The speed of an operating system is not always noticeable when we export a video or open a demanding game. Many times we perceive it in much smaller gestures: a menu that appears instantly or a window that responds without delay. It’s a hard feeling to sell on a spec sheet, but easy to notice when it fails. Microsoft has been trying to convey for months that it wants to improve Windows 11and one of its next adjustments goes right into that area where fluidity is gained or lost in tenths of a second.
Low latency profile. Microsoft is testing what is known as low latency profile. The idea is to ask the processor for an additional boost of speed at specific times, such as when opening the Start menu, an application, or certain context menus. We are not facing a function announced as a great novelty for all users, but rather a setting present in test builds. Secure Windows Central who has already tested this profile and has observed an appreciable improvement in speed and response compared to the current public version of Windows 11 25H2.
It’s not magic, it’s latency. The reference to macOS does not point to a specific Apple feature, but to a principle that, according to Scott Hanselman, vice president of Microsoft and GitHub, modern operating systems share. “All modern operating systems do this, including macOS and Linux,” wrote in X. Their argument is that this is not “cheating,” but rather a common way to make applications appear faster: temporarily raising the CPU speed and prioritizing interactive tasks to reduce latency. In other words, Windows 11 would be trying to react better in those seconds in which we most notice if the system is accompanying or lagging behind.
Spot power. At first glance it may seem contradictory that asking more from the processor also helps to take care of consumption. But reality goes the other way: many modern chips are designed to exert intense effort for a very short period and then return to a low-power state. Applied to Windows 11, the goal would not be to keep the CPU accelerated, but rather to take advantage of a specific push when the system needs to respond to the user. The key is that this impulse does not last longer than necessary.
The test has not convinced everyone. Some users criticized on social networks that Microsoft resorted to this type of CPU boost, understanding that it could increase consumption and reduce autonomy, or that the company was leaning too much on the hardware instead of better optimizing the software. Now, Microsoft does not present this adjustment as the only answer to the fluidity problems of Windows 11, but as one more piece within a broader work.
Windows 11 also needs convincing. The interesting thing is that Microsoft isn’t just talking about making an animation go a little faster. The company has begun to publicly organize its progress around a very specific idea, its “commitment to Windows quality”, with posts tracking the status of several changes in testing, including a less loaded Widgets view, lower RAM usage, adjustments to the Windows Insider program, and more leeway to decide when updates are installed.
The timing is not coincidental either.. All of this comes as Microsoft tries to push users and businesses towards Windows 11, with Windows 10 still installed on just over a quarter of the world’s Windows PCs, according to StatCounter. When I finish that free year of extended security updatesanyone who wants to remain protected will have to update the system, change equipment if their hardware does not meet the requirements of Windows 11, or pay for more support. For companies there is a little more margin, but not infinite: they will be able to purchase one or two additional years of updates, with a cost that will increase each year.
Images | Nicholas Worrell
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