The tech landscape has shifted to 8 gigabytes as the new baseline for computer manufacturers due to a global memory shortage. Microsoft has been optimizing Windows 11 for devices with limited RAM, including enhancements in background memory management that allow Windows to retain up to 2GB more active data in memory. This improvement helps maintain responsiveness when opening multiple apps or browser tabs. Additionally, optimizations for PCs with 8GB of memory or less include widget management, which now loads widgets only when accessed, freeing up an extra 200MB of memory.