New Surface Laptop shows Windows 11 eats 4.2 GB of RAM out of the box

According to a review by The Verge, the 2026 8 GB configuration of the Microsoft Surface Laptop consumes roughly 4.2 GB of RAM right out of the box.

That baseline idle footprint immediately exceeds the official 4 GB minimum requirement that Microsoft continues to list for Windows 11. On a hardware setup matching the published minimum specification, the operating system would mathematically struggle to hold its own essential services in physical memory before opening a single browser tab or utility.

During benchmark testing, The Verge observed that launching even a few everyday applications triggered pronounced interface stuttering. The primary bottleneck was memory exhaustion rather than processor speed or solid-state storage throughput. Routine multitasking on 8 GB quickly hit practical ceilings, forcing trade-offs on open browser tabs, active extensions, and background tasks.

The findings spotlight an ongoing contradiction in hardware guidance. While Microsoft recommended 16 GB for gaming and hardware running Copilot AI features in late 2025, it still certifies 4 GB as viable—even as its own 8 GB production hardware surrenders more than half its capacity just to boot up.

Source: habr via The Verge