Microsoft Plans Better Windows 11 RAM Management and a Smoother User Experience

Microsoft recently announced a plethora of changes coming to Windows 11 to reshape the operating system into a completely stable and enjoyable experience. Today we learn that Microsoft plans a major background usage overhaul with future updates, focusing on RAM usage and overall memory management, so even configurations with less RAM can enjoy the benefits of a smooth operating system. For example, the minimum requirement for Windows 11 is a system with 4 GB of memory, while Copilot+ PCs require a minimum of 16 GB. When a PC has 8 GB of RAM installed, standard Windows 11 versions like Home or Pro will take up a majority of that, leaving only about 2 GB free. Even with 16 GB installed, regular Windows allocation goes beyond 10 GB.

However, Microsoft plans to change this with better background memory management. For example, OS overhead is a significant performance and memory hog, which impacts the user’s overall experience on the PC. Apple recently launched a MacBook Neo with 8 GB of memory, and reviews confirmed that users will be able to get a relatively smooth user experience with only 8 GB, while a comparable Windows-based machine would struggle. This has pushed Microsoft to think about memory management more, and the company now promises that the entire operating system will implement new background policies that will help with resource management. While the exact implementation is unknown, we suspect that doing something like Xbox Full Screen Experience, which is proven to increase performance and lower RAM usage, will be implemented on a wider scale. When the numerous background tasks disappear, memory is freed for other things like excessive Chrome browser tabs.

Next, Microsoft plans to improve the software animations, transitions, and UI to look better and feel smoother by reducing latency. For now, Windows 11 is a mixture of legacy Microsoft frameworks for the user interface, which include web-based WebView2, React, and others. Microsoft plans to transition its entire user experience to the desktop-only WinUI 3 framework, which will reduce application latency, improve user experience, and feel noticeably smoother. Core Windows 11 applications like File Explorer, which is now being preloaded, are also getting additional optimizations so that application launch is instantaneous, file search is much faster, and the overall experience is improved. Windows Search is also becoming much faster and more accurate, so your start search doesn’t lead to a web search first but performs an application and file search first.