- Windows 11 gets a new ‘Low Latency Profile’ feature
- It gives the CPU a brief boost to help apps and menus load faster
- It’s just rumors and still in early testing, but we’re told not to worry about it having a detrimental effect on laptop battery life
Windows 11 is getting a feature designed to speed up performance when the system tackles spikes of demanding activity — like the workload created when you open an app — by flooring the accelerator with the CPU short.
Windows Central reports that this is apparently part of the so-called Windows K2 project, otherwise known as ‘The big drive this year to fix everything that’s wrong with Windows 11’.
There’s a lot of focus on boosting performance with K2, and according to leaker Zac Bowden, the new processor-boosting trick is already being tested with the Windows Insider program. In fact, Windows Latest has already enabled it (using a configuration tool) and tested the functionality.
Sources within Microsoft told Bowden that the feature is known as the ‘Low Latency Profile’, and it takes effect and increases the CPU’s frequency briefly – from between one to three seconds – while performing larger operations. That includes launching an app or opening parts of the Windows 11 interface, such as the Start menu or right-click context menus.
The result is up to 40% faster launch times for Microsoft apps such as Edge and Outlook, and menus are up to 70% faster to load, we’re told. Third-party (non-Microsoft) apps running in Windows 11 should also benefit from this low-latency functionality.
Based on Windows Latest tests, it appears that the feature does indeed provide an impressive boost to loading speeds.
The Low Latency Profile works seamlessly in the background and automatically comes to life when needed. It’s not yet clear if there will be a toggle to enable or disable it, but that’s not the case at the moment.
Analysis: portable concerns and general skepticism
Windows 11 apparently feels a lot more responsive with the new low-latency profile in place, and based on the claimed percentages for speed-ups – even if they’re best-case scenarios – I’d imagine it would. Menus that open not far off at twice the speed are the kind of performance tweaks that Windows 11 could really do with, and should make the overall experience of using the operating system a whole lot more pleasant.
Presumably File Explorer will get the benefit of this – since it’s technically an ‘app’ for Windows 11, or a process that runs your desktop folders – but it’s not mentioned (by Bowden or Windows Latest), so it’s not clear. Keep in mind that Microsoft is already doing a lot of work to speed up File Explorer anyway.
An obvious concern is the effect of these short CPU boosts on battery life in the case of Windows 11 laptops, but Bowden notes that the sources who leaked the details say any impact on battery life is ‘minimal’.
This is still in early testing, Bowden reminds us, and so the concept could change significantly before it comes to fruition. In any case, it clearly illustrates that Microsoft is thinking in depth about how Windows 11 can be made a lot more performant in ways that will be felt in everyday life.
One thing I would caution is that if people are concerned about the thermal impact this feature might have on an older laptop with, say, an ailing cooling system, it seems like a sensible idea to include that switch to turn off the low latency profile.
Skeptics are also still on the subject of how good this feature can actually turn out to be. As one Redditor noted: “‘I’ll believe it until I see the results, but I really hope it’s true, I miss the old Microsoft.’
We all hope it’s true, let’s face it – and it looks promising based on the early testing done by Windows Latest. (Although granted, we have to take it with a grain of salt since it was a limited use of the feature in a very early state inside a virtual machine).
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