How much RAM do you need to run smoothly on Windows PCs? The answer depends on what you do with the computer. Several tasks, or gaming and video editing, need RAM.
Each version of Windows comes with a list of minimum and recommended system requirements. Microsoft currently recommends 4GB of RAM as the minimum system requirement for Windows 11. Of course you can install the OS on systems with less memory, but you're bound to experience performance issues.
Microsoft's next version of Windows, which may be called Windows 12 (or whatever it's called anyway), will focus on artificial intelligence. So a new publication states that the minimum RAM requirement of these AI computers may be as low as 16GB. In other words, four times the RAM from one version to another.
The information comes from research firm Trendforce. The company he says:
“Microsoft has set the benchmark for DRAM in AI computing at 16GB. In the long term, TrendForce predicts that AI computing will demand an increase in annual expected PC DRAM bits, with consumer upgrade trends further fueling this demand.”
According to Trendforce, AI computers will require at least 16 gigabytes of RAM. Although the company doesn't mention Windows specifically, Microsoft is said to release Windows AI PCs as early as this year. In fact, Microsoft's upcoming Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10 devices could be the first computers with AI.
Trendforce reveals another interesting hardware requirement. NPUs, Neural Processing Units, should meet the 40 TOPS requirement. TOPS, which stands for Trillions of Operations Per Second, is a performance metric. The latest silicon, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite, AMD's Strix Point and Intel's Lunar Lake platforms, can top 40 TOPS according to the article.
The requirement for a fast NPU on Windows AI systems will again limit upgradeability. When Microsoft released Windows 11, it changed the system requirements and blocked hundreds of millions of Windows devices from upgrading to the new version.
As Windows AI PCs begin to roll out, they are rumored to bring additional changes to system requirements. So we will have to wait for the "cold" that many experienced with the Windows 11 hardware scams.
The road to Linux is a one-way road with no return, so if I have to build a Gaming machine to go through the accounting of my shop, I'm sorry Microsfot, you're too young to deal with windows 2024 and then I changed the category to Mind Linux Mint 21.3, we had a good time we will continue with functionals that deal with small boxes and without as many rights as you want
The previous comment is absolutely correct.
They are overinflating them as usual to get people busy with new upgrades….
There is no office PC with 16gb ram...so these are midsummer night's dreams.
And even those who deal with gaming and heavy applications have a problem loading their system with such heavy windows. They will wait for the light versions or they will install Linux or they will stay at 11 until the new ones mature and the requirements "fall"!
Whatever requirements the upcoming Windows 12 has, Microsoft itself will give the instructions to bypass them on older PCs... Just like it did with Windows 11. I don't think it's in its best interest for the millions of PCs that will be left out to put Linux.