What changed
2026-07-30 02:43 UTC → 2026-08-03 06:28 UTC ·
added
removed
In late Late July 2026, 2026 reviewers noted found that Microsoft’s the new 13‑inch Surface Laptop, sold for $949.99 and equipped with 8 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, struggled to run Windows 11, which routinely consumed more than 4 GB half of the memory. The limited headroom caused frequent freezes during everyday tasks When users opened several apps such as web browsing Teams, Chrome, Slack and video calls. The initial report also highlighted Microsoft’s rollout of a TPM‑based attestation Signal together, the system froze for Windows Server activation, aimed at curbing illegal activations. Two days later, further several seconds before responding. Follow‑up testing on July 29 confirmed the same freezing behavior when multiple applications (e.g., Teams, Chrome, Slack, Signal) were run simultaneously. The coverage expanded to place and placed the laptop’s RAM constraints within a broader market trend, noting that trend: smartphone makers were also increasing are expanding RAM capacities to meet AI 12‑16 GB for AI‑heavy workloads, which was driving higher up component costs for consumers. In early August, Microsoft announced a set of Windows 11 optimizations aimed at devices with 8 GB of RAM or less. The update reduces the operating system’s memory footprint, improving responsiveness on entry‑level notebooks and helping users cope with rising memory prices without hardware upgrades. The move comes as other manufacturers, such as Acer, launch higher‑RAM laptops (e.g., a 32 GB Aspire Go 15) to address the same demand. Overall, the situation highlights a mismatch between the memory requirements of modern software and the cost‑sensitive hardware market, prompting both software‑level fixes and a push for larger RAM modules across PCs and smartphones.