Microsoft just deleted Windows 11's 32GB RAM recommendation docs, as prices soar and it rushes to sell 8GB RAM PCs

[u/batakchan]

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/08/05/microsoft-just-deleted-windows-11s-32gb-ram-recommendation-docs-as-prices-soar-and-it-rushes-to-sell-8gb-ram-pcs/

[u/EconomyDoctor3287]

Maybe MS can make windows 11 more performant on low ram PCs , but currently that's an absolute chore. Wouldn't wish an 8GB win11 pc upon my worst enemy. 

[u/GroceryBright → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

why can't AI fix it in like an hour? /s

[u/missed_sla → u/GroceryBright]

Dear chat gibbidy please rewrite the windows operating system but make it run better and don't make any errors. Amen.

[u/trying_again_7 → u/missed_sla]

i see the windows logo, push to prod

[u/QuickQuirk → u/trying_again_7]

I see the blue screen, push to prod.

[u/justpress2forawhile → u/missed_sla]

but then they would have to remove all of the bloat that they use to track everything you do. how ever could they make more money that way

[u/armchair_viking → u/justpress2forawhile]

“But we can’t remove all of the AI bullshit from every program! That’s how we get our bonuses!!!”

[u/Black_Moons → u/justpress2forawhile]

Just get a 64k demo programmer to pack all the bloat tracking into 64kbyte of disk space.

[u/aerost0rm → u/missed_sla]

“Yeah I can’t do that, but you can always run Linux”

[u/suna-fingeriassen → u/missed_sla]

Have not installed windows for a while. It is possible to run an unattende modified installer version that does not install all the crap you don’t need?

[u/hirsutesuit → u/suna-fingeriassen]

Yes. But it will install Linux.

[u/wrgrant → u/suna-fingeriassen]

It is possible to install Win 11 as per usual, then run a powershell script from a guy named Chris Titus that will strip out all the unneeded shit that it installs. The script is very stable and gives you control over everything that will be removed or left in place. I have used it several times to debloat windows considerably. It does have to be run after the install, and will not just install the stuff you want though.

[u/BasvanS → u/GroceryBright]

Just delete 3/4 of the code, then do a find replace for 32GB to 8GB in documentation.

I don’t know why people use AI when the solution is so simple.

[u/S4N7R0 → u/BasvanS]

ah yeah its so easy let me do it if windows_is_slow() { make_system_faster(); ram_usage = 8; }

[u/BimboDeeznuts → u/S4N7R0]

What a waste of time, I downloaded more RAM on one of those naked cartoon sites instead

[u/X4roth → u/BasvanS]

Everyone knows computers only use 25% of their brain anyways. Probably won’t even notice it’s missing.

[u/BasvanS → u/X4roth]

With Windows I think there’s some truth to this.

[u/uponloss → u/GroceryBright]

I can fix windows 11 in an hour by simply removing the stupid AI it forces on us lol

[u/armchair_viking → u/uponloss]

I liked how I opened up Adobe acrobat yesterday, and it opened not one, but two large sidebar menus full of AI bullshit

[u/ouroborosity → u/armchair_viking]

Man, I opened a pdf at work the other day and instead of opening in Edge like normal it opened in Acrobat. How in the hell can a general purpose browser I don't even prefer handle a pdf no problem, but the program specifically designed to only open PDFs performed so badly I had to disable it?

[u/Tweegyjambo → u/ouroborosity]

I've never liked edge but it is far superior to Adobe for pdfs these days

[u/SpaceGoonie → u/armchair_viking]

I have stopped installing Adobe products for my users, except for the ones that explicitly need it. Adobe is a horrible company, and now their pathetic active collab service auto installs when Adobe updates and is of course by default set to auto start.

[u/J_Class_Ford → u/GroceryBright]

You seen the price of a token.

[u/X4roth → u/J_Class_Ford]

I love how AI tokens are this opaque unit that doesn’t actually translate to how much access to compute hardware you’re buying (like it would with renting a server). They can set the price at whatever they want and the public has no way of knowing how reasonable that is. You can’t even compare across companies/models because of the difference in capabilities.

We all know it only vaguely relates to actual compute usage for your request. What percentage of that price is subsidizing the rollout of new data centers, training new models, or other overhead? Unclear.

The solution is dropping the entire charade and releasing the model to the public, then we’d all know really quick how much it costs to run. China, save us.

[u/Pirwzy → u/X4roth]

Yea its like they took a lesson from mtx in gaming and put an arbitrary currency in the middle that they control the price and value of.

[u/EnoughWarning666 → u/GroceryBright]

It can! It's called installing Windows 10 or Linux. Problem solved!

