MAX RAM

Unregistered.

Why oh why, when i can get 32GB on a MAC, i can only get 4GB on a Dell laptop?!
Their new Studio XPS desktops can be equipped with 6Gb - <sarcasm> woo hoo!</sarcasm>
I'm a bit of a techie, but it wasn't until now that i am considering an upgrade that I noticed this really really poor let down on Dell's behalf!
Caqn anyone explain??

Nichololas

4Gb is perfectly adequate for the vast vast majority of users. The only people who would really need more are graphic designers and the like, and the only other people who actually have more are power-gamers who like playing their games at 3360x2100 on 40" screens.

Cuddlesworth

Numerous reasons,

Windows XP and Vista 32bit will only take 3.5gigs of ram in total, which is what most machines will sell with.

64bit OS's are capable of using more, but are limited because of the lack of 64bit applications meaning most programs still have a limit of 2gigs to use effectively. Most don't even need that.

Most Xp and Vista users don't need more then 1gig and 2 gig's respectively.

Laptop motherboard chipsets top out at 4gigs(usually), desktop chipsets between 8 to 16gigs and workstation and server boards at 16gigs+. This is due to heat usage, space requirements and power requirements. Eg; laptop has no real power, so can't compete with a desktop(32gig Mac) that can draw close to 10 times the power.


Now the real question is do you need that much ram? And the answer is, no. So why are you looking for it?

A laptop should be bought on the following requirements, in order;

Weight
Battery Life
Durability
Screen size
Specifications

Cuddlesworth

Enlil_Nick wrote: »

4Gb is perfectly adequate for the vast vast majority of users. The only people who would really need more are graphic designers and the like, and the only other people who actually have more are power-gamers who like playing their games at 3360x2100 on 40" screens.

I would have said high res image and video editing, CAD and other various 3d design programs plus certain server roles. Not gaming machines.

Nichololas

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I would have said high res image and video editing, CAD and other various 3d design programs plus certain server roles. Not gaming machines.

Which is why I said that graphic designers (by which I meant image/video editing, AutoCAD, etc) are the only people who actually would need more, but outside them the only group that actually has more than 4gb are powergamers.

Comedy option reply: Is anyone else finding it ironic that it's Apple and not Dell that are selling computers with minimum requirements for Vista? :pac:

Unregistered.

hey thanks for the responses, but i really wasn't asking you guys about what i need, or if i should get x y z.... I know what i need.

I just really want to know, if anyone knows, why dell and other companies do not offer 32GB RAM or any sizeable amount above 4GB.

Anybody care to start a discussion?

EDIT: Talking about Desktops here.

x in the city

32Gig memory modules DDR modules are available,

but why oh why do you need 32 Gigs

do you design huge masterpieces on a mammoth hi res 50" lcd? or edit 100 hours of hi def footage from football games?

if the answer is no please go back to your nice laptop with 2gigs of ram...:p

AlmightyCushion

Unregistered. wrote: »

I just really want to know, if anyone knows, why dell and other companies do not offer 32GB RAM or any sizeable amount above 4GB.

Anybody care to start a discussion?

Because the market for something like that would be tiny. Given that most people who would requite upwards of 32GBs ram would also benifit from an extremely fast processor and dual processor systems then making a laptop with this amount of ram would be pointless. Everything else in the laptop would be a bottleneck. What's the point of getting a laptop with a 2.6Ghz core 2 duo with 32GBs ram which will be bottlenecked by the relatively crappy processor when you can get a desktop with a much faster quad core and 32GBs ram for the same amound.

Unregistered.

Ok, just to clarify, I know i intially mentioned a laptop as I am considering getting a new one, but it is really desktops that i am on about. I don't expect more than 4GB out of a laptop.

x in the city - Please, do not ask me why i need 32GB of RAM, i did not ask for advice nor did i give any info about what i do and what i requie.

TestTransmission

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Because the market for something like that would be tiny. Given that most people who would requite upwards of 32GBs ram would also benifit from an extremely fast processor and dual processor systems then making a laptop with this amount of ram would be pointless. Everything else in the laptop would be a bottleneck. What's the point of getting a laptop with a 2.6Ghz core 2 duo with 32GBs ram which will be bottlenecked by the relatively crappy processor when you can get a desktop with a much faster quad core and 32GBs ram for the same amound.

what he said

conceited

Unregistered. the reason your question is not been answered is they haven't a ****ing clue simple as that bud.

