Comment 142 for bug 1572801

I'm using Gnome Ubuntu 17.04 (kernel 4.10.0-20-generic, 6GB of total RAM) and have the same problem. System boots with 1.2GB and soon reaches 50% of used RAM, with 2 or 3 firefox tabs open. I've tested Ubuntu Mate 16.10 and although the initial RAM was lower than Gnome, it was still a little high for Mate (around 800MB). Kubuntu was worst for me, with a very sluggish system just with a open browser.

I also use Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop, and after booting with lots of programs (dropbox, redshift, conky and some custom scripts), the system barely touches 800MB. I have to open firefox, atom, and a windows 7 virtual machine to pass 50% of RAM use.