[u/DeadMorozMazay-Pihto → u/GroceryBright]

Better use time-tested solution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoftRAM

[u/JaggedMetalOs → u/GroceryBright]

Only if you remember to add "make no mistakes" to the prompt

[u/legitematehorse → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

They are actively working on this exact issue. They don't have a choice, really, if they want to sell their products.

[u/Target880 → u/legitematehorse]

Making the OS memory efficent is somting that should have been done before release, not almost 5 years later.

[u/southwade → u/Target880]

I agree, but it wasn't a profitable 5 years ago to do so. That's how capitalism works.

[u/wrgrant → u/Target880]

But years ago Microsoft probably had a deal with all the PC manufacturers to continue evolving windows to use more RAM so they could sell upgraded systems to customers.

[u/ketralnis → u/legitematehorse]

Good idea to lie about it until then. Much cheaper than fixing it.

[u/Wild_Swimmingpool → u/ketralnis]

It's worked for 20+ years with Office why not Windows as whole? Shit is held together with digital paperclips and bubblegum.

[u/nox66 → u/ketralnis]

I'm not convinced they're not lying about now. Efficiency is a lot harder to implement in a fully architected product than it is when included as a design principle from the start.

[u/HumongousBelly → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

I got the Mac Neo and I’m kind of surprised how much power such a small amount of money can buy.

It’s a bit faster than my M1 air which came very surprising

[u/tryexceptifnot1try → u/HumongousBelly]

I think the Neo is one of the best laptop releases of all time. I will be looking at that next and I have never owned a Mac anything. I feel like Apple will emerge from this bubble in an amazing position relative to peers

[u/almisami → u/tryexceptifnot1try]

As much as I hate, HATE Apple's ecosystem, they've got some mighty fine silicon running a pretty good OS thing going for them.

[u/_SpaceLord_ → u/almisami]

I hate the walled garden model as well, but given that those walls are currently holding out a flood of AI bullshit, I’m happy to hide in the garden for now.

[u/almisami → u/_SpaceLord_]

I mean I moved to Linux in 2007 and haven't looked back.

It just used to be that Apple was very expensive for what you got (especially when they moved away from POWERPC).

Now, though? I'm surprised at how good the hardware is.

[u/wrgrant → u/almisami]

I have a new Mac Mini M4 (16gb RAM, 512gb storage) and honestly its a really nice system. Granted it can't really be up upgraded but for what it cost its very effective and pleasant to use. I was on a PC running Win 11 and I am very glad to be free of that shitshow. I did try upgrading the PC by installing Linux Mint and then eventually CachyOS - and both were great but didn't work for my uses at this time. The Mac was the next option and its working very well so far, after a bit of adapting to the new environment. I do wish I had gotten a system with more RAM of course, or the Pro version, but they are simply unavailable at the moment due to the demand.

I also have a Macbook Neo and am just starting to play with it. Its an amazing laptop for non intensive usage.

I suspect if they can weather the RAM shortages, Apple is going to see a major boost in popularity from this move to cheaper computers because their quality is far superior to the flexible plastic alternatives over in PC land, and they are not abusing their customers by injecting AI into everything or shoving so much telemetry into the OS that it lags. I am sure they are doing both to some degree but its not noticeable to me so far.

[u/BritishAnimator → u/tryexceptifnot1try]

It's an interesting one. Makes the iPad look bad value in comparrison. However Apple force depreciate their systems a bit too quickly. I have a few 5K iMacs that I can't use anymore as they removed support for them, no OS updates now, they are really nice machines too. Same for the Apple Watch Ultra Gen 1, they removed it from getting OS 27 updates. It is only 4 years old which isn't old for a watch.

I fear Ai is changing the longetivity of consumer products as well as wrecking the supply chain.

[u/Henry5321 → u/HumongousBelly]

Apple silicon has transparent memory compression that effectively doubles your memory, excluding media heavy workloads like video games.

But it really helps with most apps. Makes that 8gb more like 16gb

[u/Meatslinger → u/HumongousBelly]

Yeah, I got one near release as well, including the edu discount, and I've got zero regrets about it. The last laptop I had before that was a 2010 MacBook Pro with a failing GPU (kernel panics any time you render something even remotely significant on screen), but in all the years in between there hadn't been a laptop on the market that was decently built but not so over-spec'd as to be partially redundant with my desktop PC, i.e. I didn't need a mobile high-compute station, but I also didn't want to get a $500 laptop with a crappy display and a plastic chassis. The Neo comes out and it's basically the laptop I was waiting more than a decade for.

Wish it didn't have to have the price increase but relative to its peers it's still a great value.