AlmightyCushion

Unregistered. wrote: »

Ok, just to clarify, I know i intially mentioned a laptop as I am considering getting a new one, but it is really desktops that i am on about. I don't expect more than 4GB out of a laptop.

In desktops it's more to do with limitations of the motherboard then the people who stick them together. The motherboard they use usually only supports 4 or 8GBs ram mainly because the market these computers are aimed at (home users and at best power users) won't ever consider anything more than that. If you want more than that then you would be looking for a workstation not a standard desktop computer. In dells case this would be the precision model I think, which last time I checked can be configured with an insane amount of ram. I believe it's 128GBs. I don't think it can be done online though (mainly because the amount of people who would order it would be so few) so you might have to ring them up or email them if you wanted one configured like that.

AlmightyCushion

conceited wrote: »

Unregistered. the reason your question is not been answered is they haven't a ****ing clue simple as that bud.

It has been answered. The answer is he's wrong. The likes of dell do let you configure a system with more than 4GBs but just on their workstation models because that is where the market is for something like this.

Unregistered.

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

In desktops it's more to do with limitations of the motherboard then the people who stick them together. The motherboard they use usually only supports 4 or 8GBs ram mainly because the market these computers are aimed at (home users and at best power users) won't ever consider anything more than that. If you want more than that then you would be looking for a workstation not a standard desktop computer. In dells case this would be the precision model I think, which last time I checked can be configured with an insane amount of ram. I believe it's 128GBs. I don't think it can be done online though (mainly because the amount of people who would order it would be so few) so you might have to ring them up or email them if you wanted one configured like that.

Ah very good.... APPLE begs to differ though. Don't see why dell don't stick the same up on their site. Doesn't cost them anything to do that.

AlmightyCushion

Unregistered. wrote: »

Ah very good.... APPLE begs to differ though. Don't see why dell don't stick the same up on their site. Doesn't cost them anything to do that.

My bad. Dell do actually let you configure the precission with 128GBs ram on their site. You have to change the os to a 64bit one which makes sense. I can think of much better ways to spend €20,000 though.

Unregistered.

Ah i found what I'm looking for here and here.

conceited

I was referring to the technical reason, not the sales reason.
You should learn about basic pc architecture !
ie the "Address BUS"
enjoy your 32gigs of ram.

Blazer

It's very simple.
At present only Video editing etc would require 8gbs of ram.
Most of the Dell desktops would support this. I suppose they know people that are putting 8GBs into desktop machines would be people that would buy their own ram etc.
Above 8GBs heading to 128Gb+ you are talking about Companies putting VMs on these machines. These machines would be VM farms and you'd be talking about systems with 8/16 processors and rising in them.
As such you will get no consumer board (bar Skulltrail) that will do this. There's no way you'll be putting 8+ VMs into a crappy desktop motherboard as it just wouldn't be stable enough. You're talking about extreme high end boards that make Intel's Skulltrail platform look like a mini compared to a Ferrari. Boards that would cost well over €600 a piece.
On Servers the Dell PowerEdge M905 can be configured with upto 192GBs ram and this is available on their website for €40,000 for the ram.

So why aren't Apple offering 192GB on their systems..very poor let down on their behalf

Unregistered.

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

It's very simple.
At present only Video editing etc would require 8gbs of ram.
Most of the Dell desktops would support this. I suppose they know people that are putting 8GBs into desktop machines would be people that would buy their own ram etc.
Above 8GBs heading to 128Gb+ you are talking about Companies putting VMs on these machines. These machines would be VM farms and you'd be talking about systems with 8/16 processors and rising in them.
As such you will get no consumer board (bar Skulltrail) that will do this. There's no way you'll be putting 8+ VMs into a crappy desktop motherboard as it just wouldn't be stable enough. You're talking about extreme high end boards that make Intel's Skulltrail platform look like a mini compared to a Ferrari. Boards that would cost well over €600 a piece.
On Servers the Dell PowerEdge M905 can be configured with upto 192GBs ram and this is available on their website for €40,000 for the ram.

So why aren't Apple offering 192GB on their systems..very poor let down on their behalf

Good point.

Voodu Child

Unregistered. wrote: »

Why oh why, when i can get 32GB on a MAC, i can only get 4GB on a Dell laptop?!

My Dell laptop can take 8Gb ram technically. Most of them can, from Santa Rosa platform onwards. They don't announce it in the specs or offer the option because most people are still on 32-bit OSs and/or have no need for that kind of ram.

Unregistered.

voodoo_child wrote: »

most people

makes my skin crawl. it really does.

/OT