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Most people on these boards seem to recommend at least 1GB of memory for people getting new machines, but despite my best efforts I cannot use that much.
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most users can't. "buy as much memory as you can afford" has been around since the stone ages, but 512MB is enough for most people. 1GB is enough for multitabling/multitasking/browsing/etc. people also push cpu speed over all, but hard drives have a more meaningful impact on more modern setups. i would rather have a 2.4ghz cpu and a raptor than a 2.8ghz cpu and a 7200rpm 2mb d740x.
as for the page file, i have run 1GB without one for years. feel free to disable it and see how it goes.
for more enlightened discussions on these matters, see the forums at
www.storagereview.com. posts by the user named 'cas' are particularly good.