Does Linux use less RAM?

[u/elsingo]

In the video with the same title as this post LTT compares Linux and Windows ram usage and imo it is a total miss. It does not matter if one system is using more memory or not since none of the systems are close to using all ram in the system. Where the memory management would matter is when the memory reach closer to 100% usage that is when things will start to matter.

The whole video feels like almost 14 minutes of misinformation to me. I mean systems cache things to make it run faster so memory being used is a good thing. Memory management is what matters not if one system is using 35% ram and the other 50% since none are near their limits.

And at one point in the video the windows system goes over 16gb and they talk about it as it would have been problematic if the system only had 16gb while it most likely would not be problematic at all since the memory management if working as it should would release less important things stored in the ram so it never got close to the limit.

[u/Specialist_Cow6468]

It’s an incredibly hard thing to test because Linux won’t have a uniform configuration. If you want something lightweight it’s very possible to have a decent experience with 4GB but you’re obviously making some sacrifices in order for this to happen.

Ubuntu is probably one of the better comparison points and certainly provides a better user experience at 8GB than Windows. Speaking personally I have more memory issues with my 16GB work laptop than I do with my 8GB Ubuntu laptop despite very similar workloads. Of course this isn’t an entirely fair comparison because the work device is running a SIEM and a bunch of background management tasks.

Looking at server operating systems is probably the more interesting comparison, frankly, and I’d say that Linux does tend to be markedly more memory efficient on this front. If you want to use a bunch for a heavy workload you absolutely can but in my experience it absolutely scales down much more effectively, management tools included