How much memory is enough?
Discussion
Looking at refurbed laptops, because f
k paying the new price!
No gaming, 90% internet browsing on fibre to the house, 10% watching downloaded films - rarely stream unless Youtube is counted as streaming!
Need a 17" screen (don't have a TV) and have a 500gb SSD sitting here to go into it.
Most of them seem to come with 8gb memory, even the mad £2000 (used) Alienware ones, which I don't need.
Should I budget for 16 gb, 32 gb, probably bought from Crucial?
Or is 8gb quite enough? My existing Dell inspiron N7110 (16gb I think - bought a scrap one for parts (£37!) and used the memory from that.)
It is just getting old - I can run two internet tabs at once on it and Youtube is fine if nothing else is running - anything more and it dies and needs restarted. DVD drive is dead and sometimes I can hear the hard drive making scraping noises.
It's past it, and needs to fall out a 3rd floor window.
Other than that memory question, any suggestions for models? I've had Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, all the usuals... but I need a laptop as well! Refurbs only, and ideally £450-£550.
Cheers!
k paying the new price!No gaming, 90% internet browsing on fibre to the house, 10% watching downloaded films - rarely stream unless Youtube is counted as streaming!
Need a 17" screen (don't have a TV) and have a 500gb SSD sitting here to go into it.
Most of them seem to come with 8gb memory, even the mad £2000 (used) Alienware ones, which I don't need.
Should I budget for 16 gb, 32 gb, probably bought from Crucial?
Or is 8gb quite enough? My existing Dell inspiron N7110 (16gb I think - bought a scrap one for parts (£37!) and used the memory from that.)
It is just getting old - I can run two internet tabs at once on it and Youtube is fine if nothing else is running - anything more and it dies and needs restarted. DVD drive is dead and sometimes I can hear the hard drive making scraping noises.
It's past it, and needs to fall out a 3rd floor window.
Other than that memory question, any suggestions for models? I've had Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer, all the usuals... but I need a laptop as well! Refurbs only, and ideally £450-£550.
Cheers!
guindilias said:
Should I budget for 16 gb, 32 gb, probably bought from Crucial?
Or is 8gb quite enough? My existing Dell inspiron N7110 (16gb I think - bought a scrap one for parts (£37!) and used the memory from that.)
Unless you're going tab crazy, 8GB is enough for the uses you're listing, especially as you have an SSD.Or is 8gb quite enough? My existing Dell inspiron N7110 (16gb I think - bought a scrap one for parts (£37!) and used the memory from that.)
Worst case you can add more later if cash is tight..
However from what you're describing, it sounds as if the HD in your laptop is failing, so have you considered simply putting the SSD in the existing laptop and saving the money?
Aye, I bought a Dell 5700 from their outlet - what a piece of junk. You can't remove the battery, hard drive, or get access to the memory slots. It is literally sealed until you take out all the screws and run a credit card or (is it called a "smudger" or something?) right round it to pop the whole laptop open, like opening a phone to replace the screen.
So, that went straight back to Dell, and Crucial assure me that they will take back the 32gb of ram I bought (16mb per slot, if you ever get the bloody thing open).
I'm sitting here typing on my old Dell, which has handy access hatches for the memory and the HDD just needs one screw and it slides out.
It's old, covered in ciggy ash and I thought I'd treat myself to a better one on promotion. But it's rubbish, seriously. No access to anything without dismantling half the laptop. It nearly went through the window today, I had one of those rages like when you hammer a screw into your thumb...
So, any reccomendations for a better brand? One that I can mess with? 17" screen is the main decider, along with easy access to the memory, HDD, and battery!
So, that went straight back to Dell, and Crucial assure me that they will take back the 32gb of ram I bought (16mb per slot, if you ever get the bloody thing open).
I'm sitting here typing on my old Dell, which has handy access hatches for the memory and the HDD just needs one screw and it slides out.
It's old, covered in ciggy ash and I thought I'd treat myself to a better one on promotion. But it's rubbish, seriously. No access to anything without dismantling half the laptop. It nearly went through the window today, I had one of those rages like when you hammer a screw into your thumb...

