"More RAM" says almost every computer support tech when asked how to get better performance from a computer. That's one of the two standard answers. Problem? Reboot. Slow? More RAM.
What was once 512MB is now 1GB, according to this story about 1GB RAM chips selling, in huge quantities, to computer makers, for $2.63 each. Good thing, because the new computers running Microsoft Vista need 1GB of RAM to equal a similar computer running Windows XP on 512MB of RAM. At least the price dropped to make the upgrade easier.
Complain about Vista all you want (and I often do) but at least Microsoft raised the hardware bar for vendors yet again. Low end PC comes with 1GB of RAM? Thanks, Bill and Steve.
I noticed last week that many of the PCs listed on my favorite online PC purchase Web site, Ubid, now come with 1GB, 2GB, and even 4GB of RAM. I've just about convinced myself to buy a new PC and try virtual operating systems. With 4GB of RAM, I can surely run Windows XP and an as-yet undecided Linux distribution concurrently and not lose too much performance. More when I take that plunge, probably in December after I finish the ITEC conference fall series.
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Cheaper Memory is Great!
I have only installed Vista on my wife's new computer and she loves all the GUI goodness. If any software makes hardware cheaper I'm all for it even I will not use that software myself. Here is to Microsoft helping the Linux community.