This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
All it took was a RAM apocalypse for Microsoft ro consider improving performance in Windows. I'm seeing brand new laptops on display being sold as Windows 11 PCs with 4GB of RAM.
It's hard for the younger generation to understand, but 4 Gb of RAM is MORE than enough for 99% of tasks if your software isn't written by lazy idiots.
4GB should be plenty for any general computing. I used to run Minecraft servers on under 1GB of system memory for an entire school classroom. It worked pretty well back then too.
My friend bought one of those, paired with I think 64gb of EMMC storage which is basically an SD card. It couldn't browse the internet really with Edge in it's default settings. I had to disable so much crap but I got it usable with Firefox.
It would probably run best with that really stripped down version of ChromeOS
Nah, with 4gb you can get away with most linux distros with XFCE, and you could even do some indie gaming. Plus, using ChromeOS means you're expected to have a network connection at all times (which makes things like using office suites locally a pain).
Depends on CPU, would love to have access to hardware like this to play with to see what it runs. But I don't want to buy it without trying it first.
You mean Flex?
🤣 jfc
Bullshit, Windows 11 uses more ram than any other OS I know of. It idles an entire gigabyte higher than Windows 10, it's still worse than MacOS although close, and it's nowhere close to Linux Gnome, Headless, or even KDE Plasma.
Yes, Windows 11 uses a lot of memory now. The point is that they're working on making it use less.
doubt
Oh it may well be true, doesn't mean they will succeed.
Their first step should have been to disable all the data collection and „AI“. If they were actually serious about saving resources.
Yes I understood that but I am arguing against the implication they made when they chose this specific language and connotation, so I am insinuating that it will still use more than every other OS unless they gutt all the adware and spyware.
Unused ram is wasted ram.
RAM that's hogged by windows is wasted RAM. It should be used by programs and for caching.
Technically, it is being used by about 30 more background processes than Windows 10 had.
“unused ram is wasted ram” is only valid when that memory is buffer/cache. Except the windows UI isn’t allocating excessive buffers or cache that can be freed under memory pressure or when an application needs it. It’s allocating actual memory pages for the JS rendering engine and other bloated vibecoded services.
Not when your system just booted and is idle.
i got my windows install down to 0 RAM by using Linux.
Blindly deleting windows partitions while installing Linux because you know with 100% certainty that there is nothing of value on them always feels good.
Surface Pro owner asked if Microsoft would improve memory consumption, since they had to disable on-device AI services just to run a local model.
A cynic would say that customers disabling Copilot is finally what forced Microsoft's hand.
I disable every single new feature from all non Foss vendors. Theyre ALWAYS shit. 99% of the time its a shitty ui change for no reason and now shitty ai thats useless for no reason.
Whatever happened to good software. They all went to Foss lol
Publicly traded company shareholders, baby!
Any project worth its salt is privately held or FOSS lol
That's why Valve/Steam holds the line. People think public corporations can choose not to be evil; they legally can, but it's practically impossible. That's why we need strong government and regulation.
It's not just the Windows OS that uses more RAM than others. Every bloody App these days left memory optimisation in the dust a long time ago.
The base OS itself is only a fraction of the issue
Depends on how much ram you have. 32 or more? Yeah the OS is a drop in the bucket. But even with 8Gb windows kinda chugs sometimes.
I think a lot of that depends on platform though. If you're having electron apps like Discord active on your desktop the whole time, memory usage will be a constant issue for you.
I replaced a lot of my proprietary software with FOSS suites that run locally (with the exception of Steam and GOG launchers that I don't have running in the background), and I haven't had any issues with memory since.
Plus, using Ublock Origin on a Firefox fork tends to prevent junk from loading in the first place while browsing the web (and saves a shit ton of ram)
Them working to improve the OS is like the good side effect of them investing into AI causing this whole dilemma.
It's still time to abandon Windows though.
I'll believe it when I see it. I mean, Windows has a lot of auto-loading bloatware that Microsoft could cut, but I really doubt they'll actually have the balls to cut any of it.
If the average laptop people can afford can't run windows, windows is going to change that. Because their entire business model.is being the default.
It seems like these assholes have a reason & a retort for everything these days...
