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joeblow7777

macrumors 604
Sep 7, 2010
7,048
8,754
This is a joke right? Windows is a RAM hog. Especially Windows 10. If you are running Windows with 1GB RAM then you should probably take care of that.

Windows 8.1 and 10 can run on 2GB of RAM. That's what the entry level Surface 3 comes with, and while it's not meant to be a powerhouse, by all accounts it's a perfectly usable PC.
 

Aquamite

macrumors 6502
Oct 2, 2014
377
172
Honestly I'd rather have a 32GB iPhone 6S base model instead of 2GB of RAM. :|
 

dumastudetto

macrumors 603
Aug 28, 2013
5,019
7,143
Los Angeles, USA
Storage is not an issue for me because I always max out all my devices with the most I can get. But for a lot of people, they just go with the lowest cost option and many normal people don't even know what the storage numbers mean. They only realise they have problems when they start taking gorgeous photos with that amazing camera and they quickly start running out of space. I've seen this first hand with a few family members this past year, and it is a bit disappointing to hear stories of them having decided which photos to keep and delete. They have trashed some memories forever.

The various cloud storage options obviously can help deal with the pain, but in all honesty I think having expectations normal people will be able to set these up and make them work is a bit naive.

I definitely wish Apple would start at 32GB on their flagship devices. There are obvious business reasons why they don't, but this decision means a segment of customers end up getting a poorer overall experience.

I'm very sure it's storage and not RAM that is of most importance to most customers. Unfortunately they just don't know it.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,420
12,431
Well I'm pretty sure you can browse more than two tabs in windows without it reloading the webpage if you flick between them...
Two words: page file. Firefox alone uses more than 2GB RAM on my system when it's running. Without a page file or too small of one, you can pretty much expect to constantly receive messages about needing to close Firefox or other apps because you've run out of memory.

With just 16GB of storage on base model iOS devices (much less after factoring in default overprovisioning and operating system), as well as the limited NAND P/E cycles, I doubt we'll be seeing a storage-backed page file on iOS.
 

AFEPPL

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2014
2,644
1,571
England
So it's not windows then, don't use FireFox - problem solved.
I can use windows, web browser and run apps with 1GB and no pagefile.
 

recoil80

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,117
2,755
Given the choice, I'd prefer to have 2GB of RAM.

I prefer 2GB of RAM because I know I can add $100 and increase the storage.
If they kept 1GB I'd be really disappointed and 32GB for the base model wouldn't cheer me up.
 

Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
Of course 2GB RAM is more important because there are 64/128GB storage options.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,420
12,431
So it's not windows then, don't use FireFox - problem solved.
I can use windows, web browser and run apps with 1GB and no pagefile.
Unless you're using Windows XP or older or your web browser is Lynx, somehow I doubt that (not so much about the limited RAM by itself, rather the limited RAM compounded by lack of pagefile).
 

MRU

macrumors Penryn
Aug 23, 2005
25,368
8,948
a better place
So it's not windows then, don't use FireFox - problem solved.
I can use windows, web browser and run apps with 1GB and no pagefile.

Windows always uses virtual ram & hdd for swapfile/pageouts ... Your making a very poor comparison.


Likewise i can have two or three browser tabs open on my 6Plus without refreshing and can also have around 5-6 apps backgrounded without force refreshing.
 

Dydegu

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2015
956
2,990
Pennsylvania
No one needs 2GB of RAM right now on an iPhone. The only other device with 2GB is the iPad Air 2, and that's running the full suite of multi-tasking features. There are only going to be three devices (assuming both 6s phones have 2GB) out of a total 18 running iOS 9 with 2GB of RAM. Two of those devices even have 512MB of RAM (4S and iPod Touch 5th gen).

Raising the minimum storage from 16GB to 32GB is far more important than a RAM upgrade. Why? Because higher res photos, 4K video, and offline music are going to eat up storage like crazy. Purchasing additional iCloud storage or having to constantly dump content from your phone to your computer is much more of a hassle than any delays people are seeing now with 1GB or even 512 of RAM. If you're on vacation, have a bunch of offline music saved, and are snapping photos and videos, you'll run out of room. There's not much you can do; you've reached the limit of your device. You won't get that with RAM at this point.

