4 or 2 sticks?

Ok, goofy question but I can't seem to find it being answered anywhere here or on Google.

Does anyone know or have a good idea on if battery life would be strongly affected by more sticks of RAM? What about performance?

Say I only want 8gb in my system. If it's more cost effective to do 2X4, is there any disadvantage to doing that as opposed to 4x2? Power consumption or performance-wise?

Side-question: What brand of memory comes in the new Sager systems? It is advised to match brands, speeds, CAS, etc. still, right?

 

Id go for the 2x4GB. Less heat and power consumption.

Each stick (DDR3 SO-DIMM assuming) will run on 1.5v and can add 2-6watts of load depending on the usage. It can make little to marginal difference on battery life.

Whats the price difference anyway?

 

Well, it's a pretty annoying cost difference in the new Sagers, at least with reseller pricing. They all want $90 to upgrade you from 4gb(2x2) to 8gb(4x2). Basically a waste of $45. But yeah, thanks for the input - I was thinking it'd be smarter to just use 2 sticks if possible. Will email them when I order to see if anything can be done about this annoyance.

 

The link below is for Malibal's version of the P150.. it shows APACER brand memory.. if memory serves me, as long as you buy it in matched pairs, brand differences between different pairs doesn't matter much. (I would however aim to keep the specs as similar as possible)

MALIBAL's Lotus P150HM: GeForce GTX 485M Gets Its Game On : Bigger Bang In A Smaller Package?

As for power, I believe having 2 extra sticks of ram will reduce battery life, but compared to the amount of power the CPU and GPU use, it is trivial at best and unnoticable.

 

Solution: order without RAM, and buy your own cheaper 2x 4GB. The 8GB kits can be had on Newegg for ~$70.

With the price they take off for ordering the machine with no RAM installed, the 8GB will essentially be free.

 

Which reseller takes $70 off for no RAM? Xotic is the only one I've asked so far and they only take off $40. Plus I like the idea of not having to take my laptop apart to put more RAM in later if I decide I need more than 8gb.

Hmm, now that I think about it, I doubt I would ever need more than 8gb. Is essentially the only time you would need more when you run VMs and stuff? I just game and do general user multitasking. More than 8 seems like overkill.

 

i've got my 8150 configured with 4gb ram (1x4gb), then buying 3 more sticks (3x4) from newegg ($110) and having it shipped to myth.. they're installing it for me

 

Well, I didn't mean "free free", just that the $40 off means you're essentially gaining the 8GB for $30, all things considered.

Since a gamer won't ever need more than 8GB, so you are just a couple screws away with this upgrade. Forget the DIMMs under the keyboard exist.