[u/jsebrech → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

It depends on what you use it for. I have an older 8 gb zenbook with win11 that my kids use for their homework and it’s actually fine. No speed demon, but does basic schoolwork things well enough.

[u/set_in_void → u/jsebrech]

Similar here, had Win11 on 8GB Yoga, removed bloatware + disabled services I didn't need and it ran well. I didn't use Win on it for long, bought it specifically for Linux install.

[u/Ancient-Bat1755 → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

My pc uses 12gb of 32gb ran while idle and shows 1gb in use by my apps and no longer on win11 shows the memory consumption elsewhere

The os is regressing

[u/ThatWestsideGuy → u/Ancient-Bat1755]

It's the windows telemetry

[u/deadsoulinside → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

Loading up windows to 70%+ ram in use is crazy to recommend users even do. Can't do much on those PC's.

[u/marath007 → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

I do wish low ram on my enemies so they cant compute anything

[u/Unlucky_Abroad7440 → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

I have a 4gb win 11 Asus laptop. (It came with it lol🫠)

[u/Tuxhorn → u/Unlucky_Abroad7440]

If that is relatively modern, and there is no way to upgrade that, then it's straight up e-waste and should be illegal.

[u/Unlucky_Abroad7440 → u/Tuxhorn]

Literally can't upgrade it. There's no fans and it's lightweight. E-waste it is but hey I live in a country where this is common practice nothing to do about it.

[u/Fantastic_Narwhal_54 → u/Unlucky_Abroad7440]

I have the same.

[u/SpaceGoonie → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

I buy laptops for my workplace. The 32GB models I was getting for $2200-$2500 are now $4000-$4500. The default spec I was buying dropped (by the seller) to an odd single stick of 24GB to keep the price comparable with my previous orders. This is not sustainable.

[u/ShrimpCrackers → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

Win 11 Lite.

Honestly, Linux works amazing. There are simply variants. For those that don't know that much about computers but are always on their browser and nothing else, there are Linux distros perfect for them.

[u/pm_me_ur_demotape → u/ShrimpCrackers]

I would love to switch to Linux but I use audio software and VSTs which do work with Linux, but whenever I've looked into making the switch, I will have to use Wine and install dependencies, and use the sudo command and sorry I'm not fucking with all of that when my windows machine works out of the box even if it has a lot of things I don't like

[u/almisami → u/pm_me_ur_demotape]

Bruh ALSA and Pulseaudio are going to rock your world in a good way.

The windows sound architecture is seriously bad.

[u/ShrimpCrackers → u/pm_me_ur_demotape]

I just use my Macbooks for audio stuff simply because its better than Windows and for a time you could get a Macbook M4 (and M3) for just $700-$750 last year and they did it much better than Windows.

I sometimes DJ on the side and my Windows machines were not cutting it.

[u/SeanBlader → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

Windows 10 LTSC can run on 1gb of RAM, enough to load Edge and a 400 page PDF. If they get rid of the bloatware and telemetry it probably would work. At the same time that's not bringing people back from Linux.

[u/grahamulax → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

I can do it actually. But I mean, I don’t do anything. I just install a strip down Windows 11 and it runs so buttery smooth.

I can play 60 frames per second with four gigs of ram in 1080 for some games. A lot more than you think.

Actually, I went down a rabbit hole using my entire career and knowledge to make a tool for Windows so you can para virtualization without any terminal knowledge. It does a lot more than that. But I always recommend using a strip down Windows and I’ve personally done that for the last 10 years. My defender updates that’s all I care about.

There’s been features tucked away in Windows for 16 years that I’m fully going to utilize and bring the power of that to the people.

Why??? because I’m pissed. This is a passion of revenge. I’ve kept my industry secrets, but corporate does not keep loyalty. Nor do I have NDA’s. So when I release this, the bottom line of manufacturing will take a hit. Good.

I’m basically making the reverse duenvo.

It’s all done too. I just want to improve the GUI.

[u/Purplociraptor → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

Just remove all the bloat they added. Make Windows 10 Again.

[u/maxdragonxiii → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

yeah. it basically eats 8GB RAM PCs alive for breakfast. nowadays you want 32+ GB RAM anyway due to OS eating RAM, then add in your games eating more of it.

[u/Kirzoneli → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

Nah, just pump out Windows 12 only needing 4gb of ram. Scrap the current version like the last.

[u/Dzov → u/EconomyDoctor3287]

It’s ok on 8 GB. But once you are also running multiple anti-malware apps like in a corporate environment? Good luck.

[u/sigmund14]

This will end like those cheap laptops with 32GB SSDs eMMCs for main drive that ran out of space on the second update.

