When upgrading my laptop, which aspect should I put more emphasis on, the memory or the storage?

Question

If later upgrades are off the table, which of the two options, memory or storage, would be wiser to go for first?

Answer 1

In case you're planning to purchase a laptop whose memory is not going to be expanded in the future, it would be better to have the maximum memory affected first and then look at other factors like storage. Most of the laptops allow improving storage, and even if not, a fast external drive can be added later. But when the memory is soldered, not upgradable, then it's important to have sufficient amounts of this for one's laptop to perform well.

Comments

I'd find a 32 GB to be future proof, however manufactures providing soldiered RAM laptops are trying hard to prevent that.

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Have just bought a new motherboard/processor for our desktop as currently not compatible with Windows 11, was planning to get 16Gb of RAM but it was only an extra £20 or so to get 32Gb so a bit of a no-brainer, although I don't need it now it could extend the life of the PC by several years.

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Two options. I need a machine to last me 10 years for video editing and Twitch streaming. Looking at getting M1 Max. Should I get a 32-core 32GB RAM model, or 24-core 64GB RAM model? I know 32gb RAM sounds great but in 8 years I might benefit from more RAM if I want overlays on my stream (does that use ram?) and smooth video editing. And maybe the ability to edit thumbnails while exporting without feeling like my computer is going to explode.

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I was planning on purchasing an Apple MacBook Pro for  M3 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 18‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine, 18GB unified memory, and 1TB SSD, I am starting my degree in computer science and want something that would last me at least 4 years. Do you think is worth it?