Laptops Shifting back to Windows from Mac - some help please.

[deepakvrao]

So, shifted from Win to Mac [for my home use] about 8 years ago, and liked the OS, but really fed up of waiting for better hardware from them. I use Windows at my hospital, and can see myself using [and liking Win 10] on my home laptop too.

So, looking at getting a XPS13 or Maybe an Asus s13.

Question regarding RAM.

Does Win 10 manage RAM better than the Mac OS?

I was just testing, to see how much RAM I should get on my new laptop, and on my desktop, which is 4 years old, and not a fancy one at that, I opened 60 tabs of chrome, 30 each in 2 windows, have Acrobat running, a few spreadsheets open, my hospital management software, and mail, and RAM used is less than 6gb.

I cant do that much on my Macbook 12 which has 8gb RAM. Was planning on a 16GB laptop, but if 8gb can handle so much, maybe 8gb should be fine? I will still keep my Mac for movie editing.

I see that my desktop has a 3.3Ghz CPU, while the new Asus laptop will be

Intel Core i5-8265U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz)

Would that make a huge difference in surfing/mail/spreadsheets?

Am I right in presuming that the number of tabs open affects and will be affected by RAM, and not CPU?

 

[cvng216]

Don't fret over it so much; 8GB will serve you just fine as long as you're not playing demanding AAA titles or rendering 4k files.
Now coming to the OS talk, it really comes down to taste. Windows has really upped their game of late but on the flip side the updates can be a giant pain in the ass.
I'd say Mac OS is more stable overall. 8GB ram + an SSD is the way to go.

 

[deepakvrao]

Thanks. Was looking at the new Asus s13 with 8gb and 256/512gb.

 

[adventureguy]

I play AAA games with 8gb ram just fine

 

[blr_p]

Does Win 10 manage RAM better than the Mac OS?

OS does fine, apps otoh is an open question.

Could Safari do better than Chrome ? probably. I don't think that is too hard to do. But people stick to chrome as it can do much. So its a hog.

I was just testing, to see how much RAM I should get on my new laptop, and on my desktop, which is 4 years old, and not a fancy one at that, I opened 60 tabs of chrome, 30 each in 2 windows, have Acrobat running, a few spreadsheets open, my hospital management software, and mail, and RAM used is less than 6gb.

I cant do that much on my Macbook 12 which has 8gb RAM. Was planning on a 16GB laptop, but if 8gb can handle so much, maybe 8gb should be fine? I will still keep my Mac for movie editing.

I would get the 16GB variant if you can afford it. You can never have too much RAM and if you plan on keeping the laptop for a while it will be worth it. Apps & web pages only grow heavier with each year.

There's ways to drop chrome memory usage. Look for an extension called the great suspender. Open up your 60 tabs again and then wait a while and see whether it frees up more.

I see that my desktop has a 3.3Ghz CPU, while the new Asus laptop will be

Intel Core i5-8265U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz)

Would that make a huge difference in surfing/mail/spreadsheets?

Am I right in presuming that the number of tabs open affects and will be affected by RAM, and not CPU?

I have no idea i have a top spec spectre & mate book pro. i7, 16GB etc.

You did not mention anything about battery. Does that matter or will you be hooked in most of the time ? here it helps if the firmware allows to set max charging to say 60% or 80% just to preserve battery life.

I don't know what customisation options are available with the XPS 13. Keep in mind a touch screen will use up more battery than a non-touch screen. A FHD less than a 4k. This is how Macs manage to squeeze out more battery.

 

[cvng216]

Thanks. Was looking at the new Asus s13 with 8gb and 256/512gb.

S13 is a decent choice in my opinion. But their after sales support is in a complete shambles. Also, you can always increase the ram later down the line, that way you'll end up saving a significant amount of money.

I play AAA games with 8gb ram just fine

I reckon 16 is the new standard now; if you're into gaming that is. And by all accounts 8 should be the bare minimum.

 

[deepakvrao]

S13 is a decent choice in my opinion. But their after sales support is in a complete shambles. Also, you can always increase the ram later down the line, that way you'll end up saving a significant amount of money.

I reckon 16 is the new standard now; if you're into gaming that is. And by all accounts 8 should be the bare minimum.

I think the S13 has RAM soldered on.

Down to the Asus Zenbook 14 UX433, which I'll buy in India, or the Asus s13 [US392], or the XPS 13 [9380], which I'll try and get when I travel.

 

[cvng216]

I think the S13 has RAM soldered on.

Down to the Asus Zenbook 14 UX433, which I'll buy in India, or the Asus s13 [US392], or the XPS 13 [9380], which I'll try and get when I travel.

