“What Kind” is Random Access Memory (RAM)?

Random Access Memories is the fourth studio album by French electronic music duo Daft Punk. Well not quite the RAM we wish to address though. Neither is this article going to talk about The Ram, that vehicle made by Chrysler under the Dodge division. Random Access Memory (RAM) is the working memory of a computer which acts as a form of data storage. It matters because RAM is responsible for the performance of your computer.

Laptop Mag likens RAM to the lungs of a computer if the CPU is the brain. Just enough RAM is what enables the computer to speed through games, spreadsheets, and other applications. RAM is a temporary storage for programs and data whilst your computer is running, so when you run a program it is run in the computers memory. The processor (CPU), on the other hand,  is what actually does the work- it does the calculations and sorts the programs so that they can actually be run.

Additional RAM allows a computer to work with more information at the same time which can have a dramatic effect on total system performance. Nonetheless, before you cram your computer with as much RAM as possible let’s look at some tests done by Laptop Mag.

In conclusion, it was discovered that 2GB of RAM may be good enough for performing such simple everyday tasks as Web-surfing, checking e-mail, and watching video clips. But if more power is needed for opening large files or heavy-duty multitasking, the extra memory (goes up to 8GB) will be worth the splurge.

Image credit: Wikipedia