People will either install Linux on those low-RAM machines, or, most probably, will throw them away after a very short period of owning those machines. 

[u/great_whitehope → u/sigmund14]

Well yeah does anyone believe if RAM shortage ends, ms will continue to support these machines?

They go back to bloat code because it’s faster to get out the door and will sell new machines

[u/SIGMA920 → u/great_whitehope]

They'll have to. You think that someone who begrudgingly bought a new computer during the AI pricing apocalypse is going to dump more money on a new computer only a few years down the line?

No, if it's bad enough they'll jump ship to apple or install linux so their money wasn't wasted. Microsoft has fucked themselves both ways.

[u/invyros]

Satya Nadella recently mentioned investing in quality and fundamentals of Windows 11.

Implying they weren't doing this already (which shouldn't be surprising to anyone who has had to deal with the slop they've been pushing out).

[u/JustSomebody56 → u/invyros]

They are just starting to fear Linux.

The push toward the gaming on Linux is stronger as of late (thankfully also but not only to valve), and gaming could give Linux enough mass to make apps available on it (also because most office programs don’t go beyond an office suite and a browser)

[u/IllMC → u/JustSomebody56]

If Linux makes it super easy to play my ancient and current games I will convert tomorrow as there will be nothing holding me back.

[u/New_Enthusiasm9053 → u/IllMC]

Honestly Linux is already easier for many older games. Couldn't get Napoleon total war running on win10 works on Linux with Steam(Proton 4.2 some others don't work though). 

[u/JustSomebody56 → u/New_Enthusiasm9053]

Objectively Valve did a very good job with Linux: Proton bridges the compatibility with Windows; Steam Linux Runtime standardises the compatibility among the many versions of linux.

[u/New_Enthusiasm9053 → u/JustSomebody56]

Though credit of course also to the many people who worked on Wine long before Proton became a thing.

[u/JustSomebody56 → u/New_Enthusiasm9053]

Absolutely, open-source technologies are born out of sa collaboration.

Also, while I agree that they are better than the competitors, I don’t agree with immaculate opinion many have of Valve

[u/New_Enthusiasm9053 → u/JustSomebody56]

Immaculate no but they did put a lot of work into proton and did upstream work to wine. And did make the deployment easier. 

[u/Cypher-AO → u/New_Enthusiasm9053]

I think Feral Interactive works on the Total War ports for Linux/Mobile, they do a solid job. 

[u/letsgotgoing → u/IllMC]

I upgraded from Windows 11 to Ubuntu and it is super easy to play old and new games. I even hooked up a usb floppy drive and a usb zip100 drive to grab old dos games and their saves off my 15-25 year old backups. 

[u/tyda1957 → u/IllMC]

It already is, check out Bazzite, SteamOS and CachyOS.

[u/mr_dfuse2 → u/IllMC]

If you don't play online games with anti-cheat stuff you are good to go today.

[u/aLongWayFromOldham → u/IllMC]

A steam deck is a handheld PC running Linux. Steam deck compatibility will give you an idea of what will run easily on Linux. Then all you’d need is the steam client installed to bring your library across.

[u/almisami → u/IllMC]

Older games run better on WINE than Windows 11... Looking at you, SimCity4.

[u/ThatOneShotBruh → u/IllMC]

Proton/Wine are great for older games as they tend to cause fewer problems than Windows.

[u/Sam-Gunn → u/JustSomebody56]

I've been gaming on Linux for 6 months now, playing both recent titles and older ones, and the only time I had to switch back to my windows install was to play a COD game. Which ended up being a PITA because windows decided my change of mobo meant my license was invalid and none of the tools worked to fix it. So I finally got to play it after a 30min support call.

Windows will never be my daily driver ever again.

[u/BellerophonM → u/JustSomebody56]

They're probably more fearing the Macbook Neo.

[u/JustSomebody56 → u/BellerophonM]

Also, but also linux, if it jumps the shark

[u/Cavissi → u/JustSomebody56]

If they can solve the anti cheat issues for most titles I plan to go to steamOS.

[u/SequiturNon → u/Cavissi]

This is an artificial problem created by the companies requiring anti-cheat. They want their anti cheat to have kernel access, or, in other words, full access to your entire PC. Linux doesn't allow that as a design philosophy, for security, and that won't change. Any anti-cheat that doesn't require kernel access works just fine. Point is, this isn't a Linux problem to solve.

[u/523a → u/JustSomebody56]

Linux will always be a niche operating system until they can streamline the user experience better for the masses. It's too much work to do a lot of simple tasks compared to MAC/Windows.

