Computer memory is a very importanthardware component that should not be overlooked when purchasing a computer system.  With low or inadequate memory, your system may run very slowly or even lock up from time to time.  Running multiple programs at the same time can lead to sluggish systems as the memory resouces are used up to run the programs which leaves litte for reserve.  Its always best to have too much memory than not enough in your computer system.

Requirements for memory are quite different depending on the operating system you are running.  Years ago, Windows 98  only needed 64K to 128k memory for the system to run at peak effeciently.  That changed dramattically when windows xp  came out.  The recommended amount of memory for the xp operating is 512k with 1GB RAM being optimal.   Then new windows Vista operating system has memory requirements that are considerably higher than XP’s simply because there is so much more to Vista than XP. There are far many more background tasks to take care of, a more complex UI, and a code base that’s significantly larger than that of Windows XP. All of these items require memory, and therefore when you boot up a Vista machine with 512MB of memory, almost all of it is already being used.

Microsoft and software makers in general notoriously understate the minimum system memory requirements. So, for example, if you try and run a Windows Vista system with 512MB of memory, you should know right away that this will slow the system down. Although Vista will do its best to disable background tasks and neat effects to make using your computer less painful with 512MB, we simply wouldn’t recommend it. You can get by running a single application, such as IE7 or Outlook, but multitasking is out of the question.

Although Windows XP is more tolerable with 512MB, 1-2 GB should really be the minimum for any Vista machine and not just those that are Premium certified. Vista uses a lot more memory and in turn, you’ll need quite a bit more memory to get a similar experience to what you had under XP.
As applications and usage models get more demanding, and as memory prices drop, the move to 2GB or even 3GB of memory makes more sense for windows vista systems.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 10:00 am and is filed under Computer Bytes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.