TECH NEWS – Microsoft could drive demand for memory if that’s the minimum for its AI-powered PCs and Copilot.

Eight gigs of RAM isn’t enough these days: there’s no 32-bit version of Windows 11, so four gigs or less won’t even install, or if it does, opening about one program will crash the whole thing. You can easily load 8 gigs if you have a RAM-hogging browser (like Google Chrome, or even Mozilla Firefox, you might say) running in the background, especially if you have a lot of tabs open (no shame in admitting it).

TrendForce reports that Microsoft has increased the base memory requirement in AI machines to 16GB, so those who only have 8GB will certainly need to upgrade to take advantage of the latest Copilot features. This is good news for DRAM vendors, and it’s time to admit that 8GB has been the base amount in a new machine for quite some time, and anyone playing anything other than light (less machine-intensive) indie titles can’t go below 16GB, and in the case of Windows 10/11, a few basic programs and a few browser tabs will eat up 8 in no time.

At the moment, DDR4 and even DDR5 RAM is cheap, but not for long as DRAM manufacturers are cutting back, so after SSDs there will be a price increase in this area, but you won’t be asked for two kidneys for 8 gigabytes of memory. For laptops, the upgrade isn’t so easy, because if the memory is welded to the motherboard as standard, there’s no way to disassemble the machine to put a stick in the empty slot.

Let’s not forget that technology evolves. In 2004, even 2 GB of RAM in a desktop machine was not very common, and 512 MB (!) was common back then. Where is Bill Gates’ old saying that 640 KB (a kilobyte is 1/1048576th of a gigabyte!) is enough?

Source: PCGamer