Windows 11 is really shooting itself in the foot. Not just the privacy implications of this, but also the CPU and memory usage will surge once again. Why is this important?
I went to an electronics store recently to see the state of brand new laptop performance in 2024. Here’s what I found:
Laptops with 16GB RAM, an SSD, and a good CPU (3K/13K single/multi thread on Passmark) will run Windows 11 smoothly. File manager, task manager takes about a second to open, while the start menu takes around 400ms. It feels like a truck with 350hp.
Laptops with 8GB RAM, an SSD, and a mediocre CPU (2.5K/9K Passmark) will noticably struggle with Windows 11. The file manager takes 3 seconds to open and the start menu takes 1 second, with stutters and hiccups using it. It’ll be usable, but quite slow. It feels like a truck with 100hp.
Laptops with 4GB RAM, eMMC, and a bad CPU (1.5K/4K Passmark) will be brought to its knees by Windows 11. Task manager takes 27 seconds to open! A web browser takes even longer, and loading my light game somehow took 7 seconds (this game loaded in under a second on the better computers) to open. The CPU, RAM, and storage were pinned to 100% most of the time. Completely unacceptable performance, it’s like a truck with 10hp.
And a laptop with the above but with a CPU with a Passmark score of 1K/2.5K was so bad that it couldn’t open literally anything in Windows 11. It’s literally a brick. I cannot believe the store (a giant multinational company) is selling this laptop. It’s like a truck with 5hp that cannot go up a moderate hill.
But now, the store also sold ChromeOS laptops. As much as I hate how locked down ChromeOS was, I was delighted by the performance of it. The worst laptop specs I mentioned (4GB RAM, 64GB eMMC, CPU with 1K/2.5K Passmark score) ran actually quite reasonably on ChromeOS. It opens Chrome in about 3 seconds, and my game in 1 second, with some stutters but no freezes. It struggled with YouTube, but this is due to YouTube’s own bloat, which is like a 1000lb trailer to a bike with 5hp.
In conclusion, Windows is losing due to its incredible bloat. It’ll make every computer–including my friend’s 7900X, 4070, 1TB SSD, 64GB RAM, water-cooled beast–sweat, and will make low-end computers unusable. The super locked down ChromeOS is literally more desirable to me on laptops under $400. Yet Microsoft is still deciding to add even more bloat! No wonder why Linux market share is skyrocketing, because Windows can barely run on their computers!
I know you can disable this, but most non-techy people won’t even know this exists and won’t do anything to disable it, because they just want to browse the web and read emails. But the added bloat by this “feature” will cause them to notice their computers are even slower, and switch away from Windows when they realize they need a $800 Windows laptop to have a smooth OS experience, when they can buy a $250 Chromebook or $1000 Mac with a smooth OS experience.
TL;DR: Microsoft is shooting itself in the foot by adding more bloat to an obese OS, and Windows’s bloat is its biggest liability.