this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2025
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Uh... yes?
Spotify memory usage: 450MB
Rhythmbox memory usage: 95MB
A browser is one of the most complicated applications commonly running on a computer; its code is massive before you load in the mountains of javascript. Also that is measured by RSS - the difference is even starker when you bear in mind that of the 50MB that rhythmbox might be sharing with other processes, most of it probably is being, because a lot will be graphical toolkits used by other programs. Spotify has a smaller fraction, at about 130MB, and god knows what it's pulling in and is able to share with e.g. the main browser process.
RAM is only not expensive in desktops. In laptops, getting more RAM almost always means getting a higher-tier laptop in other ways which adds a lot to the price.
Spotify is not a browser, it's an app.
That's only true if you buy soldered RAM. Don't do that.
It for a fact uses CEF: https://www.spotify.com/us/opensource/
Chromium Embedded Framework literally describes itself as follows on its Git repos: "Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). A simple framework for embedding Chromium-based browsers in other applications."
The Spotify "app" is mostly just web app code running on top of a single page Chromium instance, meaning for the most part, it isn't truly native.
And takes more resources than a tab because it doesn't share them, it has its own copy.
We are talking about PWAs?
My point, exactly.
So those require what is effectively a web browser to run them - do you know what the "WA" in "PWA" stands for?
None of this goes against the fact that I went and checked for you and indeed the Spotify app takes about 5x as much RAM as the native app. Do you want to, I don't know, give a hint of recognition that you erred in some way?
BTW when I replied you hadn't edited your post. I'm getting to get the laptop that suits my needs, not yours. You said RAM is only expensive if you're "dumb enough to buy a Mac" and now you've retreated to, "or any of the hundreds of non-Apple laptops with soldered RAM."
I mean, it's OK and good to adapt your position as you come to new realisations, but if you continue to do it this gracelessly, I will just block you because it's annoying and there's no reason to put up with it.
You keep referring to "the Spotify app". That is not a web app. That is a native app. If you're referring to the Spotify web app, you should identify it as such so I don't have to guess and then you get all worked up about it.
I don't have any needs. I bought 32GB of socketed RAM dirt cheap and slapped it in.
It sounds like you need more RAM, and it sounds like you don't want to spend the money to buy more RAM. The only way to get that is to buy a laptop with socketed RAM. So do you need it or not? What you said is "RAM is expensive", which is factually incorrect. The only reason they're able to jack up RAM prices on laptops is because they solder it to the board, thereby ensuring that you cannot buy inexpensive RAM, and then people like you continue buying them.
The Spotify app is a "native" app that includes the Chromium Embedded Framework. The actual app that Chromium renders is the exact same web-app that appears in a standalone browser.
I'm not going to respond to the rest, or anything else you reply with, because you can't find it within yourself to cough up anything remotely resembling the statement "I was wrong." Yeah, maybe it doesn't feel great, but it's a necessary part of holding conversations.
Because I wasn't wrong. You've provided nothing that suggests otherwise.