New Laptop - How Much RAM do I need

It really depends on what you intend to do? However, memory is cheap now. You can't really go wrong with having too much. I tend to get the most the notebook will support. But only if your running OS x64 that can use it?

I upgraded my HP workstation laptop to 32G. My Dell Ultrabook stuck at 4G as its memory is soldered to the board. :S

There is a program for moving your data to the new machine. It's free. For $$, it will move your programs too. PC Mover

OP here. Broke down and found a steal...brand new Lenovo Thinkpad I7 with 4G RAM but easily expandable (has empty slot) for under $275. Girl got it as graduation gift and did not want it - kids. Anyway thanks for input now comes the fun in moving data and loading my programs.

With the usage you described, 4GB is plenty.

DW's new PC with i7 6th gen processor purrs along nicely with 8GB. However, I suspect before EOL, we'll double that to 16GB. (3-4 years from now). She like to have lots of 'stuff' open at the same time.

sherlock62 wrote:
Were you to use your old HP for anything more, you would wish you had more Ram. 4MB of Ram computers these days are bottom end to say the very least. .

The most intense work I do is MS Movie maker. It doesn't convert phone videos to Mp4s at lightning speed, but it doesn't grind for minutes either. That's fine with me, it's not like it's something I do all the time.

As for computer nostalgia, 4G of RAM is a staggering amount. As said, it depends on your usage. And it's gig, G, not MB. Yes, 4 MEGAbyte would be almost unusable.

2oldman wrote:
My HP has 4. No problem doing anything.

Doing emails and posting here require little from a PC. Were you to use your old HP for anything more, you would wish you had more Ram. 4GB of Ram computers these days are bottom end to say the very least. IF someone is buying a new 64 bit, laptop/tower in today's day and age he/she would be prudent buying at the very least 6GB but preferably 8GB or more. Ram is very inexpensive these days. You can never go wrong going more, in regard to Ram. You can go very wrong going less with Ram. A computer with a decent processor is very very lame when Ram is lacking.

My HP has 4. No problem doing anything.

Would not even consider going with anything less then 8GB of Ram with a 64 bit PC. Your talking a few $ more spent on the PC.

One question to ask yourself is what do you actually do on your laptop. If you mostly use it for email, online shopping, surfing the web then you might want to look at a tablet such as an iPad and not have to deal with all the updates and issues with a windows based laptop. If you use Office programs such as EXCEL, store lots of photos, then perhaps a laptop is best.

I have iPads and laptops and if I did not need Excel or my tax software, I'd ditch the laptops.

But to answer your basic question, I'd not run a laptop with less than 6 meg.

ReadyToGo wrote:
Put your money into the largest SSD drive you can afford.

Agree put a SSD in it, you will see the biggest performance improvement. It is not just boot up though you see it there the most, but all performance is improved that much.

If what you are looking at, 6GB ram, why go down? 6GB will be plenty.