Why are there still computers with 4GB RAM?

[TheFlash1300]

Why do companies, that produce laptops and desktop computers, still produce laptops and computers that have 4GB of RAM? Since Windows 11 came out and it requires at least 4GB of RAM, shouldn't every new laptop or computer be produced with at least 8GB of RAM, so there can be 4GB of RAM for Windows 11 itself, and 4GB of RAM for extra applications?

If you buy a computer with 4GB of RAM and install Windows 11 on it, you won't be able to run other programs, because Windows 11 requires 4GB of RAM only for itself, meaning that 4GB of RAM are enough only for the OS itself, but not for other applications you want to install.

 

[punkncat]

Not exactly accurate.

4GB would be an option for those who are looking for a budget machine and simply don't know better. Even if you exceed your physical RAM the machine will use page file and operate, just slower.

The real crime in my mind is why any of these manufacturers would still sell computers with disk drives.

 

[TheFlash1300]

Not exactly accurate.

4GB would be an option for those who are looking for a budget machine and simply don't know better. Even if you exceed your physical RAM the machine will use page file and operate, just slower.

The real crime in my mind is why any of these manufacturers would still sell computers with disk drives.

Why do you think selling HDDs is a bad thing? Don't you know that HDDs can be defragmented and don't have a limit of write/erase cycles, while SSDs can't be defragmented and have a limit of write/erase cycles, meaning they have a limited lifespan?

 

[punkncat]

Why do you think selling HDDs is a bad thing? Don't you know that HDDs can be defragmented and don't have a limit of write/erase cycles, while SSDs can't be defragmented and have a limit of write/erase cycles, meaning they have a limited lifespan?

HDD have certain positives particularly for cost effective bulk storage. They absolutely are trash for OS disk as they hamper system speed and capability to a degree that can bring the highest end new hardware to a level equal to something much older.
Typically speaking a HDD is "good" and "reliable" for 5 years. With mission critical info they should be replaced afterward.

I have had exactly two SSD fail on me in the years I have been using them. Both of them were well past that age, and one (a Sandisk) was in particular known as a bad drive from the get go.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Why do companies, that produce laptops and desktop computers, still produce laptops and computers that have 4GB of RAM? Since Windows 11 came out and it requires at least 4GB of RAM, shouldn't every new laptop or computer be produced with at least 8GB of RAM, so there can be 4GB of RAM for Windows 11 itself, and 4GB of RAM for extra applications?

If you buy a computer with 4GB of RAM and install Windows 11 on it, you won't be able to run other programs, because Windows 11 requires 4GB of RAM only for itself, meaning that 4GB of RAM are enough only for the OS itself, but not for other applications you want to install.

Not really accurate, thats what Windows swap file is for, also just because it requires 4GB ram minimum does not mean its using all 4GB all the time.

That said I agree with you only because running only 4GB of ram can be a painfully slow experience, even just watching Youtube videos.

Why do you think selling HDDs is a bad thing? Don't you know that HDDs can be defragmented and don't have a limit of write/erase cycles, while SSDs can't be defragmented and have a limit of write/erase cycles, meaning they have a limited lifespan?

SSDs technically have a limited lifespan, for you to hit that lifespan limit you'd need to be moving data around 24x7 for a very long time. For a modern SSD its inconceivable for any normal user to wear it out. Meanwhile they make a massive performance difference especially on weak hardware and low ram. Defragmentation is irrelevant on an SSD, the whole point of it is that the head on the HDD doesn't need to move far to get to the next part of the data on the physical data disks inside the HDD, when its defragmented. SSDs store the data on a chip, there is no "physical location".

 

[USAFRet]

Why do you think selling HDDs is a bad thing? Don't you know that HDDs can be defragmented and don't have a limit of write/erase cycles, while SSDs can't be defragmented and have a limit of write/erase cycles, meaning they have a limited lifespan?

While SSDs have a "limited lifespan", that lifespan in relation to typical use is so huge as to not exist at all.

In typical consumer use, you would get decades of use before you start to get close to the warranty TBW number.

For example, the system I'm using now.
1TB Samsung 980 Pro as the C drive.
First use around Jan 1 or so. Running basically 24/7.

Currently, 4TB written on it
1461 running hours.
The warranty is 5 years or 600TBW, whichever comes first.

Extrapolating that 4TB (Total Bytes Written) and the 1461 running hours out into "600TBW"....9,131 days, or 25 years.
I'm pretty sure I (or my grandkids) won't be using this drive in the year 2047.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Why do companies, that produce laptops and desktop computers, still produce laptops and computers that have 4GB of RAM? Since Windows 11 came out and it requires at least 4GB of RAM, shouldn't every new laptop or computer be produced with at least 8GB of RAM, so there can be 4GB of RAM for Windows 11 itself, and 4GB of RAM for extra applications?

If you buy a computer with 4GB of RAM and install Windows 11 on it, you won't be able to run other programs, because Windows 11 requires 4GB of RAM only for itself, meaning that 4GB of RAM are enough only for the OS itself, but not for other applications you want to install.

Windows doesn't actually take up 4GB of RAM. It generally takes up anywhere between 1.5GB and 2GB. Though with some tweaking you can bring it down to less than 1GB. I had a system with Windows 10 that had 2GB of RAM and it went down to ~350MB.

Why do you think selling HDDs is a bad thing? Don't you know that HDDs can be defragmented and don't have a limit of write/erase cycles, while SSDs can't be defragmented and have a limit of write/erase cycles, meaning they have a limited lifespan?

They don't provide the same level of performance as SSDs. And by performance, SSDs are quicker to respond to requests than HDDs for small transfers. Most requests aren't large chunks of data, but typically <1MB in size. Small, numerous data requests is what kills performance. For example, it'll take much longer to transfer a 1GB file from an HDD than it would take to transfer 1,000 1MB files, even though it's the same amount of data.

Also the reason why you don't defrag SSDs is the random access performance makes any fragmentation problems moot and defragging actually eats into the life span because there's a bunch of excessive writes. And people have already touched on the write cycle life span of an SSD.

The real crime in my mind is why any of these manufacturers would still sell computers with disk drives.

An even worse crime to me are manufacturers using eMMC storage. They can still call it an SSD, but the performance of those things aren't that much better than an HDD.