Canonical Bumps Ubuntu 26.04 LTS's System Requirements, Now Asks for 6GB of RAM
Jump from a 4GB minimum requirement comes at a time when RAM prices are skyrocketing thanks to the AI bubble's insatiable demand.
Canonical has announced a change to the minimum system requirements for its popular Debian-derived Ubuntu Linux distribution, to take effect with the upcoming Ubuntu 26.04 Long Term Support (LTS) release codenamed "Resolute Raccoon:" you'll now need at least 6GB of RAM.
"Ubuntu Desktop 26.04 LTS requires a 2GHz dual-core processor or better, a minimum of 6GB RAM and 25 GB of free hard drive space," Canonical writes in its release notes for the next Long Term Support variant of Ubuntu Linux, due to launch on 23 April. "Requirements for Ubuntu Server 26.04 LTS scale with your specific use case, starting as low as 1.5 GB RAM and 4 GB of hard drive space."
Brought to our attention by OMG Ubuntu, the quietly-updated system requirements represent the first change in system requirements since 2019 when Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, codenamed "Bionic Beaver," went from requiring 2GB of RAM to 4GB of RAM — and prior to that the release of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS in 2018 was the first big jump in memory requirement since Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahir" bumped the 384MB minimum required to Ubunbu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" to 1GB.
The need for more RAM comes at a bad time for consumers: the ongoing inflation of the artificial intelligence (AI) bubble has seen memory component prices skyrocket, with some consumer-facing products like the Raspberry Pi 5 16GB near-tripling in the months since November. With shortages now expanding to other types of memory, including non-volatile solid-state storage, it's a situation that's unlikely to improve in the near future — and means that a system that was perfectly acceptable for earlier versions of Ubuntu Linux may not run the next version quite as well.
The jump to 6GB puts Ubuntu 26.04 in a higher category of device than Microsoft's Windows 11, which is officially supported on a two-or-more core 64-bit system running at 1GHz and with at least 4GB of RAM — though Ubuntu requires only 25GB of storage to Windows 11's 64GB. Apple's macOS 11 "Big Sur," meanwhile, requires 8GB of RAM.
Those with just 4GB of RAM in their system — which, in Canonical's defense, is a minority of users in 2026 — can skirt the new requirements by installing Ubuntu 26.04 Server LTS and installing a lightweight desktop environment on top, dropping the RAM needed to as little as 1.5GB. If you plan to run a modern browser, though, you'll soon find yourself needing 8GB or more — unless you're happy with keeping only a single tab open at a time.
More information is available on the Ubuntu website; Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is due to launch on 23 April this year.