basilmarket

djpinc19

Actually the reason why 4 GB of RAM is recommended is because 3 GB kits (excluding tri-channel) do not exist on the retail market.

Reply July 9, 2011

qwan456

[quote=fpsmuch]4GB is pretty much the bare-bone minimum of any laptop these days, it's inexpensive, however, it will cost money and time when you want to upgrade from 3GB. It will be a lot cheaper when you buy it from the manufacturer with the default config than it is to buy a 2GB stick yourself. A 1/2GB stick will run you about ~$50-70 from where i'm from.[/quote]

New Zealand right? Prices there seem to be much higher than the last person I helped with...Unless I'm confusing it from another country. Well, here in the US, the price is around $15-$20. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007609%20600006178%20600000406&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100

In my experience, manufacturer likes to jack up the price per GB of RAM (if it's a 1GB=$1 ratio, they would jack it up to 1GB=$1.5 for example) or take it out from another component. Of course, after finding that HP Probook and factoring in tax of the Toshiba I linked to, you aren't really saving much money from doing so, so I would go ahead and just get the HP over that Toshiba if you had to pick the two, TS. Here's the link again: http://www.buy.com/prod/hp-probook-4530s-xu015ut-15-6-notebook-intel-core-i3-2310m-2-10ghz-4gb/q/sellerid/2083092/loc/101/22'1714.html

Have you read our other post on battery life, screen size/resolution, weight, good speakers, etc? If so, is there any of those factors you want to consider into this laptop? If so, state what specifically.

Edit: If you want to spend more on specifically what fpsmuch recommended. This one is somewhat close (minus the bluray and 1080p screen): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152254

Reply July 9, 2011 - edited

OcxAstro

[quote=fpsmuch]4GB is pretty much the bare-bone minimum of any laptop these days, it's inexpensive, however, it will cost money and time when you want to upgrade from 3GB. It will be a lot cheaper when you buy it from the manufacturer with the default config than it is to buy a 2GB stick yourself. A 1/2GB stick will run you about ~$50-70 from where i'm from.[/quote]

So it'll be easier to just buy one with 4gb to start with?

Reply July 9, 2011 - edited

OcxAstro

[quote=fpsmuch]Mmm, i'd highly suggest something with 4GB RAM, at least.[/quote]

Why 4gb ram AT LEAST?

Reply July 9, 2011 - edited

qwan456

[quote=fpsmuch]These days, 4GB is pretty much default. It wouldn't be that expensive just to splash out on 1GB more of RAM. I mean he has 1k to spend, at least get something a bit more 'future-proof' pretty ironic since laptops aren't ideally for that. He revolves around media, so i'd suggest something with a good quality sound-card, blu-ray (if he intends to buy the actual movies), perhaps some kind of optical-out if he plans to use external monitors, and maybe a 17" screen/15" 1080p screen.[/quote]

Yes, most laptops have 3GB-4GB anyways, but that's besides the point (I'm not saying he shouldn't get more than 3GB. I'm just saying it's enough). If he wants to spend more on practical uses on things like a bigger/higher resolution screen, longer battery life, ultra-portableness, etc., then by all means he could do. I am more than willing to find a different laptop for him upon his request. Otherwise, like what DJP said, I will often recommend the least expensive laptop that I feel will be best suited for base on what they have given me at the time.