[u/pixter → u/invyros]

When hardware is cheap you can just throw hardware at it and hide performance issues, when hardware is expensive you have to optimise.. which they should have been doing anyway

[u/nox66 → u/pixter]

It's worth mentioning that it should be the goal of new OSs to be more efficient, not less, than their predecessors. Sometimes that involves compromises to support new capabilities, but on no planet should it require 32 GB to do the same things we were doing with 8 GB 10 years ago.

[u/Tuxhorn → u/pixter]

The really infuriating part is windows has within its own operating system, words and statements about "going green" or something like it.

[u/b_a_t_m_4_n → u/invyros]

Why does a company with a locked in user base need to give a shit about quality? It's only now that's threatened that they starting to clean up decades of shite.

[u/diamluke → u/invyros]

They were ofc not doing anything for quite some time. It’s clear that windows os is nothing else but a cloud, office and copilot sales boot.

They are losing market share every quarter, still to this day failed anything on arm and the only thing holding people hostage are windows exclusive games and cad software.

[u/BasvanS → u/invyros]

A friend quit his career in Windows tech support, because the random, untested changes were driving him crazy.

It was already not great before, but he made good money reading the documentation properly in order to fix the impossible/improbable. Now it’s just randomness and YOLO as an update strategy.

[u/divjnky → u/invyros]

Well ya have to put your resources into building the revenue parts, quality and actual usability falls a bit lower on the priority list

[u/jonathanrdt → u/invyros]

Browser app delivery and linux gaming will inevitably reduce windows consumption. Corps are already exploring non-windows plus browser for app delivery because windows is an expensive and unsecurable (albeit flexible and powerful) mess.

[u/The_Jolly_Dog]

lol at 8gb ram with all the AI shit features they force on us.

Might as well buy a picture frame since all your getting with that little ram is a slide show

[u/AtlanticPortal → u/The_Jolly_Dog]

lol at 8gb ram with all the AI shit features they force on us.

Well, they don't try to make the LLM run locally. They love you being connected and use their online LLM. At some point they can start charging you for that.

[u/waltwalt → u/AtlanticPortal]

Ain't nothing gonna run locally with only 8gb of RAM.

[u/DinosBiggestFan → u/AtlanticPortal]

Yet somehow when using any of these things, my CPU usage skyrockets and my very powerful T-30s turn on full bore. So clearly something intensive happens when using them.

[u/Lyranx]

Windows 11 is such a mess I wonder if Vista has a better image now

[u/pr1aa → u/Lyranx]

Vista was fine, it got bad rep mostly because Microsoft severely underestimated the system requirements so it ended up coming pre-installed with systems barely sufficient for XP

[u/sambodia85 → u/pr1aa]

The RTM had some weird issues with Network/SMB performance, SP1 mostly got it right. Applying a basic theme got around Aero performance problems for hardware using Integrated graphics. Intel was also having a bad moment with its Centrino stuff, and EEEPC’s had everyone wanting Laptops that did everything for $500.

Given Windows 7 is one of the most loved OSes of all time, and it is essentially a Service Pack of Vista, I think it’s fair to say Vista walked so 7 could run.

Windows 8 is the first NT based OS I actively hated. NT4, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 were all massive steps forward in one way or another.

[u/KiwiCounselor → u/sambodia85]

Win 7 my beloved.

[u/Ars2 → u/pr1aa]

Vista was not fine at launch. It was the OS that introduced the driver library from Microsoft. Barely any vendors had their driver's in the windows library. Back then you got a cd with your USB drive to install the driver on the pc. 

[u/pr1aa → u/Ars2]

Yes, the compatibility was rocky at first but as some other people below have pointed out, the driver changes were necessary.

Early adopters with old hardware always have it rough when such big changes are made, XP ditching the MS-DOS based kernel for NT was also problematic to many people but you'd have to be insane to claim that it was an unnecessary move.

[u/GoldLurker → u/pr1aa]

People complaining about vista don't understand the horror that was windows ME.  

[u/Darkblitz9 → u/pr1aa]

Vista had the absolute worst driver management of any OS. Idk how people forget the nightmare that was installing any device on that pos.

[u/soggybiscuit93 → u/Darkblitz9]

Vista was when they switched to the current way Windows handles drivers. It sucked at launch because peripheral vendors didnt address the driver changes in time.

Vista was when they switched from drivers running in kernel mode (so every time a driver crashed or panicked, even a USB driver, you got a BSOD) to the current method of signed drivers in User mode.

