Combined with an SSD for storage, you’ll get a responsive PC that handles the basics smoothly-e.g., having a few low-intensity programs plus a handful of browser tabs open all at the same. 4GB RAMīudget shoppers can start with 4GB of RAM for a Windows laptop. We recommend you buy a model with expandable memory (user-accessible SODIMM slots) so you can upgrade down the road. That means the laptop should have user-accessible SODIMM slots, ideally with one unpopulated so you can immediately drop in another module.įor Chromebooks, 2GB of RAM will still limit the number of browser tabs you can have open, but that amount is liveable. If for some reason you encounter a laptop with only 2GB RAM-perhaps an older budget model being sold secondhand-it’s only worthwhile if you can immediately upgrade it to 4GB RAM or more. (As for Apple laptops, they’ve long left even 4GB RAM behind as a baseline.) These days, most Windows laptops come with 4GB as the baseline configuration, and for good reason. You won’t be able to run many programs simultaneously, much less have more than a few browser tabs open at one time. For modern Windows computers, 2GB of RAM will feel slow.
