Windows 10 ‘Forcing’ Lower Memory On Manufacturers

[steven36]

With the advent of Windows 10, Microsoft will be charging hardware vendors a license fee based on the hardware included in the device, including memory. The number of machines predicted to ship with 2GB DRAM was, prior to the new Windows 10 arrangement, predicted to fall. DRAMeXchange reports that many manufacturers had gone so far as to stop manufacturing memory at that capacity.

However it is reported that, due to the predicted demand caused by an additional $20 licensing fee for Windows 10 on 4GB DRAM machines, low-margin notebooks are now more likely to be equipped with 2GB.

It seems likely that the flexible pricing strategy for Windows 10 was aimed at making sure it was competitive on budget devices, however increasing the size of the market for devices with lower memory capacity appears to be a side-effect of the Windows 10 launch.

The manufacturers have the option to ship Windows 10 hardware with lower DRAM levels partly due to the generally solid performance of Windows 10. Tech Republic tested various old systems, for example, and found that Windows 10 can even run on “hardware dating back to 2003”. Even some 12-year-old hardware dating back to the XP era could run Windows 10, albeit with some significant lag and usability issues (not surprisingly).

The modest Windows 10 system requirements, combined with the free upgrade for many, are likely to also see fewer hardware upgrades from users on the back of the launch than for typical Microsoft OS launches. With Windows 10 performance comparing favorably to previous versions, users are able to enjoy the full experience and new features, without a performance decline.

Readers with a low-memory device may wish to heed the advice given by ComputerWorld. They note that Windows 10 was found on their test system to be using less “virtual memory” to cache data than the recommended minimum. The virtual memory settings can be adjusted from the Windows 10 performance settings, under the advanced tab. In one test of the virtual memory setting change on a Samsung Ativ Tab 3 running Windows 10, a reduction in lag was found when opening menus and running several apps at the same time.

While Windows 10 seems to be fine with lower system specs, users looking to buy new hardware may wish to consider keeping in the 4GB and over range, as there is no guarantee that future updates will run as well with just 2GB of RAM. It’s great news that Windows 10 runs so well on hardware that is a few years past its prime, but there’s no need to handicap your future upgrades by sticking to the minimum, regardless of what manufacturers are preferring to ship in their budget devices.

Source

[CODYQX4]

Someone should be shot for this.

2GB shouldn't even exist in a PC these days that isn't old. They should be sent to Siberia and forced to use a 2GB netbook on dialup.

[steven36]

Someone should be shot for this.

2GB shouldn't even exist in a PC these days that isn't old. They should be sent to Siberia and forced to use a 2GB netbook on dialup.

All I can say if you plain buying a PC with the 1st edition of Windows 10 on them you need to read the fine print to make sure you dont get a PO:shit: with 2GB on it

Manufacturers dont care they even sold Barbe and GI Joe computers that were for kids and were some the worse ever made they sold a lot XPs after windows 7 was out with 1st generation atoms too. they dont care they just want make a sale by offering them really cheap.

[emerglines]

Someone should be shot for this.

2GB shouldn't even exist in a PC these days that isn't old. They should be sent to Siberia and forced to use a 2GB netbook on dialup.

I don't agree with what MS is forcing but 2GB for some people is enough to do their daily tasks, also not all people can afford high or even medium end computers.

[mkc21]

Someone should be shot for this.

2GB shouldn't even exist in a PC these days that isn't old. They should be sent to Siberia and forced to use a 2GB netbook on dialup.

i couldn't handle 8 gigas couple of months ago so I grabbed 8 more. I can't see me using a pc with 2gb

[steven36]

Right now if you have the money would be best time to buy a pc before the windows 10 ones are the only thing in stock . You can get one with 8 GBB ram for like $440 Dollars and windows 10 on it. Computers are cheaper than ever before I paid over $1000 for p4 dell with a small hard drive. hardly no memory in 2001 ;)

[CODYQX4]

Someone should be shot for this.

2GB shouldn't even exist in a PC these days that isn't old. They should be sent to Siberia and forced to use a 2GB netbook on dialup.

I don't agree with what MS is forcing but 2GB for some people is enough to do their daily tasks, also not all people can afford high or even medium end computers.

I bought someone the cheapest laptop I could find, and it came with 4GB. In 2011.

2GB in 2015 is an insult, I don't care how cheap the device. May as well put a 16GB IDE HDD in it and call it a day before MS starts charging by storage.

