Microsoft Says Windows 11 Is Up to 20% More Responsive, Especially on 8GB PCs

Navjot Virk, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows Experiences, wrote in a blog post that Windows 11 can now keep up to 2GB more active data in memory instead of moving it to slower storage, helping a PC stay responsive as users open more apps or browser tabs. Virk said PCs with 8GB of memory may see an especially meaningful difference.

On PCs with 8GB or less of RAM, Windows 11 will load Widgets only when users open them. Microsoft said that frees more than 200MB of memory for other tasks. Microsoft also said Windows Update has been made less disruptive and the Widgets section has been cleaned up. The taskbar can now be repositioned to the sides or top of a display.

The updates also address Bluetooth and sign-in performance. Microsoft said pairing Bluetooth headphones with PCs should be faster and more reliable, with an AirPods pairing experience that is up to 15 seconds faster, according to The Verge, as cited by Slashdot. Windows Hello logins are said to be easier, faster and more reliable.

Windows Insider testers can now try the revamped, AI-powered Search that Microsoft unveiled last week. Engadget reported that users can carry out thousands of actions directly through Search, which Microsoft is effectively turning into a chatbot. Slashdot reported that Microsoft says the new Search will roll out more broadly later this year.

Insiders are also getting a new Photos app with a revamped gallery that can pull together photos from local storage, OneDrive and iCloud. Microsoft said the built-in editor loads 25 percent faster, while the native viewer loads 30 percent quicker.

The changes arrive as RAM upgrades have become more expensive. Engadget wrote that the memory improvements are welcome because RAM upgrades have become increasingly expensive, a situation it attributed largely to AI data centers consuming memory and driving up prices.