Windows 11 Gains Up to 40% Multitasking Speed on 8GB PCs

Microsoft released a Windows 11 update aimed at reducing memory use and improving responsiveness on systems with limited RAM, and says PCs with 8 gigabytes of memory benefit most. In lab tests the company reports up to 40 percent faster multitasking and as much as 20 percent better responsiveness on those devices.

Update details and Microsoft figures

Microsoft announced the update on Tuesday, 12 Aban and said it continues a yearlong effort to lower memory consumption and speed up Windows 11 on lower-memory machines. Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows, provided headline numbers: "On 8 GB PCs, Windows is now up to 20 percent more responsive and, in our lab testing, multitasking performs up to 40 percent faster," he said.

Memory compression and the 2 GB claim

One of the primary changes is broader use of memory compression. Rather than writing inactive data out of RAM to slower storage, Windows compresses that data so it takes less space while remaining immediately accessible. Davuluri described the practical effect: "As a result, Windows can now keep up to 2 gigabytes more of your active data in memory, instead of moving it to slower storage; that means a lower chance of an app or tab reloading when you return to it."

The change addresses the virtual memory cycle where, when RAM fills, the operating system pages data to a page file on disk. Accessing data on disk is much slower than accessing it in RAM, and frequent swapping can degrade overall performance. Memory compression reduces the need to write to the page file and so reduces those slow storage round trips.

Other product changes and planned optimizations

Microsoft said the improvements are not limited to the Windows kernel. The company has also made changes affecting the Edge browser and Microsoft 365 apps to reduce memory use. Microsoft emphasized that further optimization of memory usage in Windows will continue over coming months and outlined several upcoming areas of work:

• Memory compression will become "smarter and more efficient" in the coming months.
• Windows features and apps will share more common components, for example widgets and Search using a single web engine.
• Microsoft will work with PC and chip manufacturers to optimize how much memory is reserved for hardware, so a larger share of RAM is available to Windows.