Microsoft vows to make Windows 11 fly on 8GB RAM amid memory shortage — optimizations to reduce OS memory footprint have begun
Windows 11 is about to go on a diet
Microsoft said that it’s planning to optimize Windows 11 for systems with 8GB of RAM and above as part of its promise to improve Windows 11 in March 2026. The company said in its latest update that the optimization is part of expanding its focus on operating system upgrades, which include a faster out-of-the-box experience, easier parental controls, and improved voice interactions.
While the official minimum specifications for Windows 11 sit at just 4GB of RAM, most PC builders advise getting at least 16GB if you want to have a smooth experience. In fact, Microsoft has previously recommended 32GB of RAM for Windows 11 for gamers, especially if they want a system that can handle games in the near future. Unfortunately, the RAMpocalypse has forced both users and manufacturers to stick with slower DDR4 memory and lower capacities. Some experts predict that the entry-level PC will disappear by 2028, and we’ve even seen some manufacturers, including Apple, reintroduce 8GB laptops just to hit a specific price point.
The resurgence of 8GB systems will likely deliver a bad experience for users who stick with Windows 11, which is the likely reason why Microsoft is pushing for the optimization of its operating system. If Windows 11 performs poorly on these systems, it could draw users towards macOS or Linux alternatives as they blame the operating system for underperforming on limited hardware. In fact, we’ve already seen this happen before — after Microsoft ended support for Windows 10, MacBooks saw an uptick in sales as users migrated towards macOS instead of going for Windows 11. SteamOS is also encouraging some gamers to ditch Windows, and Valve is working on a general release for the OS, which many say contains less bloat and is a bit snappier than what Microsoft offers.
The RAM shortage crisis, alongside increasing competition, is forcing Microsoft to do better with Windows 11. Hopefully, these optimizations arrive sooner and don’t introduce new bugs, allowing both new and existing users to get more out of their systems.
The Windows blog post also gave an update on what improvements the company has made to Windows 11 so far. This includes a better Windows Search experience, more Taskbar and Start customizations, a more responsive and reliable File Explorer, among others. Many of these changes are still in preview, though, so unless you’re part of the Windows Insider Program, you’ll have to wait a few more weeks to months before you can start enjoying these changes.
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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
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TechieTwo Microsoft can't fix their basic O/Ss but now they are going to make things worse by hacking up Win 11 some more. What a brilliant idea to convince the gullible to downgrade to Win 11.Reply -
AnInternetUser Reply
You're automatically assuming they'll gut key features. I'd hope not and that it's just going to be a bunch of bloat that's removed.TechieTwo said:Microsoft can't fix their basic O/Ss but now they are going to make things worse by hacking up Win 11 some more. What a brilliant idea to convince the gullible to downgrade to Win 11. -
jrharbort Windows 11 runs about as well on 8GB memory as Vista did on 512MB. And I think some of us here remember how that went. Here's to hoping they make serious progress on optimizations as those performance benefits will be passed onto everyone.Reply -
Alastor01 There honestly should be no reason for it not to run fine on 4 GB. After all it's just an OS. Linux is far leaner in that sense if you are looking at similar basic features. Not bloat. Have developers forgot about optimization that was norm 30 year ago?Reply -
bill001g Maybe they should go though their spy data they collect and look at the huge list of features people disable because they can't actually uninstall it. Every patch you have to go though and see what they reactivated and what new garbage they installed. I wonder how much all those system processes I have stopped use even when disableReply
This is likely all a bunch of talk. They will never let me really remove the microsoft store or the xbox garbage. They for some deluded though process think that someone who goes to a large effort to disable this stuff will be silly enough to buy something in the future using these features.
They have to learn no means no. No matter how much they try I will not spend the money they want for stuff like microsoft office so they just remove all traces rather than trying to get me to buy it every time a file with a .doc extension appears. -
usertests Reply
There are new laptops sitting in stores right now with Windows 11 and 4 GB of soldered RAM. They were there before the mempocalypse too.Alastor01 said:There honestly should be no reason for it not to run fine on 4 GB. After all it's just an OS. Linux is far leaner in that sense if you are looking at similar basic features. Not bloat. Have developers forgot about optimization that was norm 30 year ago?
Edit: By "new" I mean unsold units that are not refurbished. They usually have Jasper Lake or Alder Lake-N in them. -
mrdoc22 Then we are back to old time,Reply
Microsoft says Yes! We can run Windows with only 8GB and Notepad open (Just have a swapfile of 24 GB) -
derekullo Reply
Windows 11 can run great on 8 gigabytes of ram.jrharbort said:Windows 11 runs about as well on 8GB memory as Vista did on 512MB. And I think some of us here remember how that went. Here's to hoping they make serious progress on optimizations as those performance benefits will be passed onto everyone.
I work in IT for a large library and one of my jobs is creating WIM images for us to use when imaging or re-imaging computers.
We currently use a Patron, Staff and Catalog image.
All of our catalog and about half of our patron computers have 8 gigabytes of ram ... the other half of patron are at 16 gigabytes of ram.
All staff computers use 16 gigabytes of ram due to the extra library applications and peripherals they use.
The catalog computers simply auto-boot to Edge kiosk mode running our library's catalog page.
By uninstalling anything that isn't needed and stopping any service not deemed essential I was able to get the desktop with essentially just our antivirus running down to 2.8 gigabytes.
Opening Edge brings that to 3.5 gigabytes !!!
This is a best case scenario, since they can't open multiple tabs or other programs!
The patron image has a lot more freedom and logs into a desktop with numerous choices ... Edge, Firefox, Chrome, iTunes, VLC, Blender, Handbrake ... just to name a few.
With nothing open this image uses around 4 gigabytes of memory just staring at the desktop.
Opening Chrome and Word is the best common combination of programs people use and brings the computer to about 5.5-6 gigabytes of ram used.
Not ideal, but even with 8 gigabytes of ram it still feels snappy.
"Blender does work ... damn that's a nice sphere!!!"
We are of course slowly switching over to 16 gigabytes for patron computers. -
derekullo Reply
It can!Alastor01 said:There honestly should be no reason for it not to run fine on 4 GB. After all it's just an OS. Linux is far leaner in that sense if you are looking at similar basic features. Not bloat. Have developers forgot about optimization that was norm 30 year ago?
See last post!