Following a resurgence of 8GB RAM laptops earlier this year, and in the wake of promises to improve Windows 11 performance using just 8GB of RAM, Microsoft has today announced what it claims are a series of performance improvements. Driven by an ongoing global PC component shortage that is forcing manufacturers to dumb down specs, the company says that with 8GB of RAM, Windows is now 20% more responsive and 40% faster when it comes to multitasking.

The development shared today by Microsoft is an update to a commitment earlier this year to improve the quality and performance of Windows 11, a major bugbear of users since its launch. Microsoft says it has taken a three-pronged approach to memory optimization: making better use of memory in Windows 11 PCs, protecting interactions that need to feel instant, and ensuring key apps and Windows use less memory. While the company admits you'll be able to do more on 16GB or 32GB of RAM, it says "we're making sure you can do more, even with 8GB."

The headline performance gain is a claim that Windows is now up to 20% more responsive on 8GB PCs. Likewise, multitasking is now purportedly 40% faster in Microsoft's lab tests. Of course, these are internal tests conducted in favorable conditions by Microsoft.

Microsoft says it has tuned compression for useful apps and data, and can now keep up to 2GB more of your active data in memory, rather than moving it to storage. In practice, this should mean that apps and tabs left open should be less likely to reload when you go back to them.

Source link