milovany Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 which number am I looking at? I'm pretty sure it's not the 2GB - 8GB number -- but I want to make sure. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 which number am I looking at? I'm pretty sure it's not the 2GB - 8GB number -- but I want to make sure. Thanks! Yes, that's it. He's talking about the memory capacity, not storage on the hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 which number am I looking at? I'm pretty sure it's not the 2GB - 8GB number -- but I want to make sure. Thanks! Yes, it is. It will say something like 3GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM. Hard drives now are usually over 160GB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Sorry, now I'm confused! I worded it poorly I think. So I *DO* want to be looking at that number (3GB to 8GB)? Isn't the hard drive different from RAM? Or are they the same thing? Here's a sample listing from one of the computers he recommended: Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 (10243TU) Notebook Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Yes, you do want to look at that number. Mine says 4GB DDR3 Memory. RAM is memory. Hard drive is different. Most hard drives are huge now, probably at least 250 GB. A 2-8 GB hard drive would be teeny. Heck, most thumb drives can give you a couple GB. My hard drive says 500 GB HDD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Sorry, now I'm confused! I worded it poorly I think. So I *DO* want to be looking at that number (3GB to 8GB)? Isn't the hard drive different from RAM? Or are they the same thing? Here's a sample listing from one of the computers he recommended: Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 (10243TU) Notebook Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M See where it says, "4GB Memory DDR3," that's the memory or RAM. The hard drive is the 500GB one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Sorry, now I'm confused! I worded it poorly I think. So I *DO* want to be looking at that number (3GB to 8GB)? Isn't the hard drive different from RAM? Or are they the same thing? Here's a sample listing from one of the computers he recommended: Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 (10243TU) Notebook Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 5400rpm DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M That's a 4GB RAM and 500 GB hard drive. Sounds like a pretty good computer to me. My brother likes to build computers and he says that a decent sized memory is not as important as the size of the hard drive. (so I wouldn't pay through the roof to get a 8 GB of RAM, 4 will work well enough.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) RAM is not the same as hard drive. Here is what I tell Apple customers: RAM (Random Access Memory) is the memory your Mac uses to run software applications and store frequently accessed data. Adding RAM improves the performance of your entire experience: opening and working with large files; using the Finder and other elements of Mac OS X; and running graphics, audio, video, and scientific applications. Plus, more RAM speeds up your computer when you have lots of applications open at the same time. ps. Want to disagree with the other person's brother about hard drive being more important than RAM.....won't be much fun to have a huge hard drive, but your computer take FOREVER to load and run, because you choose less RAM. Not to mention, very few people will ever get CLOSE to useing 500GB of Hard drive, and if they did, external hard drives are cheap these days. RAM, not that easy to upgrade later, and not as cheap either. Hard drive is the "bucket" where you store your photos, files, software, etc. RAM is in the 2GB-16GB these days. 2GB is kinda low, 4GB is average, 8GB is pretty maxed out. 16GB is for the high-tech professionals using HIGH tech software. Edited July 12, 2011 by Samiam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thank you, all ~ I understand now! I thought the 4GB number was the hard drive number. Commenting on the thumb drive number helped. :001_smile: I'm buying a laptop that will be dedicated to my remote work using a specific software program, so they told me to get as much RAM as I can afford so it can process as fast as possible for the reader at the other end. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thank you, all ~ I understand now! I thought the 4GB number was the hard drive number. Commenting on the thumb drive number helped. :001_smile: I'm buying a laptop that will be dedicated to my remote work using a specific software program, so they told me to get as much RAM as I can afford so it can process as fast as possible for the reader at the other end. Thanks. hmmm...in that case you might want to ask your work if 4 gigs will suffice or if 8 gigs would be better. If it were a strictly for work computer, I'd go with a higher RAM and smaller hard drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 What I want to know is, what feature or features would enable you to be able to watch MSNBC news without those pesky buffering pauses? Or youtube? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 What I want to know is, what feature or features would enable you to be able to watch MSNBC news without those pesky buffering pauses? Or youtube? I'm pretty sure that's mostly your internet, but if your RAM is overloaded, it can slow it down. (And since I am not really very knowledgeable at all about computers except what my brother's told me, I reserve the right to be completely and utterly wrong about this. I might be remembering something else completely:lol:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 What I want to know is, what feature or features would enable you to be able to watch MSNBC news without those pesky buffering pauses? Or youtube? I would bet that is your internet. Do you have cable or DSL? I bet your internet lines are bearing an extremely heavy load (just basing this upon your location). You could talk to your ISP about upgrading your modem. That might help; it couldn't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 What I want to know is, what feature or features would enable you to be able to watch MSNBC news without those pesky buffering pauses? Or youtube? Not enough RAM will make your computer run slowly. Higher is better, especially if you are running a program that is a memory hog. Buffering has everything to do with the internet upload and download speeds. If your internet connection is slow or too many people are using it at the same time (ie. Netflix instant watch is on, DS is playing WOW in the other room, and you are trying to stream a video), you'll have speed issues with internet things. If you have an awesome internet connection and are the only one using it, it won't matter if the other end hosting the video has a slow connection. The best thing you can do for speed is make sure you have adequate RAM for what you are running and have sufficient bandwidth for the amount of usage in your home. The rest is out of your control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I would bet that is your internet. Do you have cable or DSL? I bet your internet lines are bearing an extremely heavy load (just basing this upon your location). You could talk to your ISP about upgrading your modem. That might help; it couldn't hurt. We have DSL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 We have DSL. Do you know anyone in your neighborhood who has cable? Is their internet faster? I know dsl/cable are better in some areas than others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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