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Comment by eli | Hacker News Reader

The only big drawback is it ain't cheap. You can even run Windows on if you really want.

The biggest drawback, by far, is the insanely low RAM. Anything less than 8GB is unusable for me, and I certainly can't be the only one.

Surely you're exaggerating. 8GB is necessary for a dev machine where you're going to be intentionally straining it. Most laptops nowadays come with 4GB. You're seriously saying those are "unusable" for you? What are you doing that requires 8GB of memory? Running multiple instances of SQL Server, AutoCAD, Visual Studio, and 2 or 3 games simultaneously?

Oh, some of our software barely compiles with 4GB of memory (unless you have enough time). E.g. large finite state transducers dumped as a big array of structs in C tend to blow up the compiler ;).

Also, some people tend to work with large data sets or problems that just require lots of memory. E.g. I work on language generation, and generally the more memory the better. For me 8GB is the minimum for doing serious work, and most machines that I use have >= 8GB and <= 64GB of memory.

So, someone asks "why would anyone need 8GB of memory". I describe one situation where I need that amount of memory. Can the downvoter please explain why this comment is objectionable?

Edit: my question is not rhetorical, I really would like to know.

Can't say i found anything objectionable to your comment (while I'm not doing that kind of stuff, in my day-to-day web development I have to juggle with virtual machines and 8GB RAM is also a bare requirements to be able to work correctly without the machine swapping to death), so I put you back above threshold.

I didn't downvote you but I would guess it was the hyperbolic wording of "insanely low" and "unusable".

How is it hyperbole? If the machine can not support the workloads it will be put under, how is it not unusable for him?

Also not a downvoter, but it's hyperbole because he didn't qualify it by saying that he has very particular needs. It would be like saying, "the Ford Excursion is an unusable piece of junk due to the lack of interior space...I can't even fit my 42 foster kids in it for a trip to Disneyland."

That's cool, surely that's a niche situation though. People deving mobile apps and websites (most people here) can do fine with 4GB. I do think the low end MB Air at 2GB is pushing it though.

Yep, sounds like you need something heftier than a super-light laptop for that sort of task. Hopefully you have already provisioned thusly.

My new laptop has 16GB of RAM. Last night, I was using 12GB of it. I was running one VM with 4gb of ram, and the rest was taken up with my browser (where I was exploring a vulnerability involving a massive number of objects), my debugger, and IDA.

8GB will work for me (that's all I have at work) but it definitely makes my life hard.

Honest question: Are there any ultra-lightweight laptops that handle 8GB?

The Dell Adamo (their answer to the MBA, which was nicer than the original, just way too expensive) did a couple years back, but that's now dead. Not sure what else is out there in the space, but just about any newer laptop with upgradable RAM can do 8GB -- almost all will support 4GB in each of the (standard) two banks.

I believe most in this category only have a single bank. I think the MBA actually has zero -- it's soldered to the motherboard.

lenovo x220 can take 8

Having an external DVD drive to install it is advised though, it is really difficult to do it with a USB drive.

Apple EFI drivers suck. I've been trying to get windows installed on my MBP17" where I replaced the optical drive with a SSD and it's been pure pain.

You'll need the superdrive in particular most likely.

yep I had the same issue on my MBP13, they dont let you boot off USB basically. Sucks.

If you open the Installer.app package, you'll find a DMG in there. You can then partition your USB drive/internal hard drive/external hard drive with a 5 GB partition, and restore the DMG onto it via Disk Utility.

You boot from the partition, and after installation, delete it and extend your primary partition (if you partitioned your internal hard drive).

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