Whether you’re in the market for a new laptop or smartphone, the amount of RAM is often a key specification and differentiating factor between similar devices.
RAM is where your computer stores and retrieves opened programs, documents, browser tabs, and anything else required for the operating system to function. To that end, RAM is best described as a computer’s temporary memory, which can be read and written to extremely quickly. By contrast, hard disks or flash memory devices are designed for slower, long-term data storage instead.