On 12/23/2011 05:13 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
On Fri, 23 Dec 2011, linux guy wrote:
> I'm specing a new laptop, probably a Dell XPS 17, with an i7
> processor. It will have an SSD and be driving 2 monitors.
>
> The XPS 17s come in two varieties, one with 2 DIMM slots and the other
> with 4 DIMM slots.
>
> - I do a ton of browsing for research purposes and may have as many as
> 20 Firefox sessions open at one time.
And I will have a dozen taps open in many of them.
> - I use Thunderbird with mail accounts with more than 100K
messages in them.
I have 4 copies of Thunderbird running.
> - I do some software development in Eclipse with gcc. Compile
times
> can be lengthy on some projects.
> - I use Digikam to manage and edit all my Nikon D7000 images, which
> are shot in raw
> - I want to get into editing D7000 video files
> - I want to get into 3D CAD.
None of this for me.
>
> How much RAM do I reasonably require ? Is it worth paying more for 4
> DIMM sockets over 2 ?
I went with 4Gb ram. I am currently @ 3.1Gb used and 800Mb swap (I
allocate 2x swap over memory). So 8Bg could work for you.
not sure this will help but i went through the same grappling
when
spec'ing out a new ASUS monster laptop. in the end, i learned that
the model advertised as coming with 12G RAM simply had 3/4 slots
filled, and just buying a separate compatible 4G stick to fill it out
to 16G cost all of $29 extra. problem solved.
more RAM is generally better, but don't feel you have to pay for it
as part of the advertised model.
The place I bought my Lenovo from (B&H photo)
provided a good brand SIMM
at 1/5 the price of Lenovo memory. And I took the install myself option
and saved a bit more.