Microsoft has revealed tangible results from its ongoing efforts to improve the performance of the Windows 11 operating system, announcing that recent updates have made the system up to 40% faster on computers equipped with 8GB of RAM. This move is part of the company's effort to reduce resource consumption and improve the user experience on mid-range devices, which make up a large segment of the personal computer market.
Substantial Improvements in Responsiveness and Multitasking
According to Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows at Microsoft, laboratory tests showed that Windows 11 is now 20% more responsive on devices with 8GB of memory, while multitasking speed has jumped by up to 40%. This qualitative leap relies primarily on advanced memory compression technologies developed by the company.
Davuluri explained that the system is now capable of keeping up to 2GB of additional active data within the RAM instead of moving it to slower storage units (such as SSDs or HDDs). This approach significantly reduces the need for applications or browser tabs to reload when returning to them, preventing the system from resorting to paging files, which typically cause a slowdown in overall performance.
Memory Savings Across Applications and Services
The improvements were not limited to the system kernel but also included the Microsoft 365 suite and the Edge browser. Microsoft indicated that it has succeeded in reducing reserved memory growth by up to 900MB across various system components. These savings were distributed as follows:
- Office Applications: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook applications achieved memory savings of up to 360MB.
- Widgets: Windows 11 has stopped automatically loading widgets in the background on devices with limited memory; they are only loaded when the panel is opened, saving approximately 200MB.
- Edge Browser: Inactive tabs have been configured to enter sleep mode after just 15 minutes, which immediately reduces memory consumption.
What Changes Practically for the User?
For the average user, these updates mean that devices that previously suffered from sluggishness when opening multiple applications or many browser tabs will experience greater smoothness. Having 8GB of RAM is no longer a barrier to a fast user experience, as the system now focuses on "intelligence" in managing available resources rather than requiring more hardware.
Microsoft plans to continue this approach in the coming months, working to make memory compression technologies more efficient, in addition to unifying the software engines for some features such as search and widgets to run on a single web engine, which reduces redundant resource consumption. The company is also collaborating with hardware and processor manufacturers to reduce the amount of memory reserved by hardware, to provide more space for the operating system and applications.