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What do you consider the recommended amount of RAM in 2022 for non-gaming laptops?

The recommended?

  • 8GB

    Votes: 66 15.0%

  • 16GB

    Votes: 319 72.5%

  • 24GB

    Votes: 6 1.4%

  • 32GB

    Votes: 40 9.1%

  • 64GB

    Votes: 9 2.0%
  • Total voters
    440
Wrexis

Wrexis

Member
Nov 4, 2017
21,229
I'm buying a Windows 11 laptop for a family member for mostly office stuff, Excel etc.

I was going to go with 16GB, but my own office laptop right now is using 42% of its 32GB RAM just being idle with Chrome, Outlook and MS Word open.
This would be 84% of 16GB RAM, which seems high to me. Though 32GB would seem excessive.

iTI3N86.png


I guess 24GB would work, but not many manufacturers give an option like that.

EDIT: Thanks all. Pretty definitive result. You've saved me about $150.

16GB it is.
 
Last edited:
linkboy

linkboy

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,688
Reno
16GB at a minimum.

I have 32GB in mine, but that's more because my laptop (Thinkpad P50) had 4 RAM slots and I wanted to maintain dual-channel support, so I put four 8GB sticks in it.
 

sora2k7

Member
Oct 28, 2017
65
16 Gb would be more than enough for that use case. Most of the data your system is using would be fine in the page file on the drive. 24 Gb is non standard size so I would not recommend it
 
Geist

Geist

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
4,579
16gb is the minimum these days, 32gb is recommended imho.
 
BennyWhatever

BennyWhatever

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,781
US
Wrexis said:
I was going to go with 16GB, but my own office laptop right now is using 42% of its 32GB RAM just being idle with Chrome, Outlook and MS Word open.
This would be 84% of 16GB RAM, which seems high to me. Though 32GB would seem excessive.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I could be wrong, but I don't think that's how RAM usage works. It's using 42% of your 32GB because it can. Windows and most software is optimized better so that systems with less RAM have less usage.

That being said, I'd say no less than 16gb if they want the laptop to last longer than a couple years.
 
dots

dots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,889
I can't imagine a use case for what you are describing that would require 32 gigs of RAM.

8 would be fine even, though I would recommend Firefox over Chrome for that.
 
spineduke

spineduke

Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
8,745
I do 4k video editing and 16gb is enough to keep things moving. Make sure your laptop is all SSD, far more important than having an extra 16 in there.

Chrome is to blame for your memory usage - its best to try Edge or Firefox instead.
 
shadowsdarknes

shadowsdarknes

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
8,706
My Surface Pro 8 has 16gb and it seems like 8GB is super common with these. But then again, these things barely count as laptops.
 
dots

dots

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,889
BennyWhatever said:
I could be wrong, but I don't think that's how RAM usage works. It's using 42% of your 32GB because it can. Windows and most software is optimized better so that systems with less RAM have less usage.

That being said, I'd say no less than 16gb if they want the laptop to last longer than a couple years.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes Windows preloads commonly used programs into RAM so they launch faster.
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,325
Steer clear of memory hogs like Chrome and 16 GB is fine. Mine is 16 GB and is fairly hassle free. But at the same time, if I were buying for the future and could afford it, I'd go 32. Couldn't hurt.
 
Royalan

Royalan

I can say DEI; you can't.
Moderator
Oct 24, 2017
11,929
I use Lightroom/Photoshop pretty heavily for my photography work, and 16 GB is still enough for me in 2022. Don't feel like my ram is a bottleneck yet.

I don't do anything video, though. Might feel differently then.
 
Lump

Lump

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,965
Everyone has different use case scenarios, so there's no one size fits all answer. But I will say that getting more RAM will keep a system future proof as more and more software requires additional RAM over time.

I'd only ever say that 8 GB of RAM in a computer bought in 2022 is a decent option for those that do relatively minimal tasks like web browsing, word processing, email, and maybe light gaming.

My workplace just replaced my 2016 8GB RAM ThinkPad with a 2022 16GB RAM model and that extra memory makes all the difference with Excel, proprietary software, and running Zoom meetings and Teams meetings where there is a lot of screen sharing necessary.
 
digitalrelic

digitalrelic

Weight Loss Champion 2018: Biggest Change
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,124
8GB minimum and 16GB recommended for macOS

16GB minimum and 32GB recommended for Windows
 

Deleted member 3208

Oct 25, 2017
11,934
As a gaming/drawing PC, 16GB is fine for me. But only having Firefox on the background plus Spotify and Steam eats almost 8GB RAM. I suppose for a office PC only, 16GB is the minimum required.
 
exodus

exodus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,943
16GB is more than enough for the vast majority of use cases. Hell, even 8GB is enough for a lot of use cases, though I wouldn't recommend going that low since it doesn't give nearly as much overhead.

