Only 2GB of ram for new 8" bay-trail Win 8.1 tablets?

[SithSolo1]

What gives, wouldn't 4gb work better?

 

[bearxor]

I'm holding out until Dell launches theirs on Nov 2nd to see if you can configure it with 4GB.

 

[Bateluer]

Shrug, I doubt the Bay Trail CPU is going to see any advantage from 4GBs of RAM. These are tablets we're talking about.

 

[dguy6789]

Shrug, I doubt the Bay Trail CPU is going to see any advantage from 4GBs of RAM. These are tablets we're talking about.

With nothing but a few Google Chrome tabs and messenger programs open with no other background programs I'm pulling 2.2GB on Win 7 right now. Baytrail definitely has the CPU power to do what I'm using my PC for right now so it would definitely benefit from that RAM boost.

 

[JustMe21]

I put Windows 8.1 on my Acer W3-810, which also has 2 GB RAM and is based on the older Clover Trail Z2760 @ 1.8 Ghz. I have a 43 MB Word document open, a 6.5 MB Excel document open, and IE with 4 tabs open and I'm only at 1.5 GB on the RAM usage, so 2 GB RAM is sufficient for average usage. I'm also paired up to a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and can still navigate without any problems. Where it might not be fine is with all the added extra bloatware a manufacturer includes, that could bump the memory usage beyond 2 GB, but since I did a clean install, I don't have to worry about that.

As a side note, none of the Windows 8/8.1 tablets, including the Surface Pro 1 & 2, will allow you to install Windows 7 on it, except as a VM.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2828074/en-us
The Surface Pro is a Class 3 UEFI device that does not support legacy BIOS Interrupt 10 (INT 10H) video transitioning and it requires Windows 8 or later operating systems to run.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Sad when a phone has more RAM.

 

[paperwastage]

I'm holding out until Dell launches theirs on Nov 2nd to see if you can configure it with 4GB.

not for Dell Venue 8 Pro
http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/secure/en/Documents/dell-venue-8pro-brochure.pdf

Dell Venue 11 pro might have more memory, but dunno whether it's for the non-atom processors
http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/secure/en/Documents/dell-venue-11pro-brochure.pdf

the Fujitsu Q584 has the Z3770 atom and 4GB memory, but is enterprise design (waterresistant etc), 1600p, costs >$1000
http://globalsp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/Publications/public/ds-STYLISTIC-Q584.pdf

Shrug, I doubt the Bay Trail CPU is going to see any advantage from 4GBs of RAM. These are tablets we're talking about.

more ram is always nice for caching

As a side note, none of the Windows 8/8.1 tablets, including the Surface Pro 1 & 2, will allow you to install Windows 7 on it, except as a VM.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2828074/en-us
The Surface Pro is a Class 3 UEFI device that does not support legacy BIOS Interrupt 10 (INT 10H) video transitioning and it requires Windows 8 or later operating systems to run.

really? sigh... was thinking of triple booting ubuntu / windows 7 / android on it

I would think someone would have figured out how to bypass that restriction by now on Surface Pro (EDIT:apparently it works if you use BIOS instead of UEFI bootloader)

 

[sm625]

I have a Z2760 and I can tell you with certainty that its 2GB of RAM is the least of my problems with the thing. Same goes with the cpu performance. These things are more than adequate. What is not adequate is an operating system that is so bad that pressing the start button causes the start screen to appear only briefly. You have to hit the start button again to get the start screen to actually stay. And when you open the onscreen keyboard to type in a URL, the box you are typing in falls off the screen. It literally gets pushed aside by the keyboard when it opens. Seriously! And then when you close the onscreen keyboard there is a 50/50 chance your windows will not resize to where they were before you opened the keyboard. It's so bad. It's literally soooo bad and there are so many problems that it makes you jsut want to throw the thing in the garbage. It is a dead OS.

 

[Red Storm]

For a full Windows OS, I consider 4GB RAM the absolute minimum requirement. Just because it's in tablet form does not mean I'm going to go along with cutting that number in half. Storage space is another, I consider 128GB the minimum for Windows.

 

[podspi]

I have not had as bad an experience with Win 8 as you. Only thing I agree with is the onscreen keyboard blocking text input boxes, but that happens in Android as well, I think it is just a major shortcoming of soft keyboards...

 

[shady28]

To use the tablets as a low power replacement for a laptop, I'm thinking they need 4GB of RAM. I find it odd that no mfr has used this as a means to differentiate from the pack yet. Seems like it would be a really simple thing to add, maybe as a $50 option ($30 of which would be profit).

Thing is, 2GB is fine for normal tablet stuff, but if that's what you want then get a iPad or Nexus 7 etc. This full blown Win 8.1 with 2GB doesn't fit.

 

[JustMe21]

The problem I have with an iPad or Nexus 7 is not being able to easily multitask. Also these 2GB Windows 8.1 Atom Tablets are a better fit than even Windows RT.

With my W3-810 and its Clover Trail Atom and 2 GB RAM, I could read ebooks and take notes easily, troubleshoot network issues by using a USB NIC and USB serial adapter, and administer AD (after upgrading to Pro).

It's lighter than any laptop in the same price range and has a better battery life to boot.

Videos play better than the AMD E-350 HTPC I had set up with 4 GB RAM and don't forget that many of the new Bay Trail tablets will be quad core.

Plus, they come with Word and Excel for free and the mail client working with ActiveSync made the lack of Outlook acceptable.

I do agree, however, that the Microsoft virtual keyboard sucks. It should have the full range of Function keys and a right Ctrl button. and when you click into a typeable area, they keyboard doesn't always pop up.

