Re: Computers - growth in drives but not memory

On May 28, 5:48 pm, Bill <billru...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Rod Speed wrote:

Bill <billru...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
Michael Black wrote
Richard Fangnail (richardfangn...@xxxxxxxxxx) wrote

Every year computers have more harddisk space but not that
much more memory. I just saw an ad for a computer with
160G drive but 512M memory. Compared with three years
ago, that drive is way bigger but the memory is about the same.

Why is the disk size growing more than memory?

Because there is a certain level of RAM that is fine for most people.

And that level is 1gb (especially with Vista), not 512mb.

Nope, particularly with XP.

And how many machines do you currently see advertised with XP?

I think one company (Dell?) started offering computers with XP again
due to user's issues with Vista

Also, many of the 512mb machines have integrated graphics, which
means that Vista has LESS than 512mb to work with.


If you want to save alot of heart ache, don't buy a computer with
that slop to begin with. XP works just fine'
for most users, and who wants to upgrade to another OS after they
finaly invested alot of money to get
XP patched up? Knowing M$, Vista is most likely just another rats nest
of bugs and exploits.


The answer is because 512mb what is published
as required to run Vista Home Basic,

Have fun explaining how come it was most common with XP too.

Similar low end XP machines came with 256mb.

so manufacturers just sell their machines with that
amount (at an artificially low price) so the retailers can
make money upgrading RAM when selling the machine.

Using that line of argument, they'd do that with hard drives too.

Also when you add RAM to a new machine, you don't (usually)
have to toss what came with the machine. If you were you have
to replace the hard disk right away, it's much more difficult to do,
and most new machines don't come with a second internal drive bay

Bull*** they dont.

Have you looked at the HP and Acer machines that are advertised
by most of the major retailers these days. They have room for a
single internal 3.5" drive. No room for expansion.


Ick. 10 years ago, I had a Packard Smell 486. The hard drive died in
that machine, so I got another
hard drive. Amazingly enough, it was *impossible* to get the old hard
drive out, because I couldn't get to the
screws to get the old drive out, and the whole case (excpet for the
top part) was *riveted* together. I ended
up carefuly setting the new drive on the "floor" of the case, and
securing it there, taking care I didn't set it
on anything that might short it out. Actualy, despite the fact it was
a PB, I still loved that machine, and
have very fond memories of it, except of course for the hard drive
episode.

so you'd have to toss what came with the machine.

More money for the retailler.

Waste of time having to move the data over and toss the old
drive.


If your data is at all valuable, you would be backing them up on CD-
Rs and doing icremental backups at
that, rotating CD-Rs incase one gets turned into a coaster. CD-Rs and
even DVD-Rs are cheap, and
a CD-R drive can be had around $30-40 these days. Most prebuilt
computers come with them these days,
so there is no excuse to *not* back up your important files.

Also, as someone else said, they just don't make smaller drives anymore.

Thats the real reason.

That's why the drives aren't smaller than 160gb but my earlier
comments explained why the RAM is still 512.


As long as you don't use horrably bloated software companies, 512
should be just fine.


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