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SP3 RAM usage vs performance

dmibe

New Member
Hi all,

I'm looking to get the SP3 soon and I've used a few different models at the store but still a little unsure of which i5 RAM config I want to pick up...Here's my thing, I want to use it as a tablet first and laptop in a pinch. Frankly, using it as a laptop would be pretty rare. I work in a fast-paced environment and if things are laggy / temperamental, I'm in no situation to sit down and start troubleshooting.

I will be using it mostly for photoshop-type use with no more than 2 programs open at a time. Any heavier jobs like video editing, I would be taking my i7 MBP...and when I'm back at the office, I'd be migrating everything to my i7 desktop PC from SP3 or MBP.

So basically, the i5 SP3 would be a halfway house for jobs / uses that don't require full use of my MBP when out and about but maintaining the flexibility to add the keyboard for laptop-type use if there is a freak occurrence. I just don't want to shoot myself in the foot with something that in theory would work but in practice would be a laggy mess of Adobe non-goodness. I've read so many reviews of vastly contrary opinions and would like to get an overall take from these forums which seem pretty knowledgeable.


TLDR;

I would love to know how the 4GB version fairs against the 8GB version on the i5 models. If the performance on 4GB is plenty strong enough for powering something like photoshop without lag or filter trolling me...I think I'll be good with it.

Thanks
 
The 4GB vs 8GB has been discussed numerous times on this forum, I suggest you do a search.

The answers always come down to what are you going to use it for, for any editing or heavy tasks more ram can only help.

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/4-gb-ram-8-gb-ram-huge-difference.10220/

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/is-the-8gb-ram-worth-it.9189/

http://www.surfaceforums.net/thread...re-more-ram-will-128-i5-4gb-be-too-slow.9038/

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/4g-vs-8g.9598/#post-68019
 
As ipaq_101 indicated, there were plenty of discussions regarding memory.

I have SP1, it has 4GB RAM. I pretty much threw everything at it and it seems to handle everything just fine. I got 8GB version of SP3, mainly just "Because I want to" no real technical reason nor limitation problem that I ran into and must have 8GB.
 
Yeah, what double07 said. For your use case, it sounds like 4GB RAM will be just fine. If you were going to regularly edit 20-30 Megapixel images you might want to consider more RAM, but for general use like you've mentioned 4GB would be good.
 
Great, thanks for the tips guys. I must fail at search because I missed that last linked thread which was very helpful. I came across the rest of those but seemed mostly theoretical with pre-release specs on paper.

Sounds like 128/4 should be fine for me.
 
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