Windows 7: Memory sizing- Guidelines

Microsoft has produced a document that provides guidelines for making a good assessment of the memory usage, and what to consider when deciding how much memory you need for your Windows 7 system. I hope this helps. Note: don't shoot the messenger, lol.

I don't need no technical paper to know how much memory I need... the more the better. imo.

4GB minimum, 8 GB recommended is my opinion. 8 GB cost you $ 110. so why are people still analyzing how much they need, and if 1 Gb or 2 GB are enough? Most better laptops come with 4GB already.

If cost really was an issue I could understand the penny-pinching and analyzing. I consider an SSD and really want to have just enough because each GB costs me much money. With an HDD I don't even think about size anymore. The same with RAM.

Windows 7 (and vista for that matter) need more RAM than XP, but also use it much better. The more they have the more they can use to speed up your daily life.

The only limit to RAM (imo) is that 2 GB modules are cheap, 4 GB modules very expensive) So my motherboard is the limit (with 4 slots and cheap 2 GB RAM I'm limited to 8 GB etc.).

At work I used to have 1 GB and the PC crashed all the time with autoCAD. Once my 3 years were over (IT replaces them every 3 years) I got one with 4 GB (after harassing them since their standard PC configuration only increased to 2 GB). with the time I wasted with a slow and crashing PC and being frustrated, with that value (incl. overtime pay, tax etc.) they could have bought me the biggest gaming rig in the universe.

I'm sure our IT guys are exactly the people who read those papers and "optimize" the PC to our needs (and needs in the next 3 years). So they saved $ 20 per PC, great.

25,000 units @ $20 per unit is not worth the effort, IMO either.

Are you kidding? $500,000 is never enough to save on manufacturing costs! Why do you think they always sold XP laptops wiith only 256mb when everyone else prior to Vista's release was already running 1-2gb?!

When Vista came out that forced manufacturers to start increasing the amount of memory prepackaged systems come with explaining the sudden 256-512mb to 3-4gb now being seen. Customer Complaints!

My perspective is not from manufacture or sale, but from deployment.

That has the largest actual bearing on things in the real world!

Meanwhile I meant to ask zay something here about what MS page he found the document on? A link for the page itself at MSDN or Technet to look over that section would be a plus here.

25,000 units @ 20 hours of work time lost every year for 3 years

Close your browser and get back to work.

Here is the link to where I got the document.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system...izingWin7.mspx

Thanks! zay One thing you want to do when posting any thread like this is provide a link to the source itself whether a download or an article you happen to post.

That way everyone can look over the full information, confirm the validity, and certainly not running into any problems later like posting a new article or blog without reference usually looked at as "plegiarism" of one type or another. That can save your day later for sure if someone should raise an issue about something!