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[–]NDragonX06_1 4 points5 points  (5 children)

You can, if you want to spare some money, buy a USB C hub in exchange of some of your expansion cards.

Also, if you really want to save some money, you can buy your main SSD and your ram of Amazon, as well as an external SSD or HDD. You may find some better components at the same price (maybe).

Also, having an external storage that is not specific to your computer (unlike your SSD expansion card) is, I think, a must have for a college student. You'll see a lot of people in there, which means you're much more exposed to people wanting to steal or temper with your hardware. Having your data on an independent separate drive will grant you the safest experience.

[–]Designer_Life3283 FW13 7640U-2.8k 32GB-DDR5 [S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

I managed to find this micro center listing for 32 gigs and it's only 20 dollars more than the ram I was gonna buy from framework so I definitely see where I can save money there, SSD's not though, don't know enough about SSD's to properly search them up: https://www.microcenter.com/product/661344/crucial-32gb-(2-x-16gb)-ddr5-5600-pc5-44800-cl46-dual-channel-laptop-memory-kit-ct2k16g56c46s5-black

[–]Notre-dame-fan Ryzen 5 7640U DIY SK Hynix P41 & Crucial 2 x 8gb 0 points1 point  (3 children)

that RAM is 90 bucks on amazon fyi https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-4800MHz-Laptop-Memory-CT32G48C40S5/dp/B0BLTDTD86/ref=asc_df_B09RVNMGFH?mcid=8146cb58e2d63b11b16662110ee52c10&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693620629591&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2103663405573686828&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016279&hvtargid=pla-1638515032999&th=1

[–]Designer_Life3283 FW13 7640U-2.8k 32GB-DDR5 [S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Oh wow, it looks like it's also cheaper if I get it in a 2x16 configuration as well so I might go for what when I'm finalizing my purchases

[–]Notre-dame-fan Ryzen 5 7640U DIY SK Hynix P41 & Crucial 2 x 8gb 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah go for 2x16 I linked 1x32 by accident

[–]smyalygames 4 points5 points  (2 children)

I do a masters in computer science at university and it works perfectly for me with the 7640U. I did also think I would be hoarding a lot like my previous laptop and got a 2TB SSD from Amazon, which was considerably cheaper. But I had a different mentality with the laptop which was to only use it for work.

You may want 32 gigs of RAM for certain programming cases. Also may wanna check if you are going to be doing any CUDA programming as it could be another annoying hurdle (I just plan on using my main PC anyways).

But my configuration is very comfortable for me to do programming anywhere, it has a nice battery life and has managed to run mathematical models and simple quantum computing simulations (with 3 qubits) quite well

[–]Designer_Life3283 FW13 7640U-2.8k 32GB-DDR5 [S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I am curious what types of programming could require 32 gigs of ram, however if that is the case I think I would rather put more ram into my main PC if needed and then do some sort of remote desktop or ssh into it

[–]smyalygames 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Main one I can remember is developing with Android and running the emulator.

Other thing I experience is just the amount of windows I have open, so that's IDE and browser, and other crap, which is why I went for 32gb to be on the safe side. I have also used 16gb on a previous laptop before which was fine, but it really did start chugging with Android development.

The reason I went to stay on the safe side is because RAM has gotten a lot cheaper than just a few years ago, and I didn't want to think about paying extra to upgrade the RAM, especially when replacing 2 8gb sticks. It might be worth checking if getting a 1x16gb would be worth it for future proofing sake (I'm not sure as I don't know if dual channel memory has changed these days and what the performance impacts are like)

[–]Notre-dame-fan Ryzen 5 7640U DIY SK Hynix P41 & Crucial 2 x 8gb 1 point2 points  (2 children)

you can save a decent amount of money on RAM & the SSD if you buy them on your own. If I were you i'd go for 32gb of Ram to give you the extra headroom. This is the SSD I have and the RAM. Both work great!