Microsoft has removed its recommendations for 32GB of RAM on Windows 11, a move that has left many in the tech industry wondering if the company is finally acknowledging the changing landscape of the hardware market.
The now-deleted page, titled “How to optimize your gaming PC setup,” was part of the Windows Learning Center and stated that while 16GB of RAM was sufficient for most gamers, 32GB was the ideal memory amount for “serious gamers.” This change comes after Microsoft previously removed a different support page that recommended 32GB of RAM for gaming on Windows 11 machines.
Despite the removal of these recommendations, the need for 32GB of RAM remains a contentious issue. With exorbitant hikes pushing RAM prices way up beyond the reach of everyday consumers, it now costs over $250 for 32GB of DDR4 and over $400 for DDR5.
Microsoft has yet to fundamentally improve the memory requirements and efficiency of Windows 11, and users still need at least 16GB of RAM for a reasonably responsive experience, with 32GB required for a great experience in the long term. The move to remove its 32GB recommendations has left many wondering if the company is trying to make Windows 11 less painful to use on 8GB of RAM.
The removal of the 32GB recommendations coincides with Microsoft's recently launched “budget”-tier Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, which both offer only 8GB of RAM in their base configurations. This, combined with Microsoft's secret “Windows K2” project for improving performance on Windows 11, might actually help to improve the user experience.
Meanwhile, Windows 10 copes a lot better with less RAM than Windows 11 does, which might be one of the many reasons why so many users are still hanging onto Windows 10 PCs.
