Key Takeaways
- 8GB RAM sufficient for non-Windows OS and lightweight Linux builds.
- Windows 11’s 64-bit build consumes half of RAM, making it unsuitable for 8GB systems.
- 8GB RAM barely supports basic web browsing, not suitable for heavy tasks or multiple apps.
If you’ve been eyeing up a new computer at all recently, you probably recoil a little bit whenever you see that a model can start with 8GB of RAM. After all, we all know at this stage that 8GB of RAM isn’t enough, and even Apple with its unified memory seems to be admitting that. There are some very special circumstances where 8GB of RAM is actually enough though, but for most people, it just isn’t.
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With 8GB of RAM, you can sometimes comfortably run an OS that isn’t Windows
Off to a bad start
8GB of RAM can be enough if you’re not running Windows, and the reason for that is thanks to the many low-footprint builds of Linux that you can get out there with reduced overheads and a lack of background services. While basic, something like Kubuntu (based on Ubuntu) can run on basically anything in a reduced RAM environment, which means that 8GB of RAM will get you by for any basic day-to-day usage.
Things get rough when you want to use Windows in an environment with only 8GB of RAM, and the reason for that is that the 64-bit build of Windows 11 alone requires 4GB of RAM just to run. That’s half your memory gone without any additional applications on your computer, which shows just how little memory you’re actually working with. There’s no 32-bit version of Windows 11 out there, so you can’t benefit from a lower memory footprint version of Windows either.
Basic web browsing
You probably shouldn’t use Chrome, though
Source: mockup.photos
If you have a low amount of memory, you can probably get away with using your computer for basic web browsing. It might struggle and it might chug, but it will at least run without running out of memory. We definitely don’t recommend using the memory-hungry Google Chrome though, and instead using something like Edge which will allow you to control how much RAM your browser uses.
Even then, your computer might struggle at this point, and that’s a bad sign for anything else you’d want to run. It should just about be fine, but you won’t have any background applications on the go at the same time while you’re browsing the web. Plus, you’ll need to keep an eye on how many tabs you have open at a time.
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8GB of RAM isn’t really usable for anything else
You’ve already run out of options
With those two options out of the way, there’s not really anything else that 8GB of RAM is usable for in 2024. Even on Macs, with Apple’s unified memory with a huge amount of bandwidth, you’ll frequently find your Mac accessing swap memory (memory stored on the SSD) in order to run your programs. While it may be fast, it will lead to faster deterioration of your SSD, and in the long run, may cause you hardware problems.
In other words, you really shouldn’t ever get a computer or a laptop with just 8GB of RAM. Sure, it’s technically cheap, but 16GB of RAM is the bare minimum currently, and even 32GB of RAM is turning into the new 16GB nowadays. Your computer will thank you if you do, and you’ll notice the difference immediately if you get to compare the two.
Even with a lightweight operating system, you’ll be comfortable at the start, but you’ll quickly reach the limits of what your computer is capable of. It enables you to do a bit more, but any kind of heavy web browsing or other productivity work is pretty much just not viable. Even if Apple (or other companies) sell you a laptop with 8GB of RAM, it more or less exists purely to create an easily marketable upsell.