don't have any experience with mac

Also notes that ram isn't that important in iOS

    Bigbangsoft-fan, 04 Dec 2023Mobile : 8GB. Pc : 24GB. Mac : too pricey 16GB. 24GB is not common, or ideal, for PC - even though it is possible.

    8, 16, 32, 64 and 128GB etc is most common for PC. For personal usage, 16-32GB should be enough for most for now.

      Fair to say anything above 8gb is recommended, even phones are fine with 8gb if you want future proofing and install custom Android version way after supports end get 12gb.

        4 is not enough, 6 is enough, so in the end I chose this option instead of going for 8GB, not exactly sure why you lump them together unless you intentionally want people not vote for this option and skew results towards higher RAM demand

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 3Q1
          • 04 Dec 2023

          It isn't just a question of "how much do you need", it's also a question of "how much does it cost". Memory, be it RAM or storage, always was something manufacturers charged premium for.
          So, how much are you willing to pay extra for something that might be useful, but also might not make a difference at all?

            • B
            • Bigbangsoft-fan
            • XWS
            • 04 Dec 2023

            Mobile : 8GB. Pc : 24GB.
            Mac : too pricey 16GB.

              I welcome any ram size that saves battery. Meaning, if you restart your phone once a month the ideal size fits all the apps you use in one month without closing them. I wish there was a way to freeze them without closing. On my Samsung running Android 13 when saving battery aggressively apps still seem to sync/update every few hours. It's either that or closing them. Neither seems ideal but it's better than what it's been like before.

              My dream is that an app stays in memory even for 1 month without using it, without swapping to the drive (virtual ram). In that month it didn't use any battery to sync except for when the phone was on the charger. Boom. Max efficiency.

              Obviously if the user wants they can set the background update frequency higher if they so wish. But in the pursuit of power efficiency, allow for a total freeze without closing and without virtual ram. If the magic number to achieve this is 16 or 24GB then so be it.

                • L
                • L973
                • L1p
                • 04 Dec 2023

                As long as it effin works

                  hmm, 03 Dec 2023Well for now it's 6-8 but in like 5 years they probabl... moreThat's fair enough. Game devs are indeed lazy lol. Pc games gave doubled in size for the same amount of content recently lol

                    • H
                    • Hugo
                    • fCI
                    • 04 Dec 2023

                    For now 8 gb is fine for me, let's see in the future. Virtual RAM means nothing.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • 0cB
                      • 04 Dec 2023

                      For phones 12GB or more. For laptops 32GB or more.

                        The most multitasking I perform is web browsing/using social media, while listening to music and also having something download in the background.

                        So 3 apps: Firefox/Reddit, Spotify/Poweramp & Play Store/IDM+.

                        8 GB of RAM has been plenty for me and I never felt any need for more.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • PB7
                          • 04 Dec 2023

                          More RAM is always welcome

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 3SI
                            • 04 Dec 2023

                            Anonymous, 03 Dec 2023any app kept in ram means more power consumption so it make... moreEver heard of sleep state?

                              Personally, it depends on what kind of activity someone does with smartphones. If it's just web and social media browsing all day, even 4GB RAM is still more than enough. My current daily phone, an LG V50, might be able to handle everyday use, including dual app and Screen+ Desktop Mode, with 6GB RAM, but it does start to show the lack of it when playing AAA mobile games like Honkai Star Rail. For someone like me who always plays games, including console emulation, 12GB or 16GB RAM is the sweet spot. Anything above 16GB RAM is overkill, especially when most smartphone brands still won't bother to give USB3 with wired video output and Desktop Mode capability.

                                For Android, 4GB is probably the bare minimum, with 8GB being the sweet spot. Anything more is not optimal as the OS itself is not optimized to take advantage a lot of RAM.

                                For iOS, it depends on Apple deciding what's the minimum amount of RAM supported on the next version of iOS. I feel that on iPhones, 4GB is still sufficient, with 6GB being more than enough.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0BG
                                  • 04 Dec 2023

                                  Anonymous, 04 Dec 2023More ram the better I guess. When you can fit the entire o... moreLOL, no you can't, unless you're only using Facebook.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • yZR
                                    • 04 Dec 2023

                                    8GB is enough for now. 12GB is enough if you plan to keep your phone for 3-5 years. 16GB+ is just nuts, unless you plan to keep using your phone for the next 10 years.

                                      • j
                                      • jKhan
                                      • I@H
                                      • 04 Dec 2023

                                      8GB RAM is enough. I don't know what apps and how many apps are open to reach 8GB. Most of the time my 8gb ram device use only less than 5gb.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 0BG
                                        • 04 Dec 2023

                                        Well I "only" have 6 and I don't get any reloads. Except For Facebook, of course, which even reloads on PC since a month or so.

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