Is 512 MB of RAM about all a home user could need?

[Lster]

On Windows I think 1GB is about right for most people; Ubuntu only really needs 512MB (maybe less) to act speedy. Windows really eats memory with an anti-virus and a couple more programs.

One thing I think you do need A LOT of memory for is Java applications... NetBeans and OpenOffice (is in that Java?) are 100MB (on Windows)!

[urukrama]

I only have 256 MB of RAM (all my laptop can take), but it works fine for everything I need to do. I mainly use my laptop for text processing (OpenOffice.org), music, some fairly light image editing, the occasional video/dvd, browsing the internet and email. Xubuntu runs faster, but even with Gnome I very rarely get into trouble.

[ButteBlues]

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           503        487         16          0         11        144
-/+ buffers/cache:        331        172
Swap:         1537         64       1473

[urukrama]

OpenOffice (is in that Java?) are 100MB (on Windows)!

OpenOffice does use Java, but you can turn it off easily. I never use it, and it makes OO a bit lighter.

[jotagab]

512MB is enough for a home user. I usually have Firefox, xmms, nautilus, teminal and some PDF viewer opened permanently, and the active memory stays around 300MB. Even when using gimp, Eclipse or OpenOffice it doesn't reach 512MB.
Some notes for notebook users (like myself): having the video memory shared with the main memory will reduce the available memory for the OS (duh...), and a slow hard disk (like the 4200rpm that I have ) will show its ugly performance if you go above 512MB and your machine starts to swap.

[Lord Illidan]

I have 512 mb of RAM and it serves me quite well. I use Beryl, and play the odd game of Quake 4 on it...probably I might upgrade to 1 gig ddr2 to play q4 in ultrahigh...

still frustrating that the app which hoggs the most ram is firefox, though.

[darkhatter]

still frustrating that the app which hoggs the most ram is firefox, though.

lol I know

[manicka]

Like a lot of others, 512mb is all I have and it suits my needs well

[Klaidas]

640K should be... nevermind
Ok, as I have 512RAM myself, I think it's not enough for an average user. In Ubuntu, if you're just playing music and browsing firefox with <5 tabs open, you're OK. But in general, if you will try using such things as Adobe Soundbooth under Windows, or the common Photoshop, you're out of luck And I'm not even talking about Vista yet!

As of know, I'd recommend no less than 1GB.

[SoloSalsa]

On a related subject, can anyone tell me why RAM is so INCREDIBLY high currently? It's at least three times higher at long discount than it was about eighteen months ago.

The obvious answer I think of is the preparation for Vista. That, and for about three quarters, the industry has been migrating twards DDR2 (with graphics at GDDR3!). For whatever reason, both types (DDR1 and DDR2) cost more now. Some RAM that was forty dollars on Newegg half a year ago is now at fifty.