Lab – Windows 11 Performance Update: startup, wake-up, and performance under the microscope

Microsoft’s new operating system has arrived, and a beautiful brand, with an ambitious promise: Windows 11 It will be more lively, and faster than its predecessor Windows 10. Therefore, computers equipped with the new operating system will be more efficient, a statement that we wanted to verify.

To do this, we took out three pre-tested laptops in our columns in order to update them to Windows 11 and then put them back under the yoke of the dedicated application performance testing procedure. We also took the opportunity to check if the startup and standby times were actually improved, another speech Microsoft made at the time of Windows 11’s announcement.

startup time

The first contact with the operating system is often when the computer starts up. So we noticed on HP Pavilion 15, the time required to start the device under Windows 10 and then under Windows 11.

We made a series of measurements between pressing the start button and displaying a specific menu in Windows. The average gap between Windows 10 and Windows 11 is limited to half a second in favor of the older operating system. However, disabling Teams from auto-starting in Windows 11 puts the two systems on an equal footing. Draw.

Wake up from deep standby

Then we checked the time required to get out of a deep sleep, until reaching the login screen. We repeated the process about twenty times to get a reduced rate.

The workout shifts in favor of Windows 10, which is 0.5 seconds faster than Windows 11 to wake up and find its senses. In fact, the gap is not really tangible, in the end it plays very little role. However, Microsoft’s promise has not been fulfilled.

Occupy RAM

To judge the “heavy” of the operating system, we also noted the amount of RAM used by Windows 10 and Windows 11 a few minutes after starting the operating system.

Thus, no matter how much RAM is installed in your computer, Windows 11 is systematically “consuming” more RAM than Windows 10. New aesthetic features such as UI elements or Snaps are certainly not exotic.

Application performance

Then we did more tests. We therefore compared the results obtained by three laptops in our test protocol intended for processor performance evaluation.

Used laptops:

Combining all the results, the average performance index for Windows 10 is 86 while it is 84 for Windows 11. The 2% performance drop is probably attributed to the management of AMD Ryzen processors by Windows 11. In fact, if we look at each case individually, The AMD Ryzen 5 5500U for the HP Pavilion 15’s index goes from 77 to 73 under Windows 11, just as the Asus VivoBook Pro 14X’s Ryzen 7 5800H goes from 110 to 109. Only the HP Envy with Intel Core i7 processor -1165G7 sees its benchmark stable at 70. In the end with the fixes planned by AMD and Microsoft, we should have similar behavior, regardless of the operating system used.

If you expect performance differences when upgrading to Windows 11 – As Microsoft announced – You will be disappointed. According to our results, Windows 11 is at its best: at least as efficient as its predecessor on Intel platforms and significantly lagging behind on AMD platforms. It remains for Microsoft and AMD to correct this little Young flaw hampers Ryzen processors. Furthermore, since this drop in performance can be even more significant in games, AMD has announced a difference of up to 15% against Windows 11. It’s a point we’ll return to.