Get the Xps 13, end of.

 

[blr_p]

Get the Xps 13, end of.

Which one though ? the latest XPS do not come with a USB A port at all. I think the 9360 was the last one that did. 9370 dropped it unfortunately.

What put me off the XPS is the side firing speakers. Why can't Dell realise they need to be top firing. HP does. Huawei too.

 

[vyral_143]

RAM soldered on

Try to avoid such laptops. From what I have read on web, if RAM goes bad, have to replace mobo, which could be risky affair.

 

[Party Monger]

So, shifted from Win to Mac [for my home use] about 8 years ago, and liked the OS, but really fed up of waiting for better hardware from them. I use Windows at my hospital, and can see myself using [and liking Win 10] on my home laptop too.

So, looking at getting a XPS13 or Maybe an Asus s13.

Question regarding RAM.

Does Win 10 manage RAM better than the Mac OS?

I was just testing, to see how much RAM I should get on my new laptop, and on my desktop, which is 4 years old, and not a fancy one at that, I opened 60 tabs of chrome, 30 each in 2 windows, have Acrobat running, a few spreadsheets open, my hospital management software, and mail, and RAM used is less than 6gb.

I cant do that much on my Macbook 12 which has 8gb RAM. Was planning on a 16GB laptop, but if 8gb can handle so much, maybe 8gb should be fine? I will still keep my Mac for movie editing.

I see that my desktop has a 3.3Ghz CPU, while the new Asus laptop will be

Intel Core i5-8265U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz)

Would that make a huge difference in surfing/mail/spreadsheets?

Am I right in presuming that the number of tabs open affects and will be affected by RAM, and not CPU?

You get a macbook instead of the air or pro and complain that it cant do much? :O . That one has very low powered processors. And 8gb ram in mac is a lot. Especially wit compression and superfast ssd paging.

 

[cvng216]

Which one though ? the latest XPS do not come with a USB A port at all. I think the 9360 was the last one that did. 9370 dropped it unfortunately.

What put me off the XPS is the side firing speakers. Why can't Dell realise they need to be top firing. HP does. Huawei too.

I'm talking about the new one (9380 non 4k ). And for what it's worth one can always buy a tiny dongle to go along with it, since you'll be carrying it in a bag anyway.

 

[blr_p]

I'm talking about the new one (9380 non 4k ). And for what it's worth one can always buy a tiny dongle to go along with it, since you'll be carrying it in a bag anyway.

yes but if the laptop is on your lap then an attached dongle is a PITA. I always check if that USB A is there or not.

Depends whether you need it. I find USB A is still quite common.

 

[rdst_1]

Get as much RAM as you can. If you go for a laptop that has RAM upgradation possible then add RAM later as it will be cheaper to buy from outside than what the company might charge you.
I have 12GB in my laptop and I upgraded from 4 because I also like to keep a lot of tabs open. Once I checked, alone Chrome was using 7-8GB on my laptop. Firefox used to use less ram but it used to keep the CPU busy, so I shifted to chrome and upgraded the RAM.

 

[deepakvrao]

Thanks guys. Got a Lenovo 730s with the Core i7, 16gb RAM, and 512 SSD. Love it. Been using it for about 3 weeks now.

 

[AdrianG001]

So, shifted from Win to Mac [for my home use] about 8 years ago, and liked the OS, but really fed up of waiting for better hardware from them. I use Windows at my hospital, and can see myself using [and liking Win 10] on my home laptop too.

So, looking at getting a XPS13 or Maybe an Asus s13.

Question regarding RAM.

Does Win 10 manage RAM better than the Mac OS?

I was just testing, to see how much RAM I should get on my new laptop, and on my desktop, which is 4 years old, and not a fancy one at that, I opened 60 tabs of chrome, 30 each in 2 windows, have Acrobat running, a few spreadsheets open, my hospital management software, and mail, and RAM used is less than 6gb.

I cant do that much on my Macbook 12 which has 8gb RAM. Was planning on a 16GB laptop, but if 8gb can handle so much, maybe 8gb should be fine? I will still keep my Mac for movie editing.

I see that my desktop has a 3.3Ghz CPU, while the new Asus laptop will be

Intel Core i5-8265U Processor 1.6 GHz (6M Cache, up to 3.9 GHz)

Would that make a huge difference in surfing/mail/spreadsheets?

Am I right in presuming that the number of tabs open affects and will be affected by RAM, and not CPU?

MacOS does manage memory better, but this doesn’t mean that the same workloads will take up less memory in MacOS. Sure, compression is great in MacOS, but if you load a table of size x into memory, your footprint will be nearly the same.

Regards,
Adrian