[Lucas89]

I'm just going to assume that by programming you mean learning a low level language like C++ or something along those lines.

RAM won't be much of an issue since you only need to look at text, and compile code into an executable.

A lot of programmers actually prefer lower spec machines (or at least i do, and the programmers that i have spoken to do), since if you can get your program up and running at a decent speed on a low spec machine then chances are it will work fine on a higher spec machine.

Also if you are just starting out programming (I'm assuming here that you are only just learning) you won't need all that much power while you learn, since you will be going through the whole "Hello World" programs and text based programs to start with, along with learning about what Object Oriented Programming actually is, what classes are, dynamic memory, arrays and all the other fun stuff that comes with programming.

What kind of programs are you planning on making as your goal and which language are you learning?