Kali Linux is a Debian based Linux distribution with Xfce desktop environment designed for digital forensics and pentesting. It was developed by two employees of Offensive Security by rewriting BackTrack, their previous Linux distribution for penetration testing and digital forensics based on Knoppix. Kali Linux is funded and maintained with updates by the U.S. company Offensive Security. Kali Linux is especially popular because it contains over 500 pre-installed tools including Metasploit, Nmap, Wireshark, John the Ripper, Aircrack-ng and many more.
Performance: Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 - Max. 64 GB RAM
Display: 14" FHD 1920x1080 @60Hz
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Storage: Max. 1x M.2 PCIe SSD
Mobility: Battery up to 7 hours - 1.4 kg
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$512.76 ($512.76 Excl. VAT)
Performance: Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 - Max. 64 GB RAM
Display: 15.6" FHD 1920x1080 @60Hz
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Storage: Max. 1x M.2 PCIe SSD - 1x 2.5" SSD/HDD
Mobility: Battery up to 7 hours - 1.8 kg
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$521.79 ($521.79 Excl. VAT)
Performance: Intel Core i5 or i7 - Max. 64 GB RAM
Display: 15.6-inch FHD 1920x1080 @60Hz
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Storage: Max. 2x PCIe Gen4x4 SSD
Mobility: 10 to 14 hours battery life - 1.74 kg
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$742.06 ($742.06 Excl. VAT)
Performance: Intel or AMD - Max. 96 GB DDR5 RAM
Display: 14" 2880×1800 @120Hz 100% sRGB
Graphics: Intel Arc or AMD Radeon Graphics
Storage: Max. 2x M.2 PCIe SSD
Mobility: 14" - battery up to 7 hours - 1.4 kg
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$802.54 ($802.54 Excl. VAT)
Performance: Intel or AMD - Max. 96 GB DDR5 RAM
Display: 15.3" 2560x1600 @240Hz 100% sRGB
Graphics: Intel Arc or AMD Radeon Graphics
Storage: Max. 2x M.2 PCIe SSD
Mobility: battery up to 8 hours - 1.6 kg
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$837.74 ($837.74 Excl. VAT)
Performance: AMD Ryzen 7 - Max. 96GB DDR5 RAM
Display: 15.3" 2560x1600 @120Hz 100% sRGB
Graphics: Max. NVIDIA GeForce RTX-4060
Storage: Max. 2x M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Mobility: 15.3" - battery up to 6 hours - 2.1 kg
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$1,153.70 ($1,153.70 Excl. VAT)
Performance: Intel Core i9 - Max. 96GB DDR5 RAM
Display: 15.3" 2560x1600 @240Hz 100% sRGB 500nits
Graphics: Max. NVIDIA GeForce RTX-4070
Storage: Max. 2x M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Mobility: 15.3" - battery up to 7 hours - 2.1 kg
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$1,559.94 ($1,559.94 Excl. VAT)
Kali Linux is the best choice for almost every (ethical) hacker. Kali is a toolkit overloaded with advanced tools for penetration testing and digital forensics. These include tools for information gathering, social engineering, sniffing and spoofing, password cracking, vulnerability analysis, wireless network attacks and much more. Since the American TV series Mr. Robot aired, the popularity of Kali Linux has grown enormously. The show included John the Ripper, Metasploit, nmap and Shellshock.
Offensive Security, the publisher of Kali Linux offers ethical hackers the opportunity to get certifications including: OSWE, OSCP, OSCE, OSWP, OSEE and KLCP. For a fee, students are given access to teaching materials, practical examples and the exam. Kali Linux can be used as live OS on a USB stick, can be used as VM with e.g. Virtual Box and is available in 32, 64-bit and ARM version for laptops, desktops and ARM devices. Even if you are an inexperienced Linux or Kali user you can find plenty of documentation in their own Wiki, including a comprehensive installation manual and information about using various security tools in Kali.
This is what Offensive Security calls the minimum and recommended system requirements for using Kali Linux 2024. Xfce version (source). Please note that this refers to physical installations and not virtual installations.
