Upgrade laptop now to 32GB DDR4?

[maartendc]

Hello all,

 

My wife's Framework laptop came with 16GB of DDR4 3200 RAM.

 

With RAM prices being so cheap at the moment, should I upgrade it now to 32GB of RAM? Currently she doesn't have any use for more than 16GB, but a few years down the line with the software she runs (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.), I think she might make use of it.

 

Is DDR4 being phased out for DDR5, so is now the best time to upgrade? Or will DDR4 SODIMM's be available at good prices let's say 3 years from now?  In other words, will DDR4 creep back up in price slowly from where it is now?

 

Thanks!

[filpo]

4 minutes ago, maartendc said:

In other words, will DDR4 creep back up in price slowly from where it is now?

no, imo it won't creep back up, since any thing in the world has this kind of graph in pricing where its like a bowl where its starts out at a high price when its new then goes down as its lifespan increases, stays there for a bit and then when it starts to get as old as a 3rd gen intel chip is now it'll go up in price since it becomes an 'antique'

I.e. wait the three years IMO since 16 gigs is perfectly fine for now and ddr4 will only go down in price in 3 years

[theRatty]

1 hour ago, maartendc said:

Hello all,

 

My wife's Framework laptop came with 16GB of DDR4 3200 RAM.

 

With RAM prices being so cheap at the moment, should I upgrade it now to 32GB of RAM? Currently she doesn't have any use for more than 16GB, but a few years down the line with the software she runs (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.), I think she might make use of it.

 

Is DDR4 being phased out for DDR5, so is now the best time to upgrade? Or will DDR4 SODIMM's be available at good prices let's say 3 years from now?  In other words, will DDR4 creep back up in price slowly from where it is now?

 

Thanks!

In general, you shouldn't be upgrading for "future-proofing" Buy electronics for what you need currently and when you have different needs by different electronics. "future-proofing" is an excellent way to waste lots of money.

[maartendc]

1 hour ago, filpo said:

no, imo it won't creep back up, since any thing in the world has this kind of graph in pricing where its like a bowl where its starts out at a high price when its new then goes down as its lifespan increases, stays there for a bit and then when it starts to get as old as a 3rd gen intel chip is now it'll go up in price since it becomes an 'antique'

I.e. wait the three years IMO since 16 gigs is perfectly fine for now and ddr4 will only go down in price in 3 years

Thats helpful, thanks. Yes, I actually had a quick look at DDR3 pricing, and it is actually still really cheap. So DDR4 should still be cheap in a few years I guess..

[filpo]

3 minutes ago, maartendc said:

Thats helpful, thanks. Yes, I actually had a quick look at DDR3 pricing, and it is actually still really cheap. So DDR4 should still be cheap in a few years I guess..

xactly but when you look at ddr2 its about the same as ddr3 meaning that it could see a price increase in the years to come 

[filpo]

2 hours ago, filpo said:

no, imo it won't creep back up, since any thing in the world has this kind of graph in pricing where its like a bowl where its starts out at a high price when its new then goes down as its lifespan increases, stays there for a bit and then when it starts to get as old as a 3rd gen intel chip is now it'll go up in price since it becomes an 'antique'

I.e. wait the three years IMO since 16 gigs is perfectly fine for now and ddr4 will only go down in price in 3 years

 

1 hour ago, maartendc said:

Thats helpful, thanks. Yes, I actually had a quick look at DDR3 pricing, and it is actually still really cheap. So DDR4 should still be cheap in a few years I guess..

heres a visionary example of what i was talking about in my first post