Since its launch five years ago, Windows 11 It has received recurring criticism for its performance and reliability. At the beginning of the year, Microsoft It set out to revamp its operating system and address the complaints of its users. After months of adjustments and changes, the company now states that the ‘The result is an up to 20% more responsive Windows experience’ and with improvements in Starthe File Explorerthe search, edge and other elements.
The optimization comes in the middle of a memory crisis that has been making computers more expensive for a year and for a few months favoring the return of configurations with only 8 GB of RAM. Chip manufacturers are allocating more capacity to servers and artificial intelligence systems and one of the consequences is the shift in sales of mid-range laptops towards 8 GB modelsthe consulting firm TrendForce has warned, teams that a year earlier would have been considered low range.
Until 2025, choosing 8 GB for a new PC with Windows 11 was to stay quite short if you wanted to work comfortably with several applications and numerous tabs open. Now many buyers have to make do with that capability or pay a lot for a configuration that was affordable very recently.
DropReference price tracking places the increase in the cost of DDR5 RAM kits in Spain by 370% between September 2025 and July 2026. In Europe, those of 32GB DDR5-6000 CL30 analyzed by the comparator went from costing 147 euros on average in September 2025 to €623 in July 2026, 324% more.
In this context, much of Microsoft’s work has focused on reducing system resource consumption. ‘An important part of that work consists of use memory and system resources more intelligently‘, explains Navjot Virkcorporate vice president of Windows experiences at Microsoft.
‘We’ve improved memory management and efficiency across Windows so that more of your PC’s resources are dedicated to what you’re doing at all times.’he adds. According to the directive, these optimizations represent a ‘significant difference’ on computers with 8 GB.
‘Windows can now keep up to 2 GB more of the data you’re using in memory, instead of moving it to slower storage’he points out. By reducing its own memory consumption, Windows leaves more space for apps and their data, saving you from having to resort to storage as often. SSD either HDDslower than RAM.
Although Microsoft does not detail all the internal changes, it does explain that reduces background consumption by avoiding loading components before they are needed. ‘For example, on PCs with 8 GB of memory or less, widgets only load when you open them, leaving over 200MB of memory available for your apps and other tasks‘, he points out.
The increase of up to 20% corresponds to response measurements certain system functions, such as Start, search, or File Explorer. Microsoft warns that the result depends on the device and its settingsit’s not that everything is going to accelerate at that percentage.
The new features also include a Windows Update which allows you to better control when updates are installed and reduce reboots. Microsoft has simplified the widget panel and allows you to place the taskbar on the sides or at the top of the screen.
Login using facial or fingerprint recognition Windows Hello It also gains speed and reliability. The connections Bluetooth improve, ‘including a process of matching AirPods which is up 15 seconds faster‘. All these mImprovements are being rolled out progressively, so availability may vary by device and region
The next addition will be a new, faster and more feature-rich Windows Searchwhich will allow you to execute actions such as modifying the equipment configuration directly from the results, requesting it with natural language, like an AI agent. It is now available for program participants Windows Insider and, according to Microsoft, ‘will be more widely distributed later this year.’