[SOLVED] 8gb or 16gb RAM for laptop?

[WrathofGod]

Hi, I’m planning on buying a laptop for photo editing, graphic design, and maybe some video editing. I don’t plan to game on it so I was wondering if 8gb ram would be fine. I know 16gb is recommended/preferred but those tend to be more expensive. My budget currently is around $800 but it might go up to $1300ish depending on if I get my graduation money lol. Thoughts on 8v16gb? Also, if you have any laptop recommendations please say. Needs to have a backlit keyboard, good processor and display, and a SSD. Thanks!!
EDIT: I’m asking if 8gb ram will work FOR MY PURPOSE so I don’t need to spend more MONEY I don’t have or if I NEEED to save up more money to get a laptop with 16gb ram

 

[Endre]

16GB of RAM is definitely better than 8GB.
First of all, it’s double the size!
Secondly, 16GB, if it runs in dual channel mode, will have double the bandwidth, which is another huge plus!

 

[WrathofGod]

16GB of RAM is definitely better than 8GB.
First of all, it’s double the size!
Secondly, 16GB, if it runs in dual channel mode, will have double the bandwidth, which is another huge plus!

Yep. I’m just wondering if 8gb will serve it’s purpose for now (especially if I can upgrade it later on) or if it’s best to get 16gb.

 

[Endre]

Yep. I’m just wondering if 8gb will serve it’s purpose for now (especially if I can upgrade it later on) or if it’s best to get 16gb.

The thing is that buying a kit of 2x8GB is ideal.
If you buy 1 module now and another some other time, there is a slight chance that they won’t work well with each other, even if it’s the same model.
It happens sometimes to have issues when loading XMP profiles.

 

[wizacs]

Dual channel matters a lot, as Endre said before, you could buy one module now and another one in the future, remember that the module should have the same frequency, otherwise the PC will run both of them at the lowest available frequency.
Example: you have a 2666mhz module and a 3000mhz one, the PC will run both of them at 2666mhz.

 

[not you]

I had a corsair vengance lpx 1x8gb 2666 stick and bought an other later (also corsair lpx 2666) and they didnt work well together pc kept crashing with memory management error and froze randomly sometimes :/

Definately buy a pair if you want a stable pc

 

[WrathofGod]

I think I explained my question badly, sorry, as y’all don’t understand my question I think. I know all this stuff about ram and whatnot. My question is whether 8gb will work fine for my needs so I don’t have to spend more money on a laptop or if I need to buy a laptop with 16gb. The laptops I’ve been looking at only have one module so I would have th replace the ram anyways.

 

[Endre]

I think I explained my question badly, sorry, as y’all don’t understand my question I think. I know all this stuff about ram and whatnot. My question is whether 8gb will work fine for my needs so I don’t have to spend more money on a laptop or if I need to buy a laptop with 16gb. The laptops I’ve been looking at only have one module so I would have th replace the ram anyways.

8GB RAM in 2020 is generally not enough.
Every program seems to be “asking” for more memory nowadays.
I’d look for a laptop that has 16GB of RAM, in dual channel (2x8GB).

 

[liquidkooled99]

Absolutely go with 16gbs of ram. Photo editing , and video editing are very ram hungry. I would only get 8gb of ram if you are only web browsing and running office applications.