diff --git a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
index 309162120d..8fd5d73eea 100644
--- a/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
+++ b/cmd/minikube/cmd/start.go
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ func init() {
 	startCmd.Flags().Bool(disableDriverMounts, false, "Disables the filesystem mounts provided by the hypervisors (vboxfs, xhyve-9p)")
 	startCmd.Flags().String(isoURL, constants.DefaultISOURL, "Location of the minikube iso")
 	startCmd.Flags().String(vmDriver, constants.DefaultVMDriver, fmt.Sprintf("VM driver is one of: %v", constants.SupportedVMDrivers))
-	startCmd.Flags().Int(memory, constants.DefaultMemory, "Amount of RAM allocated to the minikube VM in MB")
+	startCmd.Flags().String(memory, constants.DefaultMemorySize, "Amount of RAM allocated to the minikube VM (format: <number>[<unit>], where unit = b, k, m or g)")
 	startCmd.Flags().Int(cpus, constants.DefaultCPUS, "Number of CPUs allocated to the minikube VM")
 	startCmd.Flags().String(humanReadableDiskSize, constants.DefaultDiskSize, "Disk size allocated to the minikube VM (format: <number>[<unit>], where unit = b, k, m or g)")
 	startCmd.Flags().String(hostOnlyCIDR, "192.168.99.1/24", "The CIDR to be used for the minikube VM (only supported with Virtualbox driver)")
@@ -380,9 +380,9 @@ func validateUser() {
 
 // validateConfig validates the supplied configuration against known bad combinations
 func validateConfig() {
-	diskSizeMB := pkgutil.CalculateDiskSizeInMB(viper.GetString(humanReadableDiskSize))
-	if diskSizeMB < constants.MinimumDiskSizeMB {
-		exit.WithCode(exit.Config, "Requested disk size (%dMB) is less than minimum of %dMB", diskSizeMB, constants.MinimumDiskSizeMB)
+	diskSizeMB := pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(viper.GetString(humanReadableDiskSize))
+	if diskSizeMB < pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.MinimumDiskSize) {
+		exit.WithCode(exit.Config, "Requested disk size (%dMB) is less than minimum of (%dMB)", diskSizeMB, pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.MinimumDiskSize))
 	}
 
 	if viper.GetBool(gpu) && viper.GetString(vmDriver) != constants.DriverKvm2 {
@@ -397,6 +397,14 @@ func validateConfig() {
 		glog.Errorf("Error autoSetOptions : %v", err)
 	}
 
