Not long ago, Apple still sold their MacBooks with 8 GB of soldered RAM – now, 16 GB is the new minimum for most laptops, with 32 GB a mainstream option, when it was a luxury a few years ago. Things are in flux, however, and even 32 GB may soon prove obsolete for some users. With the arrival of LLMs that can be used locally, the needs for more RAM are increasing fast. Laptops with upgradeable RAM are at an advantage here, as two SO-DIMM slots sometimes permit up to 96 GB of memory.

Another case where 32 GB is simply not cutting it anymore: Laptops with powerful integrated GPUs that rely on the main system memory instead of dedicated VRAM. Point in case: The HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14, which we recently reviewed.

This compact 14-inch workstation laptop from HP uses the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 390, a twelve core Zen5 CPU with a very powerful integrated GPU called the AMD Radeon RX 8050S. In our review, the GPU could compete with older mid-range mobile GPUs from Nvidia, such as the Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada, in terms of raw power.

However, the model of the HP ZBook Ultra (available on Amazon.com) we reviewed only came with 32 GB RAM. The RAM in this case is soldered and not upgradeable. With the iGPU relying on the system RAM to serve as VRAM, HP enables the user to set the VRAM in the BIOS. Per default, it is set to 8 GB – not enough for many powerful applications, such as games, which sometimes refused to run. With only 32 GB, you can not really increase the VRAM. The next option would be 16 GB, meaning the laptop would only have 16 GB of memory for other tasks.

This is why for a device like the HP ZBook Ultra G1a 14, 32 GB is not enough. We recommend not buying this HP laptop with less than 64 GB of RAM. Should more laptops with Strix Halo or similar powerful iGPUs come out, 32 GB of RAM might soon be obsolete.

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Benjamin Herzig – Managing Editor – 1329 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2016

I was an ardent reader of Notebookcheck’s laptop reviews even back in school. After writing reviews as a hobby, I then joined Notebookcheck in 2016 and have worked on device reviews and news articles ever since then. My personal interest lies more with laptops than smartphones, with business laptops being the most interesting category for me. Technology should make our lives and work easier and good laptops are an essential tool for that to happen. This is why laptop reviews are not just my work but are also my passion.