Microsoft is optimizing Windows for 8GB PCs, but it may be in vain

Five years ago, PCs with 8GB of RAM were seen as something to avoid. Today, Microsoft is saying that they’ll be part of our lives once again, and is making further moves to optimize Windows for the new reality.

But will others follow suit?

We’re in the throes of the RAMpocalypse and news continues to be grim. Last week, Intel predicted that its own CPU sales would drop by 10 percent in 2026, and chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said that the company “does not expect a sustained recovery until memory availability improves and pricing begins to normalize.”

Tan and other Intel executives declined to say when that will take place. But it could be years, which is why Microsoft is stepping in. In a blog post, Pavan Davuluri, the head of Microsoft’s Windows + Devices team, characterized the move as “making better use of the memory that’s there.”

In other words, simply making Windows feel quicker and more responsive based on more efficient use of the PC’s memory. Specifically, Microsoft is using more compression and better anticipating what you’ll want to click on to make your PC feel faster.

You’re already familiar with how this works, even if you haven’t thought about it. If you’re watching a football game, chances are you have a table of snacks nearby that you can grab whenever you’d like. If you want to refresh a drink or grab another bowl of dip, you have to walk to the kitchen. It’s obviously quicker to have everything you need close by. Likewise, your PC keeps what it needs immediately close by in RAM, and if it needs to, fetches additional data from storage like your SSD on demand.

Microsoft can’t increase the size of your 8GB RAM, represented by the size of the snack table. But what it can do is tightly organize or even compress what’s on it. Davuluri said that Microsoft is using compression to effectively increase the size of the local RAM by up to 2 GB. Through memory savings in Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365, Microsoft said that they’re now able to cut the increase of actively used or committed memory by up to 900 MB.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s other improvements essentially free up background tasks that Windows would normally be working on to better anticipate your needs. One reason that Microsoft wants you to use its Edge browser is that it can order Edge to always run in the background. That consumes memory, but it also means it can more quickly launch when you need it. But Microsoft is also putting tabs to sleep more quickly, so that just a static page remains and one that consumes less memory.

Finally, Microsoft is addressing where 8GB PCs feel so painful: actually doing work on them and moving back and forth between apps. Microsoft said it tested a scenario where engineers opened 20 Edge tabs, then a 4K video, then Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, plus Outlook and File Explorer. Microsoft said the experience completed “40 percent faster than with the January 2026 builds.”

Of course, we don’t know how fast and how painful that was to complete. However, if Microsoft is dedicating the time and resources to tighten up the efficiency of Windows on 8GB PCs (which, honestly, should have been done years ago), it’s a signal that this is the new reality.

Microsoft can’t go it alone

The trouble, however, is that other software developers aren’t necessarily following suit. I reviewed the Acer Swift Air 14 with 8GB of RAM, and we’ve reviewed laptops like the Chuwi Unibook with similar configurations. In my experience, some apps simply won’t run because they themselves gobble up a minimum of 8GB RAM. And with others, there’s a major gulf between simply allowing the app to run (the “minimum” configuration) and being able to do anything effectively without “recommended” specs.

There’s been a bit of movement from browsers like Firefox, which now tries to minimize CPU and memory usage when displaying pages with large images. Opera GX includes a RAM limiter. But others, like Google Chrome, just haven’t quite gotten there yet.

“There is functionally no desire from the Chrome project to compromise on site isolation or security to save on memory,” one developer wrote in August, adding that Google is “experimenting” with background tab freezing. “If anything, we consider improved security to be one of the strongest justifications for increased memory usage.”

Freeing up some additional memory within Windows to allow basic Windows services and apps to run is one thing. But the PC industry as a whole is going to have to come together to optimize for a world in which RAM is at a premium. Instead, the opposite seems true—apps seem to be cramming all sorts of AI-generated “improvements” into them, hogging even more RAM as a result.

That’s the wrong direction, and Microsoft’s efforts will be in vain if other developers don’t make the same commitment.

