Windows 11 is getting a speed boost, and your low-memory PC stands to gain the most
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Microsoft dumped a myriad of Windows 11 news today, but there’s only one rather simple question that I truly care about: does it feel faster?
Per its latest blog post, Windows 11 responds up to 20% faster, with memory fixes for 8GB machines. The quality-of-life improvement comes alongside a handful of new features.
What did Microsoft change to speed up Windows 11?
Microsoft claims responsiveness (how quickly the system reacts when you click or type) improves by up to 20% across Start, File Explorer, Edge, and more. And I don’t want to disappoint you, but there’s a catch.
That figure comes from comparing two Windows builds on how long Search, Start, and right-click menus take to respond. In other words, it’s a best-case scenario, not a promise. Even so, this is a step in the right direction, and Microsoft should continue doing this for the subsequent builds
On the bright side, your PC can now keep up to 2GB more data from open apps in RAM (its working memory) instead of storing it on the slower drive. In my opinion, this should help most PCs with 8GB of RAM when you have lots of apps and browser tabs open.
On machines with 8GB or less, Widgets and Windows’ news-and-weather panel also stay unloaded until you open them, which saves over 200MB of RAM. With the memory crisis making it hard for manufacturers to ship high-memory machines, Microsoft is finally aiming to improve overall performance on low-memory machines.
What else is new, and when does it arrive?
Microsoft’s redesigned Photos app (a faster gallery, object removal, and the Relight feature) and Search’s new actions arrive first in Windows Insiders, Microsoft’s early-testing group. Everyone else gets them later this year.
Phone links get deeper, too. You can read and reply to Android or iPhone messages from Start. Supported Android phones can also run apps in resizable windows. However, Microsoft hasn’t announced particular dates for those.
Gamers get Advanced Shader Delivery (pre-built graphics code). Microsoft says it cuts load times for supported games like Forza Horizon 6 to seconds.
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