Windows 11 has significantly sped up, multitasking can be up to 40% faster. We know who will notice the difference the most

A notebook with 8 GB of RAM has been considered more of a compromise in recent years, but due to the current increase in memory prices, more and more people will be forced to opt for one. A fresh report from Microsoft offers a light at the end of the tunnel: a new Windows 11 update is set to speed up multitasking by up to 40% on such machines. The system has reportedly learned to manage memory better and less frequently access the slower disk.

Microsoft promises 40% faster multitasking. How did they achieve this?

The figures were published by Windows chief Pavan Davuluri on the official Microsoft blog. Opening the Start menu, search, context menus, Settings, Snipping Tool, and File Explorer is expected to be up to 20% faster on 8GB computers than with the January update. To achieve this, Windows will briefly prioritize what you are currently doing and defer background tasks.

The forty percent figure comes from a laboratory test on an HP OmniBook 3 notebook with a Snapdragon X Plus chip. Microsoft successively opened 20 tabs in Edge, a 4K video, large files in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, Outlook, and File Explorer, and left everything running. With the new update, it processed these tasks up to 40% faster.

Compression leaves up to 2 GB more data in memory

The main trick lies in memory compression. Windows “compresses” less active data to fit into RAM and avoid offloading it to the paging file on disk. This new approach allows it to keep up to 2 GB more active data in memory, so an application or browser tab you return to after an hour will likely not need to reload.

Applications themselves also save memory. Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365 will limit RAM usage growth by up to 900 MB. The office applications Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook alone will save 360 MB. Widgets on computers with 8 GB RAM or less will only load when their panel is opened (a saving of approximately 200 MB), inactive tabs in Edge will go to sleep after just 15 minutes instead of two hours, and Teams on such machines can immediately activate a power-saving mode, which is expected to make it launch up to 20% faster.

Optimization doesn’t stop there. In the coming months, compression is expected to become even smarter, and some applications will share a single web engine.

Eight gigabytes are back in play due to price increases

The timing makes sense. Memory manufacturers are shifting capacity to artificial intelligence customers, and it is this scarce RAM that has caused the prices of notebooks and other electronics to skyrocket. Many users will now effectively have two options: pay extra for a machine that they could have bought thousands cheaper last year, or settle for a compromise that might reduce RAM capacity. The mid-range and cheaper computer segments will be most affected, where 8 GB RAM may once again become the standard for a certain period.

How to get the update?

You need Windows 11 version 26H2, build 26300.9818 or newer. In Settings, open Windows Update, turn on the option to get the latest updates as soon as they’re available, and click to check for updates. Also update Edge, Microsoft 365, and Teams, as some improvements will arrive through them. Availability may vary by device and region, according to Microsoft.

How much RAM does your computer have, and do you feel like you’re running out?

Sources: Microsoft, The Verge