4GB enough for Win 10?

Slam

Slam

Slam

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I want a small device that will be used for taking notes with a stylus, watching Netflix/YouTube and browsing the web (normally use Chrome, no more than 3 tabs at a time).

The Surface Go appeals because of its size and build quality. The 4GB model is much less expensive than the 8GB model (£380 vs £509).

Do people think that 4GB is enough for Windows 10 and this usage? Ideally I want the device to last about 4 years
 
I think you'd be better off with 8gb as a minimum, particularly if you're looking to keep it for the next four years.
 
Slam said:
I want a small device that will be used for taking notes with a stylus, watching Netflix/YouTube and browsing the web (normally use Chrome, no more than 3 tabs at a time).

The Surface Go appeals because of its size and build quality. The 4GB model is much less expensive than the 8GB model (£380 vs £509).

Do people think that 4GB is enough for Windows 10 and this usage? Ideally I want the device to last about 4 years
Click to expand...

Yes, 4 GB is enough for these tasks.
 
Surface Pro M3 4GB, owned for a couple of years, Windows 10. No desire to upgrade.

Agree with previous replies, as long as you know its limits. For light browsing and gaming - it runs great. When you load lots of tabs in Google it will start to struggle.

Just know its limitations and its fine. :)
 
I've got various 2, 4 and 8GB Windows 10 tablets and I went for 8 with more recent purchases - 2GB works but you are quite limited - any more than 2-3 applications/browser tabs and things start slowing down, 4GB is fairly useable but you do need to work with the limitations to get the best out of it - 8GB I can just forget about any management.

Storage is another consideration - Windows 10 really doesn't like 32GB with more recent updates - I have to remove pretty much everything that isn't Windows itself to do any feature updates or it has so many issues and even with 64GB you have to be careful to leave enough space for the updates.
 
Thanks for all the views people.
The decision is quite finely balanced, seems that 4GB will be okay for now. 64 GB storage is okay too but both aspects will need consideration. As ever, the extra money gets a better specification which gets you a bit more headroom.
 
It's so annoying the way the entry level (eg Core m3) Microsoft Surface devices aren't available with 8GB ram. They do this on purpose, aaargh
 
Rroff said:
I've got various 2, 4 and 8GB Windows 10 tablets and I went for 8 with more recent purchases - 2GB works but you are quite limited - any more than 2-3 applications/browser tabs and things start slowing down, 4GB is fairly useable but you do need to work with the limitations to get the best out of it - 8GB I can just forget about any management.

Storage is another consideration - Windows 10 really doesn't like 32GB with more recent updates - I have to remove pretty much everything that isn't Windows itself to do any feature updates or it has so many issues and even with 64GB you have to be careful to leave enough space for the updates.
Click to expand...

Every feature updates since 1511 required 13GB space to install. I don't have issues with Linx 10's 32GB with 1809 update after moved everything included apps to 64GB SD card then after installed feature update and space is nearly full with previous Windows installation just in case if you have issue with new feature update and need to roll back to previous feature update so I just used Disk Cleanup to removed previous Windows installation to free up 13GB space. 64GB on my niece's laptop is plenty of space for 13GB feature update.
 
Slam said:
Thanks for all the views people.
The decision is quite finely balanced, seems that 4GB will be okay for now. 64 GB storage is okay too but both aspects will need consideration. As ever, the extra money gets a better specification which gets you a bit more headroom.
Click to expand...

4GB RAM and 64GB storage is fine. You can pick up 128GB UHS-1 Class 10 SD card for £20-30 for more storage headroom.
 
AthlonXP1800 said:
Every feature updates since 1511 required 13GB space to install. I don't have issues with Linx 10's 32GB with 1809 update after moved everything included apps to 64GB SD card then after installed feature update and space is nearly full with previous Windows installation just in case if you have issue with new feature update and need to roll back to previous feature update so I just used Disk Cleanup to removed previous Windows installation to free up 13GB space. 64GB on my niece's laptop is plenty of space for 13GB feature update.
Click to expand...

Even with moving everything 32GB is often a pain - one of mine updates but I have to remove everything that isn't core Windows data and my Toshiba Click 10 is pretty much unusable currently as it keeps saying it needs another 500MB or so even after finally finding removable storage that will work with the Update process and moving everything including using Disk Cleanup on system files and removing the Windows.old folder, etc. and currently stuck in a loop of trying to install the same update and failing due to lack of space even with 19GB there free at the start of the process.
 
So although I was more conscious of the amount of ram, it seems that the amount of free storage is just as much of a consideration. Just as I was coming around to going with 4GB
 
I recently put Win 10 pro on an old P4 with 3.5GB RAM for my Uncle. It was an old computer but it ran ok for Google and email. I did put a readyboost usb stick on it to help it out however.
 
So in the end I went for a 8 GB ram, 128 GB refurbished model. It wasn't so much for the ram (it turns out that my wife's ultrabook has 4 GB and in my opinion it's fine) but rather the storage because I personally find the management of this a chore. Given my intent to get 4 years use from this I decided to buy a bit more hardware headroom.
 
Slam said:
I want a small device that will be used for taking notes with a stylus, watching Netflix/YouTube and browsing the web (normally use Chrome, no more than 3 tabs at a time).

The Surface Go appeals because of its size and build quality. The 4GB model is much less expensive than the 8GB model (£380 vs £509).

Do people think that 4GB is enough for Windows 10 and this usage? Ideally I want the device to last about 4 years
Click to expand...

For that work - 4GB is fine, providing you have an SSD and an "i" series Intel, or equivalent.
 
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