Even Microsoft couldn’t make Windows 11 work effectively on 8GB of RAM

Last 12 months, Microsoft’s 13-inch Surface Laptop rapidly grew to become certainly one of my favourite thin-and-light Windows notebooks. At $900, it was straightforward to advocate to anybody wanting MacBook Air–like construct high quality and battery life on Windows — I even satisfied my sister to purchase one on sale.

But that was final 12 months. This 12 months, due to RAMageddon, that very same laptop computer prices $950, and now that value will get you half as a lot RAM — simply 8GB. It’s the identical nice {hardware} on the skin, but it surely’s not the identical laptop computer on the within.

It’s been a very long time since we examined a Windows laptop computer with so little RAM. We’ve been saying for years that 8GB isn’t sufficient. But that is Microsoft’s laptop computer, and Windows 11 is Microsoft’s working system. Maybe it’ll be ok.

All the nice issues I wrote about final 12 months’s {hardware} nonetheless ring true: The keyboard is good and tactile, the trackpad is nice (solely outdone by ones that permit you to click on corner-to-corner), the webcam is sharp and clear, and the battery goes and goes — simply lasting 10 hours. The processor, an eight-core Snapdragon X Plus, is sort of equivalent to the one within the Surface Laptop I reviewed final 12 months. In reality, it has a slightly faster boost speed. In final 12 months’s Surface Laptop, it was a stable performer and will even deal with mild photograph modifying in Lightroom Classic. But final 12 months’s mannequin had 16GB of RAM. It seems that makes a giant distinction.

While the 8GB Surface was often nice for fundamental internet searching or video streaming, I often nudged it a bit too far in on a regular basis use. I used to be on a Microsoft Teams name (utilizing the app, not a browser) when the host streamed a quick video, which made the entire laptop computer dangle for a number of seconds. At the time, I had about 10 Chrome tabs open throughout two desktops, alongside Slack and Signal — not an obscene degree of multitasking. And we didn’t even have our webcams on.

The Surface Laptop would dangle for just a few seconds like this a number of instances a day, even once I thought I wasn’t pushing it too exhausting. I’ve had these non permanent freezes whereas simply working in some Google Docs — no Teams name working or something streaming within the background. It’s solely a pair instances a day on common, however that’s nonetheless too typically.

Keeping the Performance tab open in Task Manager confirmed I used to be nearly all the time utilizing round 6.7GB of the obtainable 7.6GB of obtainable reminiscence. After a recent reboot with naked minimal startup apps working, Windows was utilizing 4.2GB of RAM. That’s across the minimal Microsoft requires just to run Windows 11, highlighting how little headroom there’s with 8GB of RAM. Limiting myself to about six Chrome tabs, closing Signal, and refraining from utilizing any digital desktops saved the reminiscence utilization to about 5.5GB.

Is this all workable for mild hundreds? Yes. Do I need to stay my life being tremendous cautious about what number of apps I’m working and what number of tabs I depart open on a brand-new $950 laptop computer? Absolutely not. And if it’s choking on day one, how usable is it going to be in 5 years?

The similar issues will be stated of the MacBook Neo, which additionally has simply 8GB of RAM. But macOS is a bit higher with RAM — and extra to the purpose, in my testing, the Neo might deal with extra multitasking. A Neo received’t have the shelf lifetime of a MacBook Air, but it surely additionally prices $250 lower than the Surface Laptop (even after Apple’s latest value enhance).

Microsoft has claimed its focus this 12 months is bettering the efficiency of Windows 11 and making it extra dependable, particularly for lower-cost {hardware}, to compete with the Neo. But if we’re actually going again to 8GB as the start line for Windows laptops, there’s much more work to be accomplished. It’s in fact ironic that Microsoft wants to deal with this drawback when it’s one of many main perpetrators of the continued RAM crunch. Perhaps Microsoft doesn’t care that its flagship Surface line will undergo for its AI obsession, but it surely nonetheless sucks to see.

We haven’t reviewed a Windows laptop computer with simply 8GB of RAM in additional than three years. Unfortunately, the Surface Laptop received’t be the final. The latest Computex present additionally introduced bulletins for upcoming laptops with 8GB of reminiscence from Dell, Acer, and Asus. With the RAM scarcity more likely to final years, we’re going to see increasingly 8GB choices so producers nonetheless have one thing “entry-level” to supply.

But if even Microsoft can’t make a Windows laptop computer that runs effectively on 8GB RAM, what hope do OEMs have? 8GB isn’t sufficient for a Windows laptop computer in 2026. Barring Microsoft really de-bloating Windows 11 sufficient to accommodate lower-spec computer systems, your greatest guess is to spend extra and get one thing with 16GB of RAM — like the identical Surface Laptop for $1,150, one thing from another manufacturer that still sees some decent sales, or look into refurbs and open-box models from respected sources. Or simply cop out and get a MacBook Neo.

Prices might nonetheless go up. The $950 8GB Surface Laptop of at this time might very effectively be the $1,050 8GB Surface Laptop of subsequent 12 months, or the $1,200 8GB Surface Laptop of the next 12 months.

This is our new regular for computing. The 13-inch Surface Laptop initially supplied respectable tradeoffs for a good low cost — “a little less for a little less,” as I put it then. Now the brand new base mannequin affords even much less for extra. RAMageddon has altered the deal. It’ll in all probability worsen.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge