After upgrading my kernel to the 4.4.0-24 version, offered by the Software Updater, I noticed that my ram usage went up by approximately 200 MB, comparing to the 4.4.0-22. My computer is a Dell Inspiron N5110 with i3 2330 processor and 4 GB of ram.
Did anyone else notice ram increase after this upgrade?
No, I checked the memory usage right after logging in Ubuntu Mate, without running any additional program. 
Btw, Firefox sometimes uses A LOT of memory, but still much less when compared to Chrome or Chromium.
How did you upgrade just the kernel?
Kernel ram usage can take some understanding.
The kernel upgrade was offered with the other system updates. I used the terminal and the upgrade and dist-upgrade commands.
I understand that the kernel needs to use some memory. What I don’t understand is the increase from about 380 MB to 580 MB, after upgrading the kernel. The programs that run on startup don’t seem to use more memory after the upgrade, so I suppose that it is the kernel that uses the extra memory.
Dist-upgrade will indeed upgrade the kernel, but it will also upgrade all available packages. Revert to previous kernel and check ram usage. To me, 200meg would be nothing to be concern about, could just be a kernel module. You could look at the change logs for clues.
And I do not know if you have seen this.
I have, actually, downgraded already and I can confirm the increased ram usage. Indeed, 200 MB are not a big deal, but considering that Ubuntu Mate is a lightweight distribution, the 580 MB (comparable to Ubuntu Unity) that it now uses is.
Also, I would like to know if the increase is due to a kernel module or if it is the intended behaviour or if it is something that happens only on my computer (perhaps a bug). That’s why I opened this topic.
And thanks for the information you provided about the memory usage. Really useful! 
I compared kernel 4.xxx.23 to 4.xxx.24 and its up 100meg in usage. This all looks normal to me.
I don’t know what else can be done or what else to suggest.
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I just checked the memory usage with htop and mate system monitor. It seems that system monitor is consistently showing ~200 MB more than htop. The usage that htop is reporting is the one I had before the upgrade.
Maybe it is a bug in system monitor?
The system monitor will indeed add to the ram usage, its the price of running a gui
I guess htop is ok (I don’t use it), the terminal command “free -m” and “top” are my choices. I think more accurate.
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Yes, the system monitor uses about 50 MB, that’s why I ran htop with system monitor running. 