Note: This "desktop app" is a web app built on Electron, which is a JS library that runs chrome for you. So this app will clock in at roughly 200+ mb ram, in addition to what your system is already running.
Yeah, it's not a desktop app but web app running in a separate browser that has no chrome. HN integration in Emacs is a desktop app because it actually provides a different way to interact with HN and this is the same web page, just rendered in a silo'd window.