Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-24/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Andrew E. Freedman Social Links Navigation Senior Editor Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net . You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01
S58_is_the_goat Microsoft: due to unprecedented memory demand we are bringing back Windows XP which only needs 64MB of ram… Reply
ezst036 S58_is_the_goat said: Microsoft: due to unprecedented memory demand we are bringing back Windows XP which only needs 64MB of ram… The further away from WinXP that Microsoft gets, the lower their marketshare keeps going. If I ran Microsoft I'd be telling every employee WinXP forever bros. But whatever. This 8GB future is bad for Windows and all of that hulking bloat, it's great for Linux though. Even MacOS can weather this storm. Reply
Gururu Despite the silver lining of Win actually becoming leaner for this, what does this mean for future AAA games? Can an 8GB PC with a 5090 hang in there? Reply
PEnns A few weeks ago I found myself helping a friend of a friend. His new laptop (running Windows 11!) had a 64 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM … (this should be truly VERY illegal!!) His SSD was 95% full from Windows alone!! I was really surprised it hadn't devoured the whole SSD! I had to move the Windows Page File to an external drive (that I had him buy) so he can at least look at his email or use Discord (his crappy company's email / chat system….). Now he has about 8 gig free space on his C Drive….but 1,8 GB externally. Insane!! Reply
CParsons Unlike some of my colleagues, I still believe 8GB of memory is workable for the right people (To be clear, it's not the route I would go). That's people who mostly use a web browser and light apps, don't use many tabs, and mostly do one or two things at a time. They do exist, and they should have options other than paying $1,500 for 16GB of RAM. We've seen that macOS can largely handle a premium-feeling experience with 8GB (and will hopefully move to 12GB with its next chip upgrade), so now it will be the Windows world's turn to prove the same. That's the difference for me though. I'd be comfortable suggesting a MacBook Neo to juuust about anyone, I wouldn't be comfortable suggesting an 8GB Windows laptop to hardly anyone. Reply
usertests I picked up a laptop with 8 GB for around $200. But it also had an empty DDR4 SODIMM slot, so I added 32 GB for around $120. I'm honestly surprised you can find used 32 GB 3200 MT/s sticks in the $115-130 range right this moment, but they are out there. Reply
VizzieTheViz Gururu said: Despite the silver lining of Win actually becoming leaner for this, what does this mean for future AAA games? Can an 8GB PC with a 5090 hang in there? Yeah cause the person buying a 3K+ gpu will only have enough money left for 8GB RAM. This is looking for problems where there really are none. Reply
hotaru251 Microsoft now lists 16GB RAM as the baseline for Windows 11 gaming PCs, while 32GB is described as the safer upgrade for users who keep more apps open while gaming. The recommendation appears in Microsoft’s Windows Learning Center guide for gaming PCs. Source: VideoCardz.com https://videocardz.com/newz/microsoft-puts-16gb-ram-as-baseline-and-32gb-as-no-worries-for-gaming-pcs contrary to prior MS statement saying 8 was too little 8gb ram on a modern device is not worth it. windows is too heavy an OS for that and running anything more than just light browsing of web. Reply
SkyBill40 Gururu said: Despite the silver lining of Win actually becoming leaner for this, what does this mean for future AAA games? Can an 8GB PC with a 5090 hang in there? There's no way your face was straight while you typed that. ZERO chance. Reply
derekullo PEnns said: A few weeks ago I found myself helping a friend of a friend. His new laptop (running Windows 11!) had a 64 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM … (this should be truly VERY illegal!!) His SSD was 95% full from Windows alone!! I was really surprised it hadn't devoured the whole SSD! I had to move the Windows Page File to an external drive (that I had him buy) so he can at least look at his email or use Discord (his crappy company's email / chat system….). Now he has about 8 gig free space on his C Drive….but 1,8 GB externally. Insane!! During my college days back in 2007 or so i had an Asus EEE with a 8 gigabyte ssd and 1 gigabyte of DDR2. I had to install WoW and other programs on to a 32 gigabyte SDHC card! It's 7 inch screen fit into some of my baggy pants! If his laptop has a similar SD reader setup it could be a more elegant solution than carrying around an external drive. SDHC has come a long way with the highest SD Express standard delivering nvme like speeds!!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SD_card#Bus_marks Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/8gb-of-ram-is-back-on-laptops-companies-are-lowering-memory-offerings-to-make-affordable-notebooks-during-component-crisis#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/subscription
- Save $550 on this 4K-ready gaming PC with a 9800X3D and RX 9070 XT, now just $1,749 — huge discount makes this the cheapest PC with these specs on sale right no
- Seoul Purpose: How NVIDIA and South Korea Are Building the Future of AI
- The Name’s Gaming … Cloud Gaming: ‘007 First Light’ Launches on GeForce NOW
- Tom's Hardware Unfiltered: Computex 2026, Day 4 — the B2B shift, and we say farewell to Taipei
- Jensen Huang says 'every edge device will become autonomous' — Nvidia maps one computing pattern from the cloud to robotics
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.