How much RAM will 14.04 need?

Question

How much RAM would Ubuntu 14.04 need?

(Usage: A bit of pictureprocessing, maybe an IP-Camera Stream, ordinary officework, simplecv, some Torrentdownloading).

Is 4GB or 8GB better suited for me?

Solution

Min specs are posted here - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/SystemRequirements

I've always installed as much as possible, but a Linux OS is much lighter than Windows. 4GB would be more than enough for your purpose.

Ubuntu requires 512MB or more :)

I personally recommend you buy/install 8GB+ within your budget as it wouldn't be wasted. You never know what you'll be using the pc for in a few years time.

Comments

[Admin]

I'd say 4 GB is enough, but it depends on what you mean but picture processing (are you planning to process big RAW files or just remove red eyes on jpegs ?). Also consider that RAM is quite cheap nowdays, maybe 8GB is a safe bet for not much more money.

[Admin]

Around 60$ for 4GB 110$ for 8GB. The hungry thing would probably be the videostream.

[Admin]

Do you mean 12.04 or 14.04? Anyway Ubuntu(or any Linux OS) would only require few hundred MBs of RAM to run, it's the Applications that require lot more RAM. For daily web use and simple word processing, 2GB is enough. But if you want to play heavy games or do video editing or 3d animation, you would require lot more RAM.

[Admin]

@RegisteredUser "A lot more" how much more?

[Admin]

@karel Then, it's off-topic, no? Each application will have its own requirements. Otherwise, I just responded to the initial question of "How much RAM?"...