Windows 11's latest update makes 8GB PCs 20% more responsive, and multitasking up to 40% faster

Published Nov 3, 2026, 12:13 PM EST Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more. Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University. Summary The latest Windows 11 update makes 8GB PCs 20% more responsive and multitasking up to 40% faster. Improved memory compression keeps up to 2GB more active data and cuts committed-memory growth up to 900MB. Start, Search, File Explorer and Teams feel 20% faster; Teams enables Efficiency Mode by default on 8GB PCs. After announcing plans to improve various aspects of Windows 11 a few months ago, including memory optimization for PCs with 8GB of RAM, Microsoft has kept its promise and released an update that does exactly that. According to a blog post written by Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft's EVP of Windows and Devices, the latest Windows 11 update (which should be available now) includes improvements that "make a real difference on PCs with 8GB of RAM." The tech giant outlines its approach in three parts: first, it wants to use memory better on every Windows 11 PC; next, it wants interactions to feel instant even under heavy load; and lastly, key apps will require less memory. Overall, Microsoft says Windows 11 PCs will be 20% more responsive and multitasking up to 40% faster on PCs with 8GB of RAM. The company's blog post also explains how it tuned Windows 11's compression to work better on PCs with 8GB of RAM, allowing the OS to keep up to 2GB more of your active data in memory. Microsoft also outlines how key Windows 11 interactions feel faster, including opening Start, searching, right-clicking, opening Settings, launching the Snipping Tool, and opening File Explorer. Compared to Windows 11's January 2026 update, these features should feel 20% snappier, according to Microsoft. The OS accomplishes this by prioritizing what you're doing at that moment and pulling back on background tasks. The efficiency improvements also extend to apps, though Microsoft only mentions Teams in its press release. It says Teams can turn on Efficiency Mode by default on 8GB PCs, allowing the app to launch 20% faster and use fewer system resources. The app can also adjust your laptop's camera resolution to free up processor capacity for audio, keeping your call clear when the PC is under a heavy load. Microsoft performed extensive tests on Windows 11 PCs with 8GB of RAM This update is part of the tech giant's broader plan to improve Windows 11 To round out its update announcement, Microsoft outlined a test in which an 8GB PC had 20 tabs open, including Microsoft Edge, a 4K video, a large Word document, PowerPoint, Excel files, Outlook, and File Explorer, with everything open and running. According to the tech giant, a relatively intensive workflow like this will run 40% faster than it would on Windows 11's January 2026 build, with "reduced committed-memory growth by up to 900MB." Moving forward, Microsoft's comprehensive plan to improve Windows 11 is still ongoing. The company says it plans to bring WinUI3 to more parts of Windows 11, including File Explorer, Notepad, Paint, Windows Search, and more, along with more improvements to memory compression and switching Search and Widgets to one web engine. Microsoft's K2 Windows 11 improvement initiative has been ongoing for several months now. So far, we've seen CoPilot's integration rolled back, the taskbar moved to the top, bottom, left, or right, Windows Update's restart behavior making more sense, and Windows Search less cluttered and faster. Microsoft started talking more about Windows 11 memory efficiency after Apple released its $600 MacBook Neo, an A18 Pro-powered macOS laptop with just 8GB of RAM. To download this update focused on performance and memory improvements, update to Windows 11, version 26H2, build 26300.9818 or later.