Microsoft is testing a new way to limit the amount of RAM its Edge web browser uses, in a move that could distract people from market leader Google Chrome.
As websites become more complex (and filled with ads), they use up more system memory on your desktop or laptop PC. If you often surf with many tabs open at once and have a few browser extensions installed, the amount of RAM your web browser is using can quickly add up. This can slow down your PC and drain your laptop’s battery faster.
Chrome is a notorious RAM hog – though Google has added features to address that – so Microsoft clearly sees an opportunity to entice more users to switch to Edge. Despite Edge using the same Chromium technology as Chrome, and having the advantage of being installed by default on Windows 10 and Windows 11, Microsoft’s browser has struggled to chip away at Chrome’s formidable market share.
So any advantage Edge can offer over Chrome will be very welcome. While Edge already offers users a way to manage RAM usage, as Windows Latest Reports A new “Canary” build – an early version released to testers – has changed the way users can set RAM limits.
Instead of the current scroll bar, there is a drop-down menu with the following choices:
- No limit
- Minimum (8GB)
- Average (6GB)
- Aggressive (4GB)
- Most aggressive (2GB)
User friendly FTW
While this new dropdown doesn’t give you the same level of granular control as the current slider, it is a more convenient and user-friendly way to impose limits on the browser, especially for people who may be unsure about how much memory to give to Edge.
One thing to note is that Microsoft isn’t kidding when they label the 2GB limit as “Most Aggressive”. While this mode will be useful if you’re using an older machine with not much RAM to spare, I would recommend not choosing this mode if you have a modern PC with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, as the 2GB limit will reduce the number of tabs you can have open at once and may impact browsing performance.
Limiting Edge to 4GB or 6GB should give you good results. It may also free up more memory on your PC for other applications to use and improve performance.
It’s also a nice addition to be able to set the limit to only come on when you’re playing PC games. It won’t change your gaming experience, but it could make everything run smoother. Windows Latest also claims that Microsoft is looking into ways to integrate Edge with Windows 11’s Energy Saver tool.
I’ve stubbornly refused to use Edge for years, but adding features like this might make me finally ditch Chrome. I often browse with tons of tabs open at once, and even though I typically use desktop PCs with plenty of RAM to spare, I’m still not a fan of how much memory Chrome keeps gobbling up. And when I switch from my gaming PC with 32GB of DDR5 RAM to a work laptop with 8GB of slower RAM, my tab-happy browsing habits start to cause problems.
If Edge means better performance and longer battery life on my laptop, I might not use the browser just to download Chrome. I’m still not a fan of the way Microsoft tries to force Edge on me when I use Windows 11, but adding features that actually make my online life better is more likely to convince me to switch web browsers than any amount of clunky, nagging popups.