Hey everyone! I'm looking to dual boot Linux alongside Windows on my laptop using a USB flash drive. Here are my specs: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon Graphics (3.20 GHz) and 16GB of RAM. I mostly use my laptop for general tasks. How much RAM and storage do I actually need for this setup? Thanks for your help and have a great day!
3 Answers
RAM isn't a concern since you won't be booting both systems at the same time. As for storage, Linux doesn't typically take up much space. I've got a setup with 240GB, and it works well for dual booting Windows and Linux. Think about what you'll do: if you're gaming a lot, you might need more room, but casual browsing will require less.
You won't need any extra RAM for dual booting since you're only using one OS at any given time. 16GB is more than enough! If you're just testing out Linux from a live USB, any decent USB drive will do. But if you're planning to install it, make sure you have enough disk space for that—preferably separate drives to keep your Windows installation safe, though you can also partition a single drive if needed.
Your 16GB RAM is totally sufficient! For your USB, a thumb drive of about 4-8 GB should be good for running a live version of Linux.
Thanks for the insight! Is there a specific Linux distro you'd recommend that works well for dual booting?