Microsoft claims its latest update will make your Windows 11 PC up to 20% faster

Struggling with sluggish performance in Windows 11? Microsoft promises its latest update will help.

While most major updates focus on never-before-seen features or a sleek new look, that isn't the case with the most recent version of Windows 11. Instead, it's about making Windows "feel faster, more responsive and more efficient."

If you often find yourself drumming your fingertips while waiting for your laptop or desktop PC to load, this focus on performance should be extremely welcome. According to Microsoft, the improvements under the bonnet should result in a Windows experience that’s up to 20% more responsive than the previous release.

Microsoft says the snappier speeds will be most noticeable in the Start Menu, File Explorer, Search, Snipping Tool, Edge web browser, and Microsoft 365 applications. You should notice the biggest step-up in performance if your laptop has 8GB of RAM or less, Microsoft says. That's less than most modern smartphones, so it's taken a serious amount of optimisation to ensure these devices remain responsive while multitasking.

One of the most notable changes will let Windows keep up to 2GB more of your active data in memory instead of moving it to slower storage, helping your PC stay responsive as you open more apps or browser tabs. Other taxing elements of the desktop operating system, like Widgets, will only load when you open them. That example alone will free up over 200MB of memory for other tasks, the US company states.

Navjot Virk, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Windows Experiences, wrote in a blog post: "It’s one example of the broader work underway to reduce the Windows memory footprint and deliver a fast, responsive experience across the PCs people use every day, an area we’ve made an explicit focus for Windows."

All of this engineering work will be helpful for existing Windows 11 laptops and desktop PCs with less memory, but it also means manufacturers can release new models with less memory. That's helpful because global component shortages are increasingly forcing PC manufacturers to scale back on the amount of RAM included in designs.

The worldwide shortages — which have forced Microsoft to quietly increase the price of its Surface laptops and XBOX consoles — are primarily fuelled by surging AI data-centre demand, constrained chip manufacturing capacity and supply-chain bottlenecks. Aside from hiking price tags — something we've seen from almost every brand, including Google, Apple, and Samsung in recent months — manufacturers are looking to cut costs wherever they can.

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For Windows 11 laptops, that increasingly means shipping machines with less RAM. Memory is a tempting target: reducing capacity lowers component costs across entire production runs, helping protect margins as prices climb.

The catch? Cheaper hardware can mean more sluggish multitasking and less headroom for tomorrow’s software.

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 performance push could help turn this cost-cutting exercise into a competitive advantage. By making the operating system run more efficiently on memory-constrained hardware, Microsoft could give budget laptops a fighting chance against Apple’s affordable MacBook Neo.

That matters as manufacturers look to deliver affordable, capable machines without absorbing rising component costs. If Windows 11 can stay responsive with less RAM, entry-level PCs become more compelling alternatives — provided manufacturers don’t sacrifice too much performance, longevity or multitasking headroom in the process.

Several other performance tweaks built into this new desktop operating system focus on "the everyday interactions you depend on," Microsoft executive Navjot Virk adds. That includes more reliable connections to Bluetooth headphones, including a focus on smoother pairing, reconnection, audio streaming, and calls.

Apple AirPods will pair up to 15 seconds faster, Microsoft adds.

And that's not all. Signing into your device via Windows Hello promises to be "easier, faster and more reliable" across both facial and fingerprint recognition, Microsoft stresses. There's a new Photos app that brings together pictures and videos from across your device, OneDrive, and even Apple's iCloud. Editing your shots within the app is 25% speedier than before, while the entire application should load 30% faster, we're told.

This isn't a Photoshop replacement, but Microsoft has added some helpful edits to quickly improve shots. You'll be able to crop and fine-tune colours, as well as use more advanced tools to quickly remove a distracting object from the background, or use Relight to correct lighting and explore a different look.

To update Windows 11, open Settings > Windows Update and select Check for Updates.

Download and install any available updates, then restart your PC if prompted. Enable Get the latest updates as soon as soon as they’re available to receive eligible updates sooner.