+	memorySizeMB := pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(viper.GetString(memory))
+	if memorySizeMB < pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.MinimumMemorySize) {
+		exit.Usage("Requested memory allocation (%dMB) is less than the minimum allowed of %dMB", memorySizeMB, pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.MinimumMemorySize))
+	}
+	if memorySizeMB < pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.DefaultMemorySize) {
+		console.OutStyle(console.Notice, "Requested memory allocation (%dMB) is less than the default memory allocation of (%dMB). Beware that Minikube might not work correctly or crash unexpectedly.", memorySizeMB, pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.DefaultMemorySize))
+	}
+
 	// check that kubeadm extra args contain only whitelisted parameters
 	for param := range extraOptions.AsMap().Get(kubeadm.Kubeadm) {
 		if !pkgutil.ContainsString(kubeadm.KubeadmExtraArgsWhitelist[kubeadm.KubeadmCmdParam], param) &&
@@ -510,9 +518,9 @@ func generateConfig(cmd *cobra.Command, k8sVersion string) (cfg.Config, error) {
 		MachineConfig: cfg.MachineConfig{
 			KeepContext:         viper.GetBool(keepContext),
 			MinikubeISO:         viper.GetString(isoURL),
-			Memory:              viper.GetInt(memory),
+			Memory:              pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(viper.GetString(memory)),
 			CPUs:                viper.GetInt(cpus),
-			DiskSize:            pkgutil.CalculateDiskSizeInMB(viper.GetString(humanReadableDiskSize)),
+			DiskSize:            pkgutil.CalculateSizeInMB(viper.GetString(humanReadableDiskSize)),
 			VMDriver:            viper.GetString(vmDriver),
 			ContainerRuntime:    viper.GetString(containerRuntime),
 			HyperkitVpnKitSock:  viper.GetString(vpnkitSock),
diff --git a/pkg/drivers/hyperkit/driver.go b/pkg/drivers/hyperkit/driver.go
index 884fe0fb9f..fac07583b1 100644
--- a/pkg/drivers/hyperkit/driver.go
+++ b/pkg/drivers/hyperkit/driver.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func NewDriver(hostName, storePath string) *Driver {
 			SSHUser: "docker",
 		},
 		CommonDriver: &pkgdrivers.CommonDriver{},
-		DiskSize:     commonutil.CalculateDiskSizeInMB(constants.DefaultDiskSize),
+		DiskSize:     commonutil.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.DefaultDiskSize),
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/drivers/kvm/kvm.go b/pkg/drivers/kvm/kvm.go
index dde815e21f..76dac5b9fb 100644
--- a/pkg/drivers/kvm/kvm.go
+++ b/pkg/drivers/kvm/kvm.go
@@ -104,8 +104,8 @@ func NewDriver(hostName, storePath string) *Driver {
 		CommonDriver:   &pkgdrivers.CommonDriver{},
 		Boot2DockerURL: constants.DefaultISOURL,
 		CPU:            constants.DefaultCPUS,
-		DiskSize:       util.CalculateDiskSizeInMB(constants.DefaultDiskSize),
-		Memory:         constants.DefaultMemory,
+		DiskSize:       util.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.DefaultDiskSize),
+		Memory:         util.CalculateSizeInMB(constants.DefaultMemorySize),
 		PrivateNetwork: defaultPrivateNetworkName,
 		Network:        defaultNetworkName,
 		DiskPath:       filepath.Join(constants.GetMinipath(), "machines", config.GetMachineName(), fmt.Sprintf("%s.rawdisk", config.GetMachineName())),
diff --git a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
index 698a3abc59..6f4fd5f2d4 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go
@@ -151,14 +151,16 @@ const (
 	DefaultKeepContext = false
 	// SHASuffix is the suffix of a SHA-256 checksum file
 	SHASuffix = ".sha256"
-	// DefaultMemory is the default memory of a host, in megabytes
-	DefaultMemory = 2048
+	// DefaultMemorySize is the default memory which will be allocated to minikube, in megabytes
+	DefaultMemorySize = "2000mb"
+	//MinimumMemorySize is the minimum memory size, in megabytes
+	MinimumMemorySize = "1024mb"
 	// DefaultCPUS is the default number of cpus of a host
 	DefaultCPUS = 2
-	// DefaultDiskSize is the default disk image size, parseable
-	DefaultDiskSize = "20g"
-	// MinimumDiskSizeMB is the minimum disk image size, in megabytes
-	MinimumDiskSizeMB = 2000
+	// DefaultDiskSize is the default disk image size, in megabytes
+	DefaultDiskSize = "20000mb"
+	// MinimumDiskSize is the minimum disk image size, in megabytes
+	MinimumDiskSize = "2000mb"
 	// DefaultVMDriver is the default virtual machine driver name
 	DefaultVMDriver = DriverVirtualbox
 	// DefaultStatusFormat is the default format of a host
diff --git a/pkg/util/utils.go b/pkg/util/utils.go
index fb062820ab..15a228b6e7 100644
--- a/pkg/util/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/util/utils.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	retryablehttp "github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
 )
 
 // ErrPrefix notes an error
@@ -53,13 +54,18 @@ type RetriableError struct {
 
 func (r RetriableError) Error() string { return "Temporary Error: " + r.Err.Error() }
 
-// CalculateDiskSizeInMB returns the number of MB in the human readable string
-func CalculateDiskSizeInMB(humanReadableDiskSize string) int {
-	diskSize, err := units.FromHumanSize(humanReadableDiskSize)
-	if err != nil {
-		glog.Errorf("Invalid disk size: %v", err)
+// CalculateSizeInMB returns the number of MB in the human readable string
+func CalculateSizeInMB(humanReadableSize string) int {
+	_, err := strconv.ParseInt(humanReadableSize, 10, 64)
+	if err == nil {
+		humanReadableSize += "mb"
 	}
-	return int(diskSize / units.MB)
+	size, err := units.FromHumanSize(humanReadableSize)
+	if err != nil {
+		exit.WithCode(exit.Config, "Invalid size passed in argument: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	return int(size / units.MB)
 }
 
 // Until endlessly loops the provided function until a message is received on the done channel.