How much RAM should a Windows 11 PC have? Microsoft set the bare minimum to 4 GB of RAM in the official system requirements. Clearly, that is far from ideal and specifically set for ultra-low cost devices.
When Microsoft launched the Copilot+ PC label, it set the minimum to 16 GB of RAM. Now, with exploding memory prices, Microsoft announced plans to optimize the Windows 11 operating system for PCs with 8 GB of RAM and above.
Windows head Pavan Davuluri published a new article on the Windows blog to reiterate Microsoft’s plan to improve Windows quality. Most of the post looks at what Microsoft achieved already, but the final part highlights upcoming changes to the operating system.
Here is the important bit:
Memory optimization for 8GB and above. Reducing Windows memory footprint to deliver a fast and responsive Windows experience across the PCs customers use every day.
Davuluri does not reveal directly how Microsoft plans to reduce the memory footprint of the operating system. However, here is what the company outlined elsewhere:
- More Efficient Memory Allocator: Microsoft is updating the core OS memory allocator to lower administrative overhead and manage RAM allocation across system processes and applications more efficiently.
- WinUI 3 Optimization & Migration: WinUI 3 (the modern user interface framework) is being tuned to consume less RAM by design. Additionally, Microsoft is rewriting more legacy/hybrid shell elements using WinUI 3—including the Widgets board, the Run dialog, and file/folder properties windows—to improve both RAM efficiency and UI latency.
- WebView2 & Chromium Efficiency: Embedded web-based interfaces across Windows 11 rely on WebView2 (Chromium engine), which can be memory-heavy due to background process creation. Microsoft is directly targeting these components to reduce their process count and memory footprint.
- Reducing Idle Baseline Consumption: The team is targeting how much RAM the OS claims at initial system startup before any third-party applications (like browsers or game launchers) are opened.
Microsoft has not published exact information about the RAM that it hopes to free up this way nor when the optimizations will find their way into stable versions of the operating system.
This is exactly the kind of thoughtful tech coverage I enjoy reading. Well-researched and clearly presented. Looking forward to more!
They could just remove all the spyware and bloat, that would probably cut memory use in half. 🙄
Instead of “Lets shove it all in thier faces and see what they can figure out how to turn off” make the M$ store useful. A place people want to go to grab little apps they actually want.
People, news? I’ll hazard some people do actually like those but I’m 100% sure many do not.
The amount of RAM is only one factor affecting PC performance using Windows Retail Version as the OS. Even then, the type of RAM, in some degree, determines PC responsiveness–DDR4. DDR5. Then, there is the motherboard, SSD vs. NVMe, Core i7 vs, i5, etc. Need a pro to point out the fallacy MS is working with. Gettng rid of “bloat” helps tremendously. When I went from the Windows Retail to LTSC version, big change in speed and performance.
8GB using LInux MInt and an SSD and i5 Intel–nice! Zero hiccups!
I’m downloading it as we speak. I have an elderly Dell Latitude 3590, i5-8520 1.60Ghz 8Gb that somehow has windows 11 on it!
Its only function is to monitor a battery backup unit at a remote farm house that is subject to frequent power outages. Thats all it has to do! I have a copy of tailscale on it (remote access software). It keeps an eye on lighting, a few cameras (mostly to see if wildlife is bothering anything), and two thermostats.
I’ve cut this machine to the bone: Gone are Edge, onedrive, teams, all the BS software microsoft that it thinks I want. e.g. take a test, todo, family to name a few. Shutup10 and Glary Utilities to keep it clean and it does the job for its age.
I read about the update today and this machine truly fits the bill if indeed Microsoft will do as promised. We shall see but I won’t hold my breath on better performance! XD
It would be wonderful if Microsoft would optimize it for 4-GB systems. I know. It’s not gonna happen.
All of this might help, but Microsoft needs to put its foot down with the laptop manufacturers. Bloatware is getting worse and worse.
Looking over an Acer Copilot+AI laptop there were 14 applications loaded at startup. Consuming memory and most of the time doing absolutely nothing.
And don’t get me started on Intel…
A less-bloated OS can only be a good thing. I have installed W11 on several computers that are not officially supported: hopefully they will benefit from these changes!