Not to sound like Bill Gates but I have a hard time seeing myself ever needing more than that. Most people just use the web, facebook, office and email. Even 4GB is an overkill. Yes if you game with heavy games you need more but I'm talking about most people

Yeah I agree, computer evolution will stop today

I think 4GB is about right for most people running Windows 64-bit today, based on how most PCs are actually used (as you describe it). But it's certainly not overkill. Just running that OS, ITunes, an AV, various processes, it adds up pretty quickly.

Problem is what Gabe is getting at. Programs and apps will keep getting more demanding as we go along. Just 10-11 years ago 256MB RAM was common, 512MB was the high side. Even the more basic users are getting more demanding too. They're not really saying "just web and email" anymore. They want the newer operating system MS or Apple has, they want their memory-hogging iTunes, they want to browse "better" and to have smoother multitasking. They want to watch YouTube and play Farmville.

It's not worth that much concern though, the cost of RAM is only a small fraction of the cost of a computer these days. For builders, 4GB vs 8GB is a $20 decision.

We're in a strange place now actually. Windows 7 actually eats less resources than Vista, slowing down the need for RAM.

There is another layer to this... software development has shifted to devices with a lot less RAM (aka, XBox, iPhones and iPads). This will also slow down the need for more RAM for the forseeable future.

Even then, I still recommend people to get 6GB to be on the safe side.

'another layer' is the wrong term exactly, more like 'divergent evolution' heh

As it is an iPad has what, 1GB?

This is *plenty* of memory for the significant majority of what people actually do with "the Internet". What the OP talks about basically. If it some how isn't, the presence of an SSD or other NAND storage device will act as memory should the device need to 'swap'. This is key. SSD may not be as fast as RAM, but its significantly faster then a physical hard disk so swapping to an SSD is a lot less noticable then a HDD.

There will always be power users who fall outside the norm. Developers, graphic artists, design engineers etc.

I'd be willing to bet you could swap a majority of peoples computers for a tablet type device and they would be just as happy. Right now I'm on my laptop sitting watching TV (yah, my Friday nights are awesome) but frankly theres no reason for it to be a full laptop - even at work it doesn't need to be - it just needs to have a high enough resolution.

Along what you're saying, I prefer watching Hulu+ on my iPad actually. It's just easier to carry around if I wanted to, uh... for example, lie down on the couch.

Another layer's definitely wrong. I just couldn't think of a better way to put it.

At some point, RAM growth will accelerate but I feel pretty comfortable in saying 6gb is more than enough for the next uh... 6 or 7 years, probably longer.

maybe this is a little off-topic, but this is what I was playing Star Trek with in jr.high school and I didn't think it would get any better than that.