PS: That 4GB laptop ran miserably just browsing the internet, knowing that browsers these days love to slurp up as much RAM as they can. 4GB should be the super-cheap option and 8GB become the mid-range/standard option by now.

[Sonar]

depends if this 2gig memory is the same we have now or an updated memory stick with faster speeds? new tech?

[steven36]

Microsoft’s new license fee formula and the demands from the computer vendors have forced DRAM manufacturers to make plans to restart production of 2GB modules, which were originally destined to be phased out. Presently, both Samsung and SK Hynix are able to provide 2GB memory solutions to their clients. Micron’s 2GB products are also at verification stage and will be available

Samsung and Micron going make pcs with just 2gb of Ram some that they were going quit making while some companies like dell will do tablets with 4GB :lol:

You can even get Asus VivoStick is a $129 PC-on-a-stick that runs Windows 10 has like 2gb ram :P

http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/2/9244031/asus-vivostick-windows-10-announced

[Sylence]

Let them make laptops with 2GB RAM, fine. it all depends on the people buying those craps. if people are wise enough, they won't buy them and their action will shit on the manufacturers.

[Paquini]

Jajaja, I have a 2Gigabyte Ram PC and work well for me!

[Cereberus]

i have 16gb of ddr3, but even i can reach near to 80% of my capacity. so memory efficiency is great even for higher end spec pc like mine.

2gb ram with no room for loading more stuff ? thats just asking for trouble :/

[emerglines]

My spec is 32 GB RAM, still I use only like 20% of it at max usage, its like 6-8 GB ram, but for the usual day I don't bypass 2GB, however if you play games just stay out of this more ram problem, I don't play games, and most of my clients don't bypass 2GB threshold.

If a computer cost 440$ usd, in brazil can cost 25% more that price, who can aford that in brazl, mexico, north africa...

If you live in Europe, USA canada or any white people theritory, the price will drop and can even be affordable, and by the way all the hardware is mostly made in china, thailand, indonesia (asia in general) and sold twice the price when it's made. And sold less when it's exported to european countries or any other place filled with white heads.

P.S: I'm white european dude, but I don't like our companies exploiting poverty and building huge empires (devilish capitalism).



So when I said people can't afford even US citizens or even people in my country can't afford that 400$ to buy RAM when they can use what works for them and appears to be enough for them.


For M$ it's a shame to restrict such a crappy hardware limits to sell more which lead again to how capitalism is bad an exploits people's poverty.

[D1v1n3D]

the fact that 32bit systems will exist for several more years until they are able to convert everything over to the x64 architect with flawless results only then will 2gb of memory not be needed. The fact that most cell phones are 32bit based and lots of tablets and low end PC's are as well. Microsoft is not at fault of this, the adaptation of 64bit systems is slower then they projected. Google as in Android is the biggest player in this with the largest mobile market holders in the world of 32bit systems look beyond the bogus stories even on here, also Linux still makes 32bit iterations and they work flawlessly on even 1gb ram its all how its programed and what is being utilized when and how at any given time Windows 10 is the most efficient windows OS ever made even beyond XP it's always refreshing and maintaining all those billions of DLL files required to run every single thing on the PC also with the Edge browser every week it's becoming more powerful and more efficient simple test load the same Web page in both IE11 and Edge or any other browser then hit (ctrl,shift,esc) look at the memory resources being used by each browser you will see edge is always lower then any other. I have a 2gb ddr3 netbook I just upgraded from 1gb and put a 120gb ssd in it its just as fast as this dual core 8gb laptop I'm on now the real lag anymore is hard drives the biggest bottleneck out there why you think cell phones don't have them solid state has always been faster look at n64 vs ps2 load times are not even comparable n64 has worse graphics but loads a hell of a lot faster.

