How much RAM for this?

I want to know how much RAM is required (minimum) to run this setup smoothly and quickly on Win XP..

- Photoshop with up to 5 images opened in RAW format

- AOL IM &/or MSN Messenger &/or Yahoo messenger

- Multiple Folders

- Windows Picture Viewer

- Firefox browser with up to 5 tabs open

- Norton Anti-virus running in the background

- Windows Media Player

- Frontpage or Moveable Type

...mabye one more, but this is about it.

So what would you recommend?

I have done all this on a Celeron processor with 256 RAM, but its just not good enough.

 

Personally, I would say 2gigs.

 

I would say 1GB min but if you are going to all of that open at the same time then i would suggest 2GB.

Make sure you have a dual core processor otherwise your system will choke.

 

2gb min........

 

Yeah, I too would say 2GB will be about right for your needs.

 

wow that made my jaw drop...running xp alone on 256 causes issues for me.

Yeah Ill go with 2gb...thats the standard these days and leaves room for more.

 

256MB for searching Internet is enough, but for running different software applications, 2x512MB (Dual Channel) or 2x1024MB (Dual Channel) will be perfect for running all everything you want as long as the budget is not a main issue to afford 2GB memory.

Cheers

 

1gb will be enough.

 

1gig is definately enough, don't know why these people are suggesting 2gigs, thats way more then you'd need given the tasks you've outlined, no point wasting money and going overkill.

Also, it will not "choke" on anything other then a Dual Core cpu, as someone said. A regular cpu would be fine, as long as its decent.

 

I dont think you would see much of a difference of between 1gb and 2gb considering you have an old celeron processor, it would bottleneck your performance.

 

I was also surprised by the number of people suggesting that I need 2 gigs. I mean - I made it work on this Celeron/256 - granted not very fast - but it worked!!! Don't you think 2 gigs is overkill?? Isn't that much really used for gaming and intensive graphics applications? I mean, I'm running pretty basic programs here, just a lot of them! I was thinking along the lines of 1 gig, but if anyone can absolutely positively convince me that its not enough, then I may consider the 2 gig option. I've got money to spend, but are there other important options to spend it on besides going over 1 gig of ram?

 

1gb may run into problems. For the extra little bit of cash, 2gb is the way to go. Trust me, its worth it. Check newegg for a good price

 

If you've got money to spend then mabey you should think about getting a new laptop altoghter. If you dont have that much to spend, then go with 1 gig. I mean 2 really is overkill for you. Your running an old celeron, which like I said is a major bottleneck, especially for 2 gigs of ram. If you really need that much, just get a whole new system, it would be smarter in the long run.

 

Yes Quest, 1gig is totally adequate. In fact, anything over that would be a total waste, for the tasks you've described, 2gigs is 100% unnecessary (and expensive)