So, any reccomendations for a better brand? One that I can mess with? 17" screen is the main decider, along with easy access to the memory, HDD, and battery!
driverrob said:
O.P. Did you check the speed rating of the RAM you repurposed?
Nope, I probably should have but I thought "slap it in, it's bound to be better" - and it was, for a while. Tried the SSD in it as well - brilliant, I used to have time for a slash and a ciggy before it reluctantly started up - the new drive was like lightning!But this old thing is coming to an end now - too much beer spilt on it, keys falling off - and it's worthless to sell on. Space bar is intermittent, it won't always connect to my router, etc. - time for a change!
That's great, cheers!
So, any reccomendations on brands, etc? My old work used to buy HP every thime (contracted) and they seemed to last well - the Clerk of Works would give them a right battering on site but still needed a replacement every 2 years - because he would break the screen, they pulled a new one out of the store, and off he went - ordering a new screen for the bust one from Ebay on his way.
The man must have had 10 laptops in the house, one in every room and more!
So, any reccomendations on brands, etc? My old work used to buy HP every thime (contracted) and they seemed to last well - the Clerk of Works would give them a right battering on site but still needed a replacement every 2 years - because he would break the screen, they pulled a new one out of the store, and off he went - ordering a new screen for the bust one from Ebay on his way.
The man must have had 10 laptops in the house, one in every room and more!
Right, well I will have 32 gigs of memory regardless - as Crucial have promised to swap it like for like.
Between that, the SSD, and the fibre connection - I should get vaginas appearing on the screen so fast that I hardly get to rub one out, yeah?
I'm going to have to buy a projector, hire some maids. charge visitors a quid a tug...
Between that, the SSD, and the fibre connection - I should get vaginas appearing on the screen so fast that I hardly get to rub one out, yeah?
I'm going to have to buy a projector, hire some maids. charge visitors a quid a tug...

guindilias said:
Right, well I will have 32 gigs of memory regardless - as Crucial have promised to swap it like for like.
Between that, the SSD, and the fibre connection - I should get vaginas appearing on the screen so fast that I hardly get to rub one out, yeah?
I'm going to have to buy a projector, hire some maids. charge visitors a quid a tug...
I think you might need one of these too.Between that, the SSD, and the fibre connection - I should get vaginas appearing on the screen so fast that I hardly get to rub one out, yeah?
I'm going to have to buy a projector, hire some maids. charge visitors a quid a tug...


There aren't so many laptops you can open and play with like you used to - simply because customers want them to be thinner, and thus everything has to be more tightly packaged. I would go to a shop and physically inspect them otherwise you might be making good friends with Mr DHL.
For what you describe 8GB will be fine anyway, even streaming 3HD videos in 1080 resolution, along with 7 other Chome tabs, is only using 5GB.
For what you describe 8GB will be fine anyway, even streaming 3HD videos in 1080 resolution, along with 7 other Chome tabs, is only using 5GB.
guindilias said:
Right, well I will have 32 gigs of memory regardless - as Crucial have promised to swap it like for like.
Between that, the SSD, and the fibre connection - I should get vaginas appearing on the screen so fast that I hardly get to rub one out, yeah?
I'm going to have to buy a projector, hire some maids. charge visitors a quid a tug...
8gb works just fine for that Between that, the SSD, and the fibre connection - I should get vaginas appearing on the screen so fast that I hardly get to rub one out, yeah?
I'm going to have to buy a projector, hire some maids. charge visitors a quid a tug...


Condi said:
There aren't so many laptops you can open and play with like you used to - simply because customers want them to be thinner, and thus everything has to be more tightly packaged.
I think that's a bs excuse. Plenty of thin & lights that have upgradeable RAM and SSD.It's just that customers don't care. Plenty of thin high end phones with upgradeable storage and headphone jack as well.
A more current trend is glueing the entire thing shut. Surface Laptop is a serious offender of that for example.
I just upgraded my XPS with an extra 8GB stick and a 512 M2 SSD.
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