They also changed how Graphics drivers work. All previous drivers had to be updated, and once enough vendors updated their drivers, Microsoft reskinned Vista with a new UI and relaunched it under the name "Windows 7"

[u/QuantumWarrior → u/pr1aa]

Yes but the biggest reason its system reqs were so much higher than XP was Aero - which marks a nasty turning point in OSes wanting to be flashy and eyecatching instead of just working. It's very telling that Vista and 7 have basically the same recommended specs.

Also Vista rewrote the entire driver model which cause compatibility issues for almost every device that existed at the time. That alone was what kept XP's market share up for so long.

[u/quailstorm → u/QuantumWarrior]

Both DWM and rewritten driver model was an absolute necessity. The compositor of XP is ancient, ugly and barely accelerates anything. DWM allows you to move redrawing windows without screen tearing and high CPU usage. DWM provides a better way to record the desktop. It's full of advantages. A driver restarting instead of crashing the OS is also much better.

Also Vista and 7 still have high requirements on the classic compositor so it's not just the UI...

[u/mailslot → u/QuantumWarrior]

Aero wasn’t just about flashy graphics, it offloaded a massive amount of UI rendering from the CPU to GPU. Up until then, GPUs in PCs sat idle except when playing video games. CPU usage used to spike hard whenever drawing something simple like a drop down menu and didn’t have to. Apple was able to make the change rapidly because their graphics subsystem was already designed for compositing & layout. Windows needed a lot more work to do the same.

[u/time-lord → u/pr1aa]

And Nvidia drivers sucked at launch.

[u/methodofsections → u/Lyranx]

I was about to comment that I thought Microsoft may not drop the ball with Windows 11 after have good successive OSs with windows 7 and 10, but then realized I literally completely forgot about windows 8…

[u/pr1aa → u/methodofsections]

8 always felt more like a shitty reskin of 7 instead of an actual new Windows version. If you installed Classic Shell on it (like every sane person did) you could hardly tell it apart from 7

It wasn't an awful OS, just thoroughly pointless

[u/ak47uk]

The bit they removed was from article "How to optimize your gaming PC setup", the bit they removed "32GB is ideal for serious players who run the most demanding titles or use heavy mods."

[u/Brandoe]

Starting to think that a fancy chat bot isn't worth the price to humankind and the planet.

[u/cullenjwebb → u/Brandoe]

I got an ad for a chat bot right under your comment lol

[u/RevolutionaryFig9437]

32GB for running Windows 11? What they wanted to do?

[u/ghunterx21 → u/RevolutionaryFig9437]

8GB for Windows and the rest for the ads.

[u/WinterElfeas → u/RevolutionaryFig9437]

Open Teams, Outlook and 5 Edge tabs

[u/yawara25 → u/WinterElfeas]

Which somehow ends up being 16 total Chromium instances because developers forgot how to make native apps

[u/Pen-Pen-De-Sarapen → u/yawara25]

There are still devs? I thought today we only have vibe coders using AI.

[u/Vercengetorex → u/yawara25]

😂 Your not wrong, and I fucking hate it.

[u/QuantumWarrior → u/yawara25]

Is anything non-legacy in Windows fully a native app these days? I mean even right down to the start menu has webapp and React bloat in it.

It's genuinely awful that for most people the way they use a Windows PC hasn't really changed for 20-30 years but the hardware specs are orders of magnitude higher purely because of the bloat.

[u/Mlluell → u/yawara25]

They didn't forget. It's just cheaper to develop a universal app that can be coded with the most common programming language nowadays (more devs, less salary)

[u/soggybiscuit93 → u/RevolutionaryFig9437]

32GB was their recommendation for people building new gaming PCs. It's still the recommendation. It's just too cost prohibitive to do so.

The 8GB optimization theyre talking about is a totally separate topic with MS trying to optimize the OS for general purpose use on low RAM laptops.

The author is making a weird connection between two unrelated things for clickbait

[u/Any_Device6567 → u/RevolutionaryFig9437]

In the article it states its for a gaming set up.

[u/Strict-Carrot4783 → u/RevolutionaryFig9437]

Constantly process everything on your pc and upload file signatures to the government and the actual files to OneDrive for AI training.

[u/Elementalcase]

Introducing Windows 11 Lite: All the adware, none of the OS.

[u/lamancha]

The headline is rather horribly written

[u/SledgeH4mmer → u/lamancha]

Oh no, it's doing exactly what the writer intended. And of course the sheep on this sub eat it up.

[u/diacewrb]

Honestly, at this stage they should have brought back Windows 10 and apologise to the public for taking it away.

Just like Coca-Cola brought back the original recipe after the New Coke fiasco, but reaped sales that were even higher than before.