I'd actually argue that 2GB of RAM is coming because of what is planned for iOS 10 (iPhone multi-tasking). I could see the iPhone 6S & 7 getting the full multi-tasking suite, so you'd need people with the 6s to beta test that. Then every other iPhone would get maybe picture in picture and slide over, and the 4S and iPod Touch 5th gen would either lose iOS support or not get those features.
 

DeftwillP

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2011
513
553
You can pay extra to upgrade storage. You can't pay extra to upgrade ram. Ram is more important right now.
 

AFEPPL

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2014
2,644
1,571
England
The iPhone needs 2GB of ram, or to be clear it needs more than 1GB it sucks not being able to copy things into an email, or from here to there.

Windows doesn't need page, it just slows it down without it..
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,420
12,431
Windows doesn't need page, it just slows it down without it..
Are you running some special build of Windows or something that the rest of us don't have access to? Because what you're describing is not normal Windows behavior.

Windows runs faster without a page file. RAM is orders of magnitude faster than HDD or even SSD so if you can keep accessing stuff from RAM only and not have to hit the page file on HDD/SSD, the better. However, if you've only got limited RAM and no page file, you start running into issues such as app crashes and the like when you run out of available RAM.
 
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AFEPPL

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2014
2,644
1,571
England
Windows is the 180deg (throw back to 32bit) of OS X which holds onto as much as it can.
Paging is use to "extend" the memory address space, when memory is exhausted or a space large enough cant be found programs will get pushed to disk to create space in RAM. Disk (regardless of which type) is slower than RAM as you point out - but if windows sees a page file it WILL try and use it... and pushing stuff to it, well this is an "extra" operation - what does "extra" operation mean?

Frequently used programs will ONLY reside in memory or you have to go loaded from the "same" persistence layer as the page sits on.. worked it out yet?

Technically you are correct, not having one doesn't speed it "up" but having one slows it down.
You DO NOT NEED A PAGE AT ALL AND WINDOWS WORKS FINE WITH 1GB for simple operations. More is always better but its all linked. Windows with 1GB works better than the iPhone does with 1GB - no lost browser data, other things will suffer. The memory management in iOS is struggling - loads of threads on the subject on here if you choose to look.
 

yaboyac29

macrumors 6502a
Sep 24, 2014
651
468
Sorry to be obtuse, my iPhone 6 works fine for me, propably not using it to its fullest potential: What apps are causing RAM issues for those that have them? Just curious, thanks.

happens daily:

browsing a webpage
get a snapchat
watch the snapchat
go back to browsing
every page reloads

happens sometimes:

while texting someone, my keyboard starts to "lock up" and stutter because i have an incoming message from another chat. not sure if this is a ram issue, but it's something i never experienced on an iOS device and it's frustrating.
 

mous94410

macrumors 6502a
Aug 12, 2015
596
447
I would love to have 32GB of storage but I think 2GB Ram is more important.
I can't imagine Apple only putting 1GB of ram on the 6S. I would be EXTREMELY disappointed if the next iPhone had the same RAM and Camera.

Sincerely, I prefer 32GB than 2GB of ram because my iPhone 5s with 1GB of ram is very smooth ! But I have to delete app sometimes with my 16GB of memory...
 

reverberlayed

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2014
160
19
32GB isn't enough storage for me so I planned on getting 64GB anyway. I expect there to be 2GB of RAM, but it won't change my plan to buy the 6s if it only has 1GB RAM.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,420
12,431
You DO NOT NEED A PAGE AT ALL AND WINDOWS WORKS FINE WITH 1GB for simple operations. More is always better but its all linked. Windows with 1GB works better than the iPhone does with 1GB - no lost browser data, other things will suffer. The memory management in iOS is struggling - loads of threads on the subject on here if you choose to look.
I'm not arguing that iOS devices need more RAM. Minimal RAM has been a gripe of mine with iOS devices ever since the original iPhone. Particularly so with the iPad Air.

However, that Windows (with pagefile disabled) needs less RAM than iOS boggles me. I've used Internet Explorer, Opera, Chrome and Firefox on systems (or virtual machines) with 1GB RAM and always I've had issues with app crashes due to low memory if I use a very small pagefile or disable it altogether.

*This post was made from a Windows VM with 1GB RAM and 1GB pagefile because it complains of low memory every 5 minutes if I set the pagefile any smaller.
 
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