I would also like to see 64 GB/ 128 GB drive options instead of 32/64. Extra RAM is always nice to have as an option too, which is why I think Dell's Venue 11 will do well, because it gives you all those options, plus a removable battery, and optional cellular capabilities.

 

[pantsaregood]

There is a horrible misunderstanding of Windows NT 6.x's use of RAM in this topic.

2 GB is far more than enough for the OS (be it Vista, 7, 8, or 8.1) to run on properly. Even 1 GB won't result in horrible performance. To those of you who say "but Windows 7 is using 2.5 GB and I'm not even doing anything!" - that's the prefetcher loading things into RAM. The more RAM you have, the more it attempts to store in RAM. This makes programs launch faster.

Every iteration of NT 6.x will actually run better on 512 MB of RAM than XP runs on 128 MB of RAM. The issue is that the prefetcher is pretty much disabled at that point.

 

[Crono]

There is a demarcation of specifications between Bay Trail and Haswell-based tablets, and Bay Trail is supposed to be for the low to mid range of tablets. They aren't meant to be full laptops, though plenty of people would like to use them that way.

Like pantsaregood pointed out, 2GB is actually enough. If you are running programs that eat up gigabytes of RAM you'll probably want to get an i7-based Surface or similar tablet. Much of the RAM-intensive applications (video editing/encoding, 3D rendering, gaming, etc) tend to be CPU and/or GPU intensive as well, but I guess a few of you want 4GB or 8GB with the new Atoms.

I'm sure manufacturers don't mind upselling you to their products with more comfortable profit margins, too.

 

[dguy6789]

There is a horrible misunderstanding of Windows NT 6.x's use of RAM in this topic.

2 GB is far more than enough for the OS (be it Vista, 7, 8, or 8.1) to run on properly. Even 1 GB won't result in horrible performance. To those of you who say "but Windows 7 is using 2.5 GB and I'm not even doing anything!" - that's the prefetcher loading things into RAM. The more RAM you have, the more it attempts to store in RAM. This makes programs launch faster"

Nope. I know what the prefetcher is and how to tell the difference between what is actual RAM usage and what is being used for prefetch. My previous statements were about actual memory usage.

 

[hans030390]

I have a Z2760 and I can tell you with certainty that its 2GB of RAM is the least of my problems with the thing. Same goes with the cpu performance. These things are more than adequate. What is not adequate is an operating system that is so bad that pressing the start button causes the start screen to appear only briefly. You have to hit the start button again to get the start screen to actually stay. And when you open the onscreen keyboard to type in a URL, the box you are typing in falls off the screen. It literally gets pushed aside by the keyboard when it opens. Seriously! And then when you close the onscreen keyboard there is a 50/50 chance your windows will not resize to where they were before you opened the keyboard. It's so bad. It's literally soooo bad and there are so many problems that it makes you jsut want to throw the thing in the garbage. It is a dead OS.

I have not had any of these issues on the 6 Windows 8 devices I currently use (2 desktops, 1 laptop, and 3 tablets). I think you are experiencing a major hardware and/or software issue that might require an OS reinstall.

Also, the new Atoms wit 2GB of RAM are surprisingly zippy. More than adequate for average stuff.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

the dell venue 8 pro is out. somebody go out and buy it and tell us whether its any good, if it is imma git one too, but we need someone to check it out first:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/dell-venue...ynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch&isredir=true

 

[Joe1987]

the dell venue 8 pro is out. somebody go out and buy it and tell us whether its any good, if it is imma git one too, but we need someone to check it out first:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/dell-venue...ynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch&isredir=true

I'm a little concerned that there are no reviews up, that's usually a bad sign.

 

[paperwastage]

I'm a little concerned that there are no reviews up, that's usually a bad sign.

probably some embargo or the reviewers are still playing with it (or haven't received a unit from Dell yet. *cough* dell, I'm willing to review one

Asus T100 came out on last Friday (10/18). Anandtech had a review out at 12:01am after that embargo. liliputing has a hands-on video out on friday as well

 

[shady28]

Notebookcheck has some more info on the Z37xx series.

Their benchmarks seem to show it being faster than mobile core 2 systems.

That seems a bit optimistic to me, but if true then they are very viable laptop replacements. My 2010 macbook 13.3 has a core 2 p8400 and I can run windows in a VM, with visual studio in the VM.

Somehow that doesn't sound right. Wonder if notebook check hosed up the benchmarks.

 

[bearxor]

I don't think anyone doubts 2GB of ram is sufficient for most everyday tasks.

But I'm simply not going to buy one unless it comes with 4GB. It's Windows and it's a replacement for an iPad and a laptop for me. I simply want the extra buffer.

 

[Arachnotronic]

the dell venue 8 pro is out. somebody go out and buy it and tell us whether its any good, if it is imma git one too, but we need someone to check it out first:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/dell-venue...ynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch&isredir=true

Done and done.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Notebookcheck has some more info on the Z37xx series.

Their benchmarks seem to show it being faster than mobile core 2 systems.

That seems a bit optimistic to me, but if true then they are very viable laptop replacements. My 2010 macbook 13.3 has a core 2 p8400 and I can run windows in a VM, with visual studio in the VM.

Somehow that doesn't sound right. Wonder if notebook check hosed up the benchmarks.

im highly doubting this also. if it were core 2 it would be adequate for anything i would do, but i know more than to expect that from atom

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Done and done.

i cant wait to hear about this i really want to get one next week if they work fine

 

[bearxor]

Done and done.

Did you get your Venue 8 yet?