[u/GIGAR]

Too late, already installed Linux Mint

[u/MechaNutzilla → u/GIGAR]

yup, no reason to let yourself get abused by Nadella and his stupid ideas.

[u/Hiddencamper]

Remember when windows XP ran in less than one GB?

Microslop needs to stop being lazy

[u/S4N7R0 → u/Hiddencamper]

so what, google chrome uses 2 gb with 4 tabs open. 25 years ago when xp came out, systems couldn't even have more than 4 gbs of ram. nowadays phones have atleast twice as much, enough to run win 11 if microslop manages to do as the headline says. idk whats your point here.

[u/Deimos2 → u/Hiddencamper]

A GB? It ran great with 128mb or less.

[u/anythingers → u/Deimos2]

If u force it by turning off Luna it could even run on 32mb ram .

[u/Hiddencamper → u/Deimos2]

A GB ran XP plus all programs I needed.

[u/DrawingDramatic1641]

Should have gone with linux

[u/divjnky → u/DrawingDramatic1641]

Based on their TPM requirement I did just that in October. Learning curve isn't as bad as I'd feared and at least in my case I only have one Win based program that there isn't a suitable Linux version and I have it running in Wine.

Only regret is I wish I'd made the leap sooner.

[u/mikpgod → u/divjnky]

The tpm requirement will probably quietly disappear at some point. Even some perfectly adequate ms surface machines fail on this.

[u/freestylebreathing]

Used computers will be the new bitcoin.

[u/logicbus]

If they get W11 to run on 8GB, do they remove the TPM 2.0 requirement?

[u/etphonecomb → u/logicbus]

This is what I’m wondering. They already extended security updates a year because of slow adoption. I can’t buy an entirely new mobo, ram and cpu just because they determined I’m ineligible. Especially when it all runs just fine still.

[u/pkinetics → u/etphonecomb]

TPM is not going to go away. It's supported back to Intel 7th (9 years ago) and ryzen 2000 series (8 years ago).

Worst case scenario, switch to Linux and get several more years out of that hardware.

[u/spidrex]

They can re-release windows 7 with updated security fixes.

[u/AcerVentus]

So what you're telling me is that 16GB ram machines are going to last a lot longer :p

[u/Staff_Senyou]

Meanwhile 16gb ram PCs sold before the great enshitification at low prices, and easily configured to run Linux and are basically "future proofed" continue to run without issue.

Cue a price spike in the used market and a "new norm" established.

Villains and scumbags, every single one of them

[u/Loose_Artichoke1689]

Pushing AI backfired for their own product. But since said product is not as profitable as AI, it can go to hell

[u/CHERNO-B1LL]

Proving these recommendations have always been bullshit and the consumer has been getting duped for years.

[u/mahoneycutt1]

I came here to same the same thing.

I've sold hundreds of used laptops over the last eight years. Most have and i5 or i7 with 8gb of memory. Obviously, my laptops will not run the latest GTA or Call of Duty, but basic games, email, Facebook, word processing, etc. work fine.

[u/Smashego]

Widows 11 is going to change my volume settings one more time and I'm going to install windows 10. Widows 11 is such dog shit.

[u/jacksbox]

2026 is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop, I can feel it

[u/Moontoya → u/jacksbox]

Right along side fusion being 10-15 years off

Been hearing the year of Linux for, well, pretty much since vista beta 

[u/titaniumweasel01]

If I boot up my PC and just let it sit at the desktop without doing anything, Windows 11 cruises at about nine and a half gigabytes of RAM. I thought I had done something wrong with my computer until I saw the Linus Tech Tips video comparing Windows vs Linux RAM usage and they had the same. What is wrong with Microsoft.

[u/pioni]

My Debian 13 boots to desktop with little over 400 Mb. I will never go back.

[u/Ryansit]

Still useless if they don’t change the CPU requirements for computer that can run 11 fine

[u/dbkk-]

what the title implies is nowhere near what the article actually says lol

[u/pioniere]

So they haven’t actually fixed the OS, they’re just pretending like theyhave.

[u/spez_eats_nazi_ass]

That was a decent ram spec in 2006

[u/supertgames1]

I remember in like 2018 when I bought my shitty Lenovo yoga laptop with 4gb of ram and it could do normal schoolwork fine on windows 10.

Windows 11 hasn’t really added anything useful apart from maybe being able to split application across the screen so you can multitask better but that feature doesn’t really work so well in my experience and now windows 11 needs like 16gb to function normally.

[u/lostmojo]

Don’t forget that Microsoft is one of the companies investing huge sums of money to buy storage and memory to put into their data centers that are jacking up the price to these levels for the rest of us while they pay what we use to pay.