32GB is really only really beneficial for some professional activities (video editing, dev) and maybe the odd game that actually benefits.
 
Dodongo

Dodongo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,462
To the honest, 32GB is overkill for most standard office users. Lots of people just assume that they're being bottlenecked by RAM capacity when they really aren't.

Modern operating systems are very efficient at using what you've got.

www.tomsguide.com

How much RAM do I need? Here's how to know

8GB, 16GB or 32GB, how much RAM do you actually need?
www.tomsguide.com www.tomsguide.com
storables.com

How Much RAM Do I Need? Debunking RAM Myths In 2022 – Storables

Instantly get answers about Random Access Memory! Find out how much RAM you need, different PC uses and how to maximize what you have.
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Saladin

Saladin

Alt Account
Banned
Apr 27, 2021
5,220
I say 16GB is fine since its office stuff. But if there will be any sort of videos and video rendering I'd then say 32GB
 
toy_brain

toy_brain

Member
Nov 1, 2017
2,207
8gb still seems to be fine as long as the person isn't running a massive memory hog like Bloomberg desktop (which I'm willing to bet they are not).
Also using Chrome is fine. Like Windows it scales its memory use to whatever it can get, and will give up RAM if it needs to. So if you are the sort of person who stares at Task Manager all the time, err....... maybe stop doing that?

EDIT: Looks like you went with 16gb. Fine I guess. Its a bit of future-proofing if nothing else.
 
nsilvias

nsilvias

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,714
whats with all this 32 gb talk. thats overkill for basic usage. even 16 gb is but thats where things are already moving anyways so its fine.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,968
Voted 16GB. It's a good baseline for most computing.

I have 32GB on my professional laptop these days, but usually recommend 16gb for most friends.

For memory utilization, apps will frequently use memory if it has it available. So, even if you go up to 64GB, those same 3 apps will still use a fairly high percentage, or use more memory than they would be using if there wasn't as much available.
 
Koukalaka

Koukalaka

Member
Oct 28, 2017
9,283
Scotland
I got a 8GB MBA M1 - I felt the extra cash for the 16GB model wasn't worth it, but I'm increasingly questioning my decision there.

90%+ of the time, though, it's very smooth for what I use it for.
 
Lkr

Lkr

Member
Oct 28, 2017
9,507
16 for a PC, 8 still seems fine on mac for general things (and the cost). if you work with VMs, scale accordingly I guess. 16 still fine for gaming too from what I can tell, I haven't had anything not run

windows is using that much ram right now simply because it *can* and not that it needs it
 
BUNTING1243

BUNTING1243

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,708
16 is probably the minimum nowadays, although you could probably get by with 8 on a Mac if you have light workflows.

I do 80% of my computing on a iPad Pro 2018, and it's fine. Think it has like 4 gigs of RAM or something silly like that lol. I wish it held apps in quick resume for longer but day to day it's still really snappy and often more responsive than my work laptop with 32 gigs of RAM and Windows 11.
 
Sei

Sei

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,708
LA
Windows 10/11 will use more RAM if you have more, but the sweet spot for cost/performance is still 16GBs. Getting faster RAM 3200/3600 MHz or higher is better than getting more capacity as speed can also improve CPU performance by a bit.
 
HVivi

HVivi

Member
Nov 29, 2020
566
I have 16GB on my work laptop and 32GB on my personal. Always feel like the work laptop is too slow but that is with a bunch of different software open for software development. If you are just using it for basics 16 GB should be fine but I think what software you need to run would determine how much RAM to get.
 
Maple

Maple

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,720
I have a M1 Macbook Air with 8 GB of RAM.

If I open Firefox with a few tabs and zero other apps, the Activity Monitor will show 6.5 GB of RAM being used.

16 should be the minimum.
 
Lebon30

Lebon30

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,282
Canada
Definitely 16 GB. It just puts you into a confort zone. 8 GB is way too tight; UNLESS the absolute only thing done on the machine is MS Word and other office work (no browsing).
 
NeoBob688

NeoBob688

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,635
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