Microsoft is testing a new Windows 11 mode that should boost CPU speeds for the most common computing functionalities, like opening apps, accessing the Start menu and browsing the File Explorer.
Windows 11’s forthcoming Low Latency Profile will bring significant speed boasts across the operating system and is currently being tested by beta users. Windows Central says the speed boosts when opening Microsoft’s apps are as much as 40% faster with the new mode enabled in benchmarking tests. The Start Menu gets a 70% speed boost.
The Low Latency Profile, which allows the CPU to give short bursts of power to these seems likely to benefit users with more affordable PCs that tend to lag more when opening apps than those with the top-of-the-range Intel and Snapdragon chips. It’s a tactic Apple has deployed to great effect within the macOS operating system and it sounds like a no-brainer for Windows users.
Not everyone is a fan of the method behind the brief performance boosts, with critics claiming that in 2026, it shouldn’t be necessary to whack the CPU up to full power in order to make the File Explorer run with less lag.
One person wrote on X: “it’s 2026 and Microsoft needs to briefly throttle your machine into full power maximum performance mode to open the start menu without lag, sorry, with less lag.”
Scott Hanselman, of the Microsoft/Github technical staff responded to criticism: “Your smartphone already does this. Constantly. Every touch wakes cores, boosts clocks, renders a frame, then drops back to idle milliseconds later. You’ve discovered dynamic frequency scaling. Welcome to modern computer science. Come on in! The water changes temperature often.”
Overall, does it matter how it is achieved?
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