Comment by lifestyleguru

18 hours ago

> 8GB RAM.

Oh god, it's a curse. In 2026 we should be getting laptops with 128 GB of RAM. Instead we get some "new model" over and over, with 8GB.

If you haven't checked the market for RAM lately, you're in for a shock.

  • The current cost spike is very recent. The average computer's RAM size has roughly quadrupled every four years since around 1988:

    1988: 1MB

    1992: 4MB

    1996: 16MB

    2000: 64MB

    2004: 256MB

    2008: 1GB

    2012: 4GB

    And then, from around 2014 or so, for the last 12 years, we've been kind of stuck on 8GB for some reason. There wasn't a ram shortage in 2016, so why didn't the average computer come with 16GB? The trend continuing would mean we'd have 64GB average machines by 2020. So what happened?

    • I'm sure you're right. I don't know why the trend didn't continue. But, still, given the current conditions I don't think it's realistic to expect a budget laptop with 128 GB of RAM rolling off the line right now.