When someone has an old PC and it starts malfunctioning, many of us recommend installing Linux. The reason is very simple: there are distributions of all kinds, and many of them consume very few resources. It's likely that very soon, faced with a recommendation like this, someone will wonder why or raise objections, and the culprit will be... Ubuntu 26.04Canonical already posted Part of the release notes and minimum requirements will surprise more than one person.
The required processor will be a 2GHz dual-core, and the storage remains at 25GB. This hasn't changed, but the recommended memory should have a minimum of 6GB of RAMWhat stands out are those 6GB of RAM, especially if we go to the Microsoft support page And we see that Windows 11 only requires 4GB. What's going on? Will Ubuntu 26.04 require a major effort to migrate?
Minimum requirements for Ubuntu 26.04: a recommendation only
We didn't want to do a clickbait with the headline, and we had already mentioned an important detail. What Canonical does is basically say «Look: for an optimal experience, it's best if your PC has at least 6GB of RAM"What it doesn't directly explain is that It is a recommendation, not an obligation.
Compared to Windows 11, I managed to install it on an old laptop with 4GB of RAM, which is what Microsoft requires, and it was incredibly slow, infuriating. On the same machine, Ubuntu 22.04 didn't run like a dream, but it did run decently. And Ubuntu hasn't changed much in these four years.
The difference between Windows 11's 4GB of RAM and Ubuntu's 6GB is that Windows will refuse to install if it detects less RAM, while Ubuntu 26.04 will install without issue, provided there isn't so little RAM available that the installation fails.
History of Ubuntu's minimum requirements
In Ubuntu 14.04, Canonical began requiring 1GB of RAM, up from the 512MB required by Ubuntu 12.04 (surprising, considering it was based on Unity). By 18.04, the requirement had increased to 4GB, a minimum that remains the same as the latest stable release (25.10), but this minimum will rise to 6GB this month.
While it might seem unsettling, this recommendation is made in good faith. They're telling us, or promising us, that if we follow it, we'll have a smooth-running system, unlike Microsoft. Furthermore, unlike the Redmond company and Apple, and as we've explained, it will be possible to install it on computers that don't meet that requirement, leaving the decision of whether or not to use the product up to the end user.
If a system isn't performing as expected, there are much lighter official distributions, with Kubuntu being one of the best options due to its feature-rich yet lightweight desktop environment. If that doesn't work well either, Xubuntu or Lubuntu should be the solution.
Ubuntu 26.04 will arrive on April 23rd, with Linux 7.0 and GNOME 50 as its main new features. Don't be alarmed by the 6GB size; nothing has actually changed.