Microsoft claims Windows 11 multitasking is 40% faster on 8GB RAM systems
Microsoft is doubling down on memory efficiency for Windows 11, claiming that users with 8GB of RAM can see up to a 40% improvement in multitasking performance. The company's latest updates focus on smarter memory management and reducing the footprint of its own software suite to prevent frequent swapping to slower storage.
The latest iteration of Windows 11 introduces several tweaks to how the operating system handles memory. According to recent details shared by Microsoft, these changes are designed to create a smoother user experience, particularly for hardware configurations that are increasingly becoming the baseline for budget and mid-range laptops: systems equipped with just 8GB of RAM. The company claims these optimizations can lead to a multitasking performance uplift of as much as 40% compared to previous builds.
Benchmark results and multitasking efficiency
To demonstrate these improvements, Microsoft compared a Windows 11 build from January 2026 against the latest version featuring the new memory optimizations. The benchmark workload was designed to simulate heavy daily use, including opening 20 tabs in Microsoft Edge, playing a 4K video, and launching large files in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The test also involved opening Outlook and File Explorer in sequence without closing any active applications.
The results showed a significant difference in efficiency. The updated build completed the entire sequence in approximately 20 seconds. In contrast, the older version was only halfway through the tasks when the test concluded. Microsoft noted that while the newer build practically eliminated wait times when switching between applications, the older version frequently suffered from delays during program launching and task switching.
Reducing the footprint of first-party apps
Beyond OS-level management, Microsoft is also targeting the memory consumption of its own software. The company reported that it has successfully reduced the RAM requirements for the Microsoft 365 Suite and Microsoft Edge by up to 900MB. This reduction is intended to make multitasking feel more responsive on memory-constrained machines by freeing up resources for other active tasks.
By optimizing how data is stored, Windows 11 can now keep an additional 2GB of active data in the RAM rather than constantly swapping it to much slower storage drives. For a system with 8GB of RAM, this represents a 25% increase in available capacity for active data, which should provide a noticeable benefit for users who cannot easily upgrade their hardware. While systems with higher RAM capacities will also benefit, the impact is expected to be most significant on 8GB machines.
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