I’m skeptical. I suspect 8gb of memory is sufficient (barely) to select and download a good Linux distro, which is where Windows 11 really excels these days.
this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
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Not really barely. You can make linux run just fine with less than 8.
They mean windows can run good enough with 8gb to allow you to download Linux
thank goodness large quantities of RAM are cheap and plentiful!
Thank goodness Linux exists, my 8 year old laptop runs like I just picked it up from the store.
I've got an 8GB Windows 11 system for work, and I don't have (many) issues with using that much RAM...
Mainly because I work from a virtual machine, and also because I had to aggressively trim down startup items to get enough capacity to get a remote desktop connection to work.
Window 11 is a fucking joke. XP worked better with 1/10th the compute power.
you know it would be a great project if someone rewrote Windows XP to handle modern hardware.
Reactos has you covered.
Cool. Might give that a shot. I have an old intel c2d Mac mini that has not been cooperative with windows install. Maybe this will work.
Should be ready for prime time Real Soon Now™.
When even the start menu is a webapp...
Linux running smoothly on my 4 GB laptop
Wdym "even Microsoft"?? To me they are the only ones incapable of doing it. Every other OS runs well on 8Gb
The whole minimum HW requirements is so bullshit. It's all about bloat. I have a stick pc and a tablet with some Atom CPU, 2Gb RAM, that run W10 reasonably well. No rockets and will probably choke on many apps, but for web stuff (just don't keep more than 2-3 tabs open) media playing, and light stuff they are surprisingly capable. I have installed Antix Linux on one, and it's a really capable machine.
- Gigabytes. of. RAM.
No rockets and will probably choke on many apps…
You should always spring for the rocket model.
Meanwhile on linux side: 128MB RAM (Optional)
In Theory CPU Caches are big enough to run an (small) OS. If there is Software support, RAM would be indeed optional.
I have to wonder if Microsoft also went to a cheaper (slower) SSD. Windows 11 isn't great with 8GB of ram, but also my experience is Windows 11 can handle a light load without freezing up for several seconds.
I don't get it...I use Windows for my work machine and it's only 8gb of RAM. It handles multiple browsers, plus private windows, rust desk and screen connect at the same time, one note, and another browser running outlook in a pwa app. This is all no issue for me.
All that said, when I figure out how to get screen connect to prompt me for admin creds when I'm doing a remote session with a user, I'll switch to my Fedora machine full time lol
And 4 ?
I have an older surface laptop I won as a prize at a conference. It is still receiving updates, works great (for what it is), and only has 4gigs of ram.
They can do it. They don't want to.