
Ask HN: Have RAM needs leveled out the way processing power has? - _bxg1
I&#x27;m planning on the next laptop I buy remaining solid for at least the next 5 years, hopefully more. With the kinds of tasks I do, 8GB only just gets the job done right now and 16GB is comfy. I&#x27;m trying to decide whether to bump it up to 32GB to be safe.<p>It just feels like the increases in RAM on laptops (and the need for it?) have slowed in recent years. I bought an $1,800 laptop ten years ago with 8GB RAM. Today, a laptop around the same price has 16GB. Seems like a 2x increase over <i>ten</i> years is much slower than things used to progress. So then, will 16GB last me another 5+?
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moondev
Generally "planned future-proofing" never works, but I would configure as much
memory as you can.

> It just feels like the increases in RAM on laptops (and the need for it?)
> have slowed in recent years

Are you sure? Both the 16" macbook pro and Dell XPS now support up to 64GB.

[https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/new-
xps-15-7590...](https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/new-
xps-15-7590/spd/xps-15-7590-laptop)

[https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro-16/specs/](https://www.apple.com/macbook-
pro-16/specs/)

~~~
_bxg1
The MacBook is what I'm looking at, actually. The _maximum supported_ is
certainly higher, but it seems like the roughly-corresponding price on both of
those laptops has 16GB.

