Should just use Linux, tbh.
I use artix Linux with hyprland WM. System uses 384mb of ram on idle.
Edit: Even with extreme debloat you can’t get this performance on windows.
I’m sorry but low RAM usage is not good performance, those are not the same.
Also, I’ve read somewhere that all memory not in use is wasted memory. I find that thought really interesting. If an operating system would be able to always maximize RAM usage by loading every peace of software and information it uses or is about to use without using swap or a pagefile it shoud be more responsive I think.
linux is caching a lot, if there’s enough RAM. you can see it in the output of the “free” command.
however, nothing stops you from moving all the stuff you frequently use to a ramdisk. it’s just uncomfortable copying it over and refreshing it as updates come in. also you may want to persist some files.
personally i have my shader caches on a ramdisk on some of my boxes. the gains are minimal.
however, nothing stops you from moving all the stuff you frequently use to a ramdisk.
mount /dev/vg-ssd/lv-usr /usr
But do it during install or you have to go behind and remove the eclipsed install stuff after.
And don’t do it on systemd-afflicted systems as lennart’s cancer makes that harder because he couldn’t figure out why a /usr directory was useful and he ditched it. Dunning-kruger says what?
Windows and Linux both heavily use RAM caching, that is, using Unused RAM as a massive disk cache to improve performance - a lot of Windows processes that are “running” are really idling in RAM and not doing anything unless called on. In a way, they’re “cached”. Because it is a read cache, it can be dismissed immediately to make room when needed.
Almost every problem with Windows running slow out of the box are one of three things:
1: Not enough RAM (stupid super cheap 4-8GB laptops)
2: Not enough storage (stupid super cheap 32-128GB laptops)
3: Installed on a hard drive (install Windows to an SSD, spinny bois are too slow for 2024)
It is true Windows 11 asks for about 5GB RAM, but what else does? Your web browser. The solution is to not be cheap and have at least 16GB RAM, regardless of your OS. You want to have no more than half your RAM used when you’re using your PC. This gives you enough for programs, the disk cache, and room to grow.
If you don’t play game,I see no reason to need more than 8GB of RAM. My computer is running very quickly with 8GB, even if I am photo editing on one screen while watching videos on the second, with a few softwares and even a VM opened in the background.
But I don’t use Windows.
I have a tablet with 8GB RAM… it feels constrained even though I’m running Mint Xfce with an idle memory usage of ~550MB. You may have grown used to the performance limitations.