If your PC is feeling a little sluggish—plagued by freezing, spinning wheels, or even error messages about “low memory”—you might need more RAM.
What Is RAM?
RAM stands for Random Access Memory, and it’s a type of super-fast storage your computer uses to hold data it needs in the short term. Think of your hard drive as a filing cabinet where all your data is stored and the RAM like your desk, where you put the stuff you’re currently working on. The more RAM you have, the more projects and programs your computer can keep open at once without getting bogged down by taking things in and out of the proverbial filing cabinet.
Unfortunately, in the age of thinner and thinner devices, many modern laptops have their RAM permanently soldered to the motherboard, meaning you can’t upgrade it without buying a whole new PC. But if you have a desktop PC or an upgrade-friendly laptop, adding more RAM is usually quite easy. You just need to find a compatible stick (which may require some Googling), pop open your computer, and swap the RAM into its dedicated slot. Before you blow $50 on a new stick, it’s a good idea to see if you actually need it, or if that money is better spent on another upgrade, like a solid-state drive.
Here’s how to see how much RAM is currently in your PC, and whether you need to upgrade.
Find Out How Much RAM You Have
If you’re using a Windows 10 PC, checking your RAM is easy. Open Settings > System > About and look for the Device Specifications section. You should see a line named “Installed RAM”—this will tell you how much you currently have.
If you’re still using Windows 7, you should upgrade because official support has ended. In the meantime, open the Start menu, right-click on Computer and then click Properties. This should bring up a window with your computer’s basic specs. Under System, you should see a line denoting your Installed Memory.
Mac users have a simple way of checking their computer’s specs: just click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen, and select About This Mac. In the Overview tab, you’ll be presented with a simple list of specs, including the amount of memory currently installed.
RAM Problems? Consult Task Manager or Activity Monitor
As a general rule, 4GB is starting to become “not enough,” while 8GB is fine for most general-use PCs (with high-end gaming and workstation PCs going up to 16GB or more). But this can vary from person to person, so there’s a more precise way to see if you actually need more RAM: the Task Manager.
Go about your work as normal, and if the computer begins to slow down, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring up Windows Task Manager. Click the Performance tab and select Memory in the sidebar to see a graph of your current RAM usage.
You don’t want the graph to be completely empty—after all, unused RAM is wasted RAM—but if your RAM is completely full when you’re trying to do basic tasks like browse the web or write up some Word documents, you’re probably due for an upgrade. (Though you can also try closing applications that Task Manager says are using lots of RAM, or uninstalling needless extensions from your browser.)
If your RAM isn’t bursting at the seams during those slowdowns, then your bottleneck is likely somewhere else, and you should look to other solutions for speeding up your PC.
On Macs, you should check Activity Monitor. When you experience a slowdown, press Command + Space to bring up Spotlight, type “Activity Monitor,” and press Enter. Click the Memory tab along the top of the window. You’ll see a graph at the bottom showing you how much of your RAM is currently in use.
Remember that more free RAM does not equal better—as long as you have some free RAM, you’re fine, and should look into other potential upgrades. But if Activity Monitor is saying that your RAM is full to the brim, you probably need more. In the meantime, you can check the list of processes and close any programs that are using lots of memory.
Sadly, many modern Macs do not have upgradeable RAM. Most iMacs and older MacBooks are upgrade-friendly, while newer MacBooks have their RAM permanently soldered to the motherboard. Google your specific model (the one listed in About This Mac) and see what’s doable on your machine.
