The 4GB Maximum Laptop Myth

image One of my blog readers just sent me a message about a recommendation for a machine. Let’s talk about the current state of the market.  It’s a pretty interesting time to be buying a machine.  Here’s the message I received:

how is it going..Love your webcasts by the way..I was wondering if you could help me out with a question. I am in the market for a new laptop..powerful enough to run VM's ...testing microsoft products...training etc.. I love the sony Vaio z570 however it is limited to 4gb max ram...Personally i think the new lenovos are not nearly up to the standard of the old ibm thinkpads..However i am asking for your opinion of what laptop you think is a solid machine.. Would you suggest a laptop that can handle say up to 8gb RAM or is 4gb enough..Also, do you suggest windows Vista Ultimatw or Business (64 bit or 32 bit).. I know windows 7 is on its way..not sure when the release will be and obviously it is on its way because of the poor marketpace attention vista has gotten...I am assuming it is basically a more stable vita...Also, would the upgrade from windows vista to 7 be easy in your opinion or should i want for 7 to be released.. I have looked at the Dell precision m2400 and the vaioz570. what laptop would you suggest given my RAM concerns processor etc.. Thanks for your help

There are a lot of questions and requirements in there so let’s answer a few of those so some objective decisions can be made.  First of all Brad indicates the Sony Vaio Z570 is limited to a max of 4GB of memory.  Says who?  Who has actually tested that and confirmed it?  That’s a really important point because it’s nearly impossible to test at the moment.  The specs in the data sheet and all available online documentation tell you it’s limited to 4GB but so does all of the information on the Lenovo ThinkPad T61p I’m using right now.  And it has and uses 8GB.

Unless Sony specifically blocked using more than 4GB of memory in the BIOS, then the Z570 should be able to use up to 8GB if running a 64bit version of Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008.  Keep in mind I said should.  That is not a guarantee.  The Z570 uses the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P9500.  If you look at the Intel processor specs at https://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2duo/mobile/specifications.htm, you’ll notice a couple of interesting things.

First, there appears to be an error in the Sony data sheet specs.  Sony lists the processor speed at 2.53 GHz with a front side bus speed of 1066 MHz.  Intel says the processor speed is 2.60 GHz and the front side bus speed is 800 MHz.  I’m inclined to believe the Intel specs.  Second, the processor supports the Intel 64 Architecture.  This is a good clue that it will run and use more than 4GB of memory.  The Intel P9500 processor also supports Intel VT so it will likely run Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

The problem with this particular machine and most of the new machines on the market right now is the lack of available 4GB SoDIMM memory sticks for the 800 and 1066 MHz bus speeds.  Therefore you can’t order the machine with 8GB of memory, nor can you load it with 8GB of memory right when you get it.  That’s starting to change, but very slowly. This presents a problem.  You will run through your return period before you can actually test it.  For that reason, I would not buy a machine without some sort of assurance in writing from the maker.

So what do you do?

Good question.  Brad indicates above he is interested in the Dell Precision M2400, too.  When you take a look at the specs for that machine at https://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/workstation_precision_m2400?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd, it’s clear they support 64bit versions of Windows Vista and 8GB of memory is also listed.  Cha ching!!!  At least it appears you can buy it fully loaded and ready to go.

There are other machines on the market that you can purchase with a 64bit operating system, 8GB or more of memory, and ready to run.  Dell offers a whole bunch of different machine and I know Consultants in this company using some of the new Latitudes and Precision machines with Hyper-V.

I would not discount the quality of the Lenovo machines.  We have a bunch of people using them and the typical comment from people getting their hands on one is that it’s the best machine they’ve ever owned.  The Lenovo ThinkPad W500 is a really nice machine with a ton of power and can be ordered with a 64 bit version of Windows Vista and 8GB of memory.  It’s bigger than what Brad appears to want with a 15.4” screen, but the little brother ThinkPad T400 would be a great machine with a 14.1” widescreen to fit his needs.

But does Brad need the memory?

Does Brad need more than 4GB of memory?  I don’t really like to be judge and jury on that question but let me describe briefly how handy it becomes.  When my team had laptops with 3GB of memory, we struggled to run and demo the Microsoft server products.  We typically need to run 2-4 VM’s and sometimes more.  Some of those VM’s really like 1GB of memory or more.  As you can see by running the math, that means you end up needing a couple of machines to split the load.  We used to travel with two laptops.  What fun that was.

Now that we have 8GB machines, we have a lot more memory to work with and the VM’s perform MO BETTER!!!  If I am running a hungry Exchange or SQL Server VM, I allocate 1, 2 or 3GB of memory.  No problem.  But this is where it gets really dicey.  Many of our products are starting to ship as 64bit only products.  Windows Server 2008 R2 will be the product that really forces the issue on laptops.  There’s only one Microsoft product that executes 64bit VM’s today.  That’s the Hyper-V role of Windows Server 2008.  This is obviously a problem for folks like Brad because we don’t have a solution for him at the moment.  Until we have a desktop virtualization product that executes 64bit VM’s, he either needs to use Hyper-V or another product on the market like VMWare Workstation.  Hopefully we’ll have a different story soon.

So while Brad might not need the memory immediately, the 64bit path is guaranteed. The two machines he’s picked should be plenty powerful.  Ultimately it’s his decision.  I don’t have any personal experience with the Dell or Sony he listed, but at least the Dell has what he’s asking about in writing.  Let us know how things go Brad.