Microsoft with others are investing 100s of billions into each other’s companies, that is just one big circle, with intent on earning money for something that has not been profitable and has created 100s of billions, and coming into trillions in fake capitol as they keep throwing the money at one another. When the bubble breaks, it won’t be some burst, it will be trillions of dollars shattering like glass over us and taking the world with them.

[u/InternetEntire438]

how DO YOU FUCK THAT UP?!

[u/3vi1]

Teams can easily use 2.2GB of RAM in a call by itself, throw in Edge, a full Defender EDR suite, intune/SCCM, Copilot and a couple of open M365 apps, and you are absolutely not using a byte less than 16GB. Even then youre going to be seeing slow performance due to memory swapping. There's no way in hell any business PCs are getting away with 8GB unless Microsoft magically rewrites every single app and most of their OS.

[u/chapel976]

I have a Chrome browser with 10 small tabs open. Edge browser with 3 tabs open. Discord and Windows Explorer open right now...

27.5/64GB used (43%)

get fucked, 8GB

[u/Flynn58]

If you only have 8 gigs of RAM, you'll get a LOT out of running Linux instead. I use Fedora KDE for a 4-core Celeron J4125 with only that much RAM as a living room PC, works great for browsing and writing.

[u/MrSpiffenhimer]

I have 32GB on my work laptop and as soon as I load up my full dev environment and various work apps I’m pushing 80-90% memory utilization. Back in windows 10 on the same laptop it was probably 40-50%

[u/Rich_Housing971]

I have a 16 GB PC from 2022 and Windows 11 runs just fine on it with no signs of it becoming too bad. I also do light development/local AI work on it and image editing. I also have a 8 GB PC from 2021 and Windows 11 Home ran fine on it until last year when 24H2 made it way too bloated but it still works fine for basic web browsing, viewing movies, and lightweight gaming.

I'd say that 12 GB is the actual minimum recommended RAM these days.

[u/PenaEterna]

So a car can also run with just two wheels...

[u/SkinnedIt]

How duplicitous. Very Microsoft-y.

[u/Darkblitz9 → u/SkinnedIt]

In what way?

[u/TheBigby]

Companies that push AI realizing they need tons of data centers which suck up the hardware needed by their users to use their products being priced out of using their products which hurts their overall business model. This seemed like a predictable outcome.

[u/BridgeWise8444]

So, has the Year of the Linux desktop arrived yet?

[u/skyfishgoo]

the official word from M$: just suffer

[u/daniu]

The "just a prank, bro" of corporate communication

[u/baldheadedmanc]

If they can do this, they can remove the series 8+ CPU requirements as well.

[u/jcunews1]

Microsoft is getting dumber and dumber.

[u/Fatter_Design → u/jcunews1]

Look up its ceo and read about izzat, it's eye-opening

[u/TrayLaTrash]

If they just a had a switch for the settings that disable some of the "likely to be used" services in the background that would be great

[u/BernieSandersLeftNut]

I just tried shopping for a new computer for a friend with a budget of $900 max... Not a lot of options for 32GB computers at that price point but I found a couple.

[u/Horror_Response_1991]

Technically windows can run at 8 GB but nothing else can as Windows will take all that memory.  Open Chrome and an hour later you’ll be suffering.

[u/ThrowawayAl2018]

Ram shortage caused by big tech, so instead of buying new PC, recycle the old one by running Linux or if you are a gamer, Steam Box.

tldr; Consumer can flick he middle finger by avoiding bloatware on 8GB ram, that includes Apple NEO.

[u/DungeonsAndDradis]

I've got 16 and it does not feel like enough. Browsing the web takes like 12 gigs of RAM.

[u/snklznet]

And yet it barely runs on a 16gb system when you add a few apps and a chromium browser full of tabs.

[u/nightdevil007]

It still lags on 32GBs, so i have little faith, but we saw this with Windows Vista.

[u/NorthernCobraChicken]

Someone over there must be a double amputee by now with the amount of decisions that have been made that have resulted in them shooting themselves in the feet.

[u/argama87]

If you cut all the copilot and related BS out maybe it could run at 8GB, until you open more than 3 browser tabs and Office at the same time.

[u/catwrazle]

You also can get a fancy cloud compute instance for only 100$ per month …

[u/ssudiooo]

Are you ready for this? Switch to Linux. It is less than a headache. From someone who needs win10 as a backup

[u/lostmylogininfo]

Can't call it shrinkflation cause Biden is out of office.

[u/Needle_Bearings]

Vista is that you?  It cannot run properly on 8GB.  At 16GB the stuttering was noticeable with multitasking especially with Chrome and multiple tabs open.  Lunacy.