Is there a difference between 2x8 and 1x16?
I am considering two laptops that look pretty much the same except one difference: laptop A has two memory chips of 8GB each, while laptop B has one memory chip of 16G. Laptop B is considerably more expensive. Is there a substantial difference between 2x8GB and 1x16GB?
1X16 is considered better because it (presumably) has a free RAM slot. This means that:
If you wanted to upgrade to 32 GB RAM, you'll have to buy 2 new 16GB RAMs in the first case, and only 1 new 16 GB RAM in the second case. You'll end up spending half as much.
If you have (or ever find) a compatible RAM from another laptop, you can just put it in your new laptop for some more RAM. If your old laptop has 4 Gigs of ram that would've been thrown away anyway, you can throw that in your new laptop for a little bit more RAM.
I've heard some people say that 2x8 is better because you have two "pathways."
(EDIT; See comment below: basic crux is that it does help, but isn't as much of a difference in most cases to warrant not having the upgradability of a 1x16 RAM Module)
If you think you're gonna need more than 16GB of RAM, check if the price difference is more than buying two sticks of 16GB Ram.