Back then, the answer was spectacularly wrong. 640 kilobytes – that’s less than a single photo from your phone takes up today. Anyone buying a new computer faces the same decision, just with different numbers: 8, 16 or 32 gigabytes? And while the ads and your gut have been whispering “more is better” for years, there’s a very concrete reason right now to take a closer look.

Let’s start with the misconception almost everyone shares – and the one that costs the most money when you buy RAM.

RAM is space, not speed

The most common mix-up about memory goes like this: “More RAM makes my computer faster.” That isn’t true. More RAM does not make a computer faster. It only keeps it from getting slow when too much is open at once.

The distinction sounds like hairsplitting, but it’s crucial. Picture your memory as the size of a desk. On the desk you spread out whatever you’re working on: the spreadsheet, the letter, the ten open browser tabs, the photo editor. The bigger the desk, the more you can spread out at once before things get cramped.

But – and this is the point – a bigger desk doesn’t let you work faster. You don’t write any quicker just because there’s more space. You can only leave more things lying out at once without anything falling off.

It’s exactly the same with RAM. If you work with your 8 or 16 gigabytes and never hit the limit, then there’s still plenty of free space on your desk. A bigger desk wouldn’t change that – the free space would simply be even bigger. You’d notice no difference at all from 32 gigabytes.

Things only get cramped once the desk is full. That’s when the computer starts shuffling things off to the side – it pushes data it isn’t using onto the hard drive and pulls it back when it needs it again. That takes time, and that’s exactly when the computer becomes noticeably slow. More RAM helps in that case, because the desk is then big enough that all this back-and-forth shuffling disappears.

The takeaway is simple: more RAM only helps someone who regularly hits the limit. Anyone who doesn’t is buying pure reserve that never gets used. Not wrong – but also without any noticeable effect.

Memory has gotten expensive

Until now, too much RAM was mostly just wasted money. Since 2025/26 it’s noticeably more than that: the prices for memory have shot up dramatically, in some cases multiplying several times over.

The reason isn’t supply shortages like during the pandemic, but a shift: the AI industry is buying up the world’s memory production. The enormous data centers behind the big AI services need vast amounts of specialized memory – and manufacturers are moving their production to wherever they can earn the most. Ordinary memory for PCs, laptops, and phones gets scarce and pricey as a result.

Exactly how much, the figures vary – depending on the source and the type of memory, the range runs from steep markups all the way to a three- or fourfold increase. No single number can be pinned down, and the trend probably hasn’t run its course yet. The only thing that’s certain: memory has gotten genuinely expensive right now.

How about a little less?

This is where the two observations meet. On one side, more RAM makes no difference as long as you never reach the limit. On the other, more RAM has just become especially expensive.

So right now it pays off twice over to ask honestly: do I really need the 32 gigabytes – or will 16 do? For the vast majority of everyday users, the answer is: 16 gigabytes is plenty, often even 8. Not out of stinginess, but because more simply makes no noticeable difference when you never reach the limit anyway. Anyone who uses Office programs, browses the web, writes emails, looks at photos and streams movies will get along comfortably with that much space.

See for yourself – before you spend money

Here’s the nice part: you don’t have to take my word for it. You can check. Before you start thinking about more memory, you can find out in a few moments whether RAM is even the bottleneck for you.

On Windows, open the Task Manager by pressing the Ctrl, Shift, and Esc keys at the same time. There you’ll find the memory usage display. On the Mac, the tool is called Activity Monitor – you’ll find it through Spotlight search or in the “Utilities” folder.

Just leave the window open in the background while you work as usual: open tabs, launch programs, the typical workload of a normal day. And then take a look: am I constantly at the limit – or almost never?

• If your memory usage sits permanently at the top under normal use, then your desk really is too small. In that case, more RAM brings a real gain.
• If, on the other hand, there’s always room to spare – and that’s the case for most people – then extra memory would simply sit there unused.

A second suspect when your computer drags

One more tip if an older computer feels sluggish: often it isn’t the memory that’s to blame at all, but an old, mechanical hard drive. In such cases, switching to an SSD usually brings far more speed than doubling your RAM – and is often the more worthwhile investment. But that’s a story of its own.

Rough ballpark figures for orientation

If you’d like a quick rundown, here are the sizes without brand names and without price tags, which would only go out of date anyway:

• 8 GB: the minimum. Enough for browsing, Office and email. Gets tight when lots of browser tabs and several programs are open at once.
• 16 GB: the sensible standard for the vast majority – this is the clear recommendation. Enough reserve without paying for something you’ll never need.
• 32 GB: only worth it for special workloads, like video editing, large photo work or virtual machines. For the everyday user, it’s money out the window – especially at today’s prices.

With a classic desktop computer, it’s also worth asking whether the memory can be expanded later on. If so, you can comfortably start small and add more when you need it, instead of paying up front for the future – though with many laptops and compact computers this isn’t possible, since the memory there is soldered in place.

640 kilobytes then, 16 gigabytes now

Back then, people asked “how much is enough?” and got the answer wrong, because nobody guessed how much the demands would grow. Today the same question comes up – but for most people the most honest answer isn’t “as much as possible,” but “as much as you actually use.” And under normal use, that’s surprisingly often 16 gigabytes.

How much RAM is actually in your computer – and do you ever hit the limit? Do you still remember your first computer and how little memory it had? And just for a chuckle: what’s the smallest amount you ever got by with? We’d love to hear your memories in the comments.