[CODYQX4]

the fact that 32bit systems will exist for several more years until they are able to convert everything over to the x64 architect with flawless results only then will 2gb of memory not be needed. The fact that most cell phones are 32bit based and lots of tablets and low end PC's are as well. Microsoft is not at fault of this, the adaptation of 64bit systems is slower then they projected. Google as in Android is the biggest player in this with the largest mobile market holders in the world of 32bit systems look beyond the bogus stories even on here, also Linux still makes 32bit iterations and they work flawlessly on even 1gb ram its all how its programed and what is being utilized when and how at any given time Windows 10 is the most efficient windows OS ever made even beyond XP it's always refreshing and maintaining all those billions of DLL files required to run every single thing on the PC also with the Edge browser every week it's becoming more powerful and more efficient simple test load the same Web page in both IE11 and Edge or any other browser then hit (ctrl,shift,esc) look at the memory resources being used by each browser you will see edge is always lower then any other. I have a 2gb ddr3 netbook I just upgraded from 1gb and put a 120gb ssd in it its just as fast as this dual core 8gb laptop I'm on now the real lag anymore is hard drives the biggest bottleneck out there why you think cell phones don't have them solid state has always been faster look at n64 vs ps2 load times are not even comparable n64 has worse graphics but loads a hell of a lot faster.

It's funny, because every time I look at bottom-end PCs, I see 4GB x64 EVERYWHERE. I haven't even seen a 2GB for sale for awhile.

They typically give you 4GB and x64 from what I've viewed, but integrated GPU that will not in your wildest dreams play a 1080p video (believe me I've tried), and a piece of sh*t CPU. On such a PC, and this PC was the cheapest on Amazon, just browsing Facebook on Chrome = pain and suffering.

Last PC I had came with 4GB RAM. Browser alone swallowed 1-2GB on average. I haven't had a 2GB laptop since 2009, which I got in 2007. I don't even see them for sale anymore. I'd have to go out of my way and force whatever online store the average shopper would turn to show me that, because if I sort from low to high on everything Best Buy has, their 2GB are all sub $140 old refurbished stuff.

[steven36]

It's funny, because every time I look at bottom-end PCs, I see 4GB x64 EVERYWHERE. I haven't even seen a 2GB for sale for awhile.

They typically give you 4GB and x64 from what I've viewed, but integrated GPU that will not in your wildest dreams play a 1080p video (believe me I've tried), and a piece of sh*t CPU. On such a PC, and this PC was the cheapest on Amazon, just browsing Facebook on Chrome = pain and suffering.

Last PC I had came with 4GB RAM. Browser alone swallowed 1-2GB on average. I haven't had a 2GB laptop since 2009, which I got in 2007. I don't even see them for sale anymore. I'd have to go out of my way and force whatever online store the average shopper would turn to show me that, because if I sort from low to high on everything Best Buy has, their 2GB are all sub $140 old refurbished stuff.

Microsoft’s new license fee formula and the demands from the computer vendors have forced DRAM manufacturers to make plans to restart production of 2GB modules,

http://www.dramexchange.com/WeeklyResearch/Post/2/4118.html

The reason you dont see none yet is because they not many been shipped yet. But Windows 10 is new But are allready some showing up like the Acer Aspire Switch 10 E Laptop $334.94 B)

[CODYQX4]

It's funny, because every time I look at bottom-end PCs, I see 4GB x64 EVERYWHERE. I haven't even seen a 2GB for sale for awhile.

They typically give you 4GB and x64 from what I've viewed, but integrated GPU that will not in your wildest dreams play a 1080p video (believe me I've tried), and a piece of sh*t CPU. On such a PC, and this PC was the cheapest on Amazon, just browsing Facebook on Chrome = pain and suffering.

Last PC I had came with 4GB RAM. Browser alone swallowed 1-2GB on average. I haven't had a 2GB laptop since 2009, which I got in 2007. I don't even see them for sale anymore. I'd have to go out of my way and force whatever online store the average shopper would turn to show me that, because if I sort from low to high on everything Best Buy has, their 2GB are all sub $140 old refurbished stuff.

Microsoft’s new license fee formula and the demands from the computer vendors have forced DRAM manufacturers to make plans to restart production of 2GB modules,

http://www.dramexchange.com/WeeklyResearch/Post/2/4118.html

The reason you dont see none yet is because they not many been shipped yet. But Windows 10 is new But are allready some showing up like the Acer Aspire Switch 10 E Laptop $334.94 B)

My point exactly. We were going to never produce another 2GB laptop again, because obviously we had better and 2GB is insufficient for anyone who doesn't want 5 minute lag spikes in between page loads.

MS licensing hike has actually resurrected them. It would be like going back to 32GB hard drives knowing the OS will suck 2/3 of it because they change $50 if > 32GB.