Five years ago, PCs with 8GB of RAM were seen as something to avoid. Today, Microsoft is saying that they’ll be part of our lives once again, and is making further moves to optimize Windows for the new reality.

But will others follow suit?

We’re in the throes of the RAMpocalypse and news continues to be grim. Last week, Intel predicted that its own CPU sales would drop by 10 percent in 2026, and chief executive Lip-Bu Tan said that the company “does not expect a sustained recovery until memory availability improves and pricing begins to normalize.”

Tan and other Intel executives declined to say when that will take place. But it could be years, which is why Microsoft is stepping in. In a blog post, Pavan Davuluri, the head of Microsoft’s Windows + Devices team, characterized the move as “making better use of the memory that’s there.”

In other words, simply making Windows feel quicker and more responsive based on more efficient use of the PC’s memory. Specifically, Microsoft is using more compression and better anticipating what you’ll want to click on to make your PC feel faster.

You’re already familiar with how this works, even if you haven’t thought about it. If you’re watching a football game, chances are you have a table of snacks nearby that you can grab whenever you’d like. If you want to refresh a drink or grab another bowl of dip, you have to walk to the kitchen. It’s obviously quicker to have everything you need close by. Likewise, your PC keeps what it needs immediately close by in RAM, and if it needs to, fetches additional data from storage like your SSD on demand.

Microsoft can’t increase the size of your 8GB RAM, represented by the size of the snack table. But what it can do is tightly organize or even compress what’s on it. Davuluri said that Microsoft is using compression to effectively increase the size of the local RAM by up to 2 GB. Through memory savings in Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365, Microsoft said that they’re now able to cut the increase of actively used or committed memory by up to 900 MB.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s other improvements essentially free up background tasks that Windows would normally be working on to better anticipate your needs. One reason that Microsoft wants you to use its Edge browser is that it can order Edge to always run in the background. That consumes memory, but it also means it can more quickly launch when you need it. But Microsoft is also putting tabs to sleep more quickly, so that just a static page remains and one that consumes less memory.

Finally, Microsoft is addressing where 8GB PCs feel so painful: actually doing work on them and moving back and forth between apps. Microsoft said it tested a scenario where engineers opened 20 Edge tabs, then a 4K video, then Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, plus Outlook and File Explorer. Microsoft said the experience completed “40 percent faster than with the January 2026 builds.”

Of course, we don’t know how fast and how painful that was to complete. However, if Microsoft is dedicating the time and resources to tighten up the efficiency of Windows on 8GB PCs (which, honestly, should have been done years ago), it’s a signal that this is the new reality.

Microsoft can’t go it alone

The trouble, however, is that other software developers aren’t necessarily following suit. I reviewed the Acer Swift Air 14 with 8GB of RAM, and we’ve reviewed laptops like the Chuwi Unibook with similar configurations. In my experience, some apps simply won’t run because they themselves gobble up a minimum of 8GB RAM. And with others, there’s a major gulf between simply allowing the app to run (the “minimum” configuration) and being able to do anything effectively without “recommended” specs.

There’s been a bit of movement from browsers like Firefox, which now tries to minimize CPU and memory usage when displaying pages with large images. Opera GX includes a RAM limiter. But others, like Google Chrome, just haven’t quite gotten there yet.

“There is functionally no desire from the Chrome project to compromise on site isolation or security to save on memory,” one developer wrote in August, adding that Google is “experimenting” with background tab freezing. “If anything, we consider improved security to be one of the strongest justifications for increased memory usage.”

Freeing up some additional memory within Windows to allow basic Windows services and apps to run is one thing. But the PC industry as a whole is going to have to come together to optimize for a world in which RAM is at a premium. Instead, the opposite seems true—apps seem to be cramming all sorts of AI-generated “improvements” into them, hogging even more RAM as a result.

That’s the wrong direction, and Microsoft’s efforts will be in vain if other developers don’t make the same commitment.