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How long until 4 gigs of ram is affordable?

C

curiosa863

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 5, 2006
82
0
I know that affordable is very subjective, so i'll try to clarify what i mean by that.

The price isn't really what matters to me, i'd be happy to shell out $300 for 4gigs if i knew that the price was going to stay around that for a while. I don't want to spend tons of cash on the upgrade if i can make due with 2gigs for 6 months, and get it for much cheaper in a short while.

So I guess i have three or four questions...

How quickly will the price on 4 gigs of RAM drop?
When will the price drop to a point that it has 'leveled off'/what will that leveled off price be?
When will it cost roughly $200 dollars?

Thanks in advance, I appreciate all feedback.
 
how long is a piece of string? what is affordable?

There will be a time when 4GB notebook chips are on ebay for $0.01 with free shipping. All technology prices drop eventually, how long it takes for them to drop, nobody really knows.

besides, what are you doing with a notebook that you need 4GB RAM anyway?
 
Where are you located?

Currently in the USA, 4 GB from a reputable dealer like Data Memory Systems and OW is about US$230

Prices will always change. For example, that 4 Gb kit has dropped from $1400 at the beginning of the year. Buy it when you need it.
 
I am actually quite amazed by the price of OWC's 4gb bundle.

It is only $60 more than a single stick of 2gb from a brand name like Crucial. Are these memory modules reliable?
 
rough guess

I'd say about 6 months. DDR3 is coming out and when things become second tier technology, they become affordable.
Another perspective is when 2gig start selling in large enough quantities or when 3gig or 4gig chips become more common. Most laptops being sold new now are capable of addressing this amount of ram so it may even be sooner than six months.
I don't think you could say 4gig of ram is affordable now (I know it's all relative, as others have posted) and it's probably not necessary for most of us. The sweet spot for 4gig in MHO is this Christmas.
 
I agree completely with Membrain. The "rule" I've heard is that it takes 6 months for tech to hit its sweet spot, that is to say, the spot where you're getting the most bang for the buck. Any earlier and you're paying for the cutting edge, any later and you start becoming outdated.

I also agree with those that say value is a subjective decision. Buy it when it seems like a good value. That way, even if the price drops you don't feel cheated.
 
Schroedinger said:
I agree completely with Membrain. The "rule" I've heard is that it takes 6 months for tech to hit its sweet spot, that is to say, the spot where you're getting the most bang for the buck. Any earlier and you're paying for the cutting edge, any later and you start becoming outdated.
Click to expand...

Six months? 2 GB sticks have been out for longer than that. :eek:


I think it'll reach the "affordable" stage in 6 months, or say Nov/Dec, and then the price will be stable for awhile. It's just a guess, though. Nobody can really tell whether the price will go up or down. Most people were surprised the price of RAM went up last year!
 
I've been computing at the same speed for roughly 8 years.... My desktop dells to my ibook g4.... Now i plan on buying a MBP and being absolutely blown away.

Do you really think 4 gigs is excessive?
If you tell me that i don't need 4 gigs I might take your advice... but i'd rather be told that i couldn't even use that much ram if i wanted to... then i'd probably be deterred enough to wait until hits in the sweet spot.

I have ridiculous amounts of page outs on my ibook g4 with 512mb... sometimes 5-600k if my comp is on for 2-3 weeks. This comp practically chokes on .MP4.

I want my MBP to cruise... i'm hoping for near instant launches of safari, and itunes, and quick launch times for my cs2 programs... will i be able to get this with 2 gigs? or will i need 4 to see this kind of performance?
 
4 gigs is plently for 99% of users and even hardcore gamers.
:D

I plan on eventually, note the word eventually, getting 4 gigs in my pc rig once it's built and I like the current ram prices.
 
bobber205 said:
4 gigs is plently for 99% of users and even hardcore gamers.
:D

I plan on eventually, note the word eventually, getting 4 gigs in my pc rig once it's built and I like the current ram prices.
Click to expand...


Did you really mean to say that 2 gigs is plenty?
 
Yeah. 2 gigs is usually enough. Unless you're doing HD video editing, encoding, etc. More the merrier on a 64 bit os. :D
 
if nothing else then, i want 4gigs to rip from handbrake... i want my entire dvd collection (150 movies or so) in h.264 full resolution, full audio. I think 4 gigs would really help out there.
 
Get 2 first. :)

Then run it for a few weeks, check your performance logs, and then go from there. But if you have the cash, do it anyway. ;)
 
Not sure...but if you going to wait until the price stops dropping, your going to be waiting a long time. I think 230 is a pretty good deal, all thing considered, if you have the cash. Buy it, use it, and enjoy it.


Although 1st make sure you need 4GB, and don't just want it
 
zap2 said:
Not sure...but if you going to wait until the price stops dropping, your going to be waiting a long time. I think 230 is a pretty good deal, all thing considered, if you have the cash. Buy it, use it, and enjoy it.


Although 1st make sure you need 4GB, and don't just want it
Click to expand...

How would one determine want and need?
 
Look at your page outs in Activity Monitor after about 30 minutes of "regular" use. Your games, major apps, If it's relatively high (post it here), then you need more ram.
 
Membrain said:
I'd say about 6 months. DDR3 is coming out and when things become second tier technology, they become affordable.
Another perspective is when 2gig start selling in large enough quantities or when 3gig or 4gig chips become more common. Most laptops being sold new now are capable of addressing this amount of ram so it may even be sooner than six months.
I don't think you could say 4gig of ram is affordable now (I know it's all relative, as others have posted) and it's probably not necessary for most of us. The sweet spot for 4gig in MHO is this Christmas.
Click to expand...

Just Get it NOW. I pay attention to Pc Prices and Ram has been Jumping UP a little lately. Samsung is stopping shipments of Ram To OEMS because prices got so low and they are trying to go back up.
You want it now.
 
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