PS: I don't even understand the madness behind MS logic. You're going to sell a license to the OEM either way, why gouge them for what should be the absolute worst amount of RAM you could possibly buy in a new device? By doing this, people will hate the OEM, and they will hate Windows. Both companies will be despised for the god-awful lack of RAM, and if the person is ignorant to the specs, may be more likely to blame Windows.

MS knows that OEMs will BACKDOOR PCs with Ad-Ware to make an extra nickel per device, so by doing this, they are holding back technical progress by artificially/indirectly taxing RAM on pre-built PCs.

[emerglines]

My point exactly. We were going to never produce another 2GB laptop again, because obviously we had better and 2GB is insufficient for anyone who doesn't want 5 minute lag spikes in between page loads.

Don't you know that people still use 1GB and that's enough for them, yeah we know technology is advancing and people want more, the majority who comment on stuff like this are gamers or IT guys, office users or home users are not interested if the PC has a 32Bit or 64Bit processor, the only care if their document can be read by another new version of MS office, or be able to read, write and archive their document.

For me and you and all of us who're interested on this tech stuff, yes we need more to be able to do more, do you know that the people who produce video and do photoshop usually use Mac with 4GB ram and get the same result someone has a 2GB who do photoshop stuff this rule only breaks with people who do 3D stuff and they need more than I need and you need to (64 RAM and up Highest graphical cards like Quadro...), in fact the majority of home users don't care if they're able to do their daily tasks.

MS play on many levels, if we see what kind of people MS try to target low budget guys and gals, they want to have low costs in production, they may use only tablets as the writer put an example of Samsung ativ tab, they may target foreigners, HP computers (not selling well)is an example of people don't have money to buy highly costing computers while they can do same tasks with older computers.

[CODYQX4]

My point exactly. We were going to never produce another 2GB laptop again, because obviously we had better and 2GB is insufficient for anyone who doesn't want 5 minute lag spikes in between page loads.

Don't you know that people still use 1GB and that's enough for them, yeah we know technology is advancing and people want more, the majority who comment on stuff like this are gamers or IT guys, office users or home users are not interested if the PC has a 32Bit or 64Bit processor, the only care if their document can be read by another new version of MS office, or be able to read, write and archive their document.

For me and you and all of us who're interested on this tech stuff, yes we need more to be able to do more, do you know that the people who produce video and do photoshop usually use Mac with 4GB ram and get the same result someone has a 2GB who do photoshop stuff this rule only breaks with people who do 3D stuff and they need more than I need and you need to (64 RAM and up Highest graphical cards like Quadro...), in fact the majority of home users don't care if they're able to do their daily tasks.

MS play on many levels, if we see what kind of people MS try to target low budget guys and gals, they want to have low costs in production, they may use only tablets as the writer put an example of Samsung ativ tab, they may target foreigners, HP computers (not selling well)is an example of people don't have money to buy highly costing computers while they can do same tasks with older computers.

These same people also just accept that PCs are supposed to be that slow, and just throw their hands up and say tech sucks. 3 minutes to open an Excel sheet? Sure, it'll open, but if you buy a NEW PC, it should be able to handle something so simple. We're not talking about people using older stuff, or who can't afford to upgrade, or whatever else. We're talking about brand new devices that aren't even being made right now because the industry itself didn't think sub-4GB was good enough, to the point they stopped making RAM that low.

I would know, they ask me to "make their PC faster", and they show me a 10 year old dusty tower, or an 8 year old laptop. As if my reinstalling the OS to purge their bloat is going to make it fly.

You can run Vista on 512MB if you force it somehow, and it'll run, but the lag will be heavy.

They don't even know what RAM is, but they do know that "my internet is slow for some reason", when really Chrome is just swapping to disk excessively causing the already downloaded, cached page, to still act janky.

[emerglines]

Lol! you make 2GB ram looks like unusable, we talk 32Bit, which is less ram consuming not like 64Bit which is a ram eater, however I agree that some not all of those people whine how slow there computer is, but they still find it useful to do what they need.

Simply if we simplify what microsoft do, is reducing the loss made when Windows 10 released by restricting its manufacturers to produce low-end computers, tabs.

[MidnightDistortions]

What the heck, i thought we were on 4GB or higher. I got a desktop that has 8GB and i can upgrade it to 16GB. Next thing MS will do is lower the cores to 2. :pos:

Meanwhile Linux Mint supports my 8GB, i7 PC. Screw Windows 10.