Microsoft's New Copilot for Windows 11 Bundles Full Edge Browser, Doubles RAM Usage
Key Takeaways
- ▸New Copilot for Windows 11 is a hybrid web app that includes a complete, private copy of Microsoft Edge (850MB) rather than relying on shared Windows 11 Edge integration
- ▸RAM usage increased dramatically: up to 500MB idle and 1GB when active, compared to under 100MB for the previous native version
- ▸This represents the latest architectural overhaul for Windows Copilot in less than two years, raising concerns about Microsoft's product stability and strategic direction
Summary
Microsoft has rolled out a redesigned Copilot application for Windows 11 that replaces the native WinUI version with a web-based hybrid app—but with a significant caveat: it ships with a complete, bundled copy of Microsoft Edge. The new Copilot uses between 500MB to 1GB of RAM depending on activity, more than five times the memory footprint of its predecessor, which consumed less than 100MB. The application is no longer distributed through the Microsoft Store directly but instead uses an installer similar to Edge itself, and the installation folder contains a full 850MB Edge browser package with complete Chromium binaries and subsystems.
The new implementation raises questions about Microsoft's approach to AI integration on Windows. The Copilot package includes both WebView2 and full browser capabilities, running through a custom launcher (mscopilot.exe) with the UI rendered via WebView2. While the bundled Edge instance reportedly makes the app feel faster and more responsive than typical web applications or Progressive Web Apps, the significant resource consumption undermines Microsoft's recent efficiency initiatives for Windows 11. This marks another architectural pivot for Copilot on Windows—the latest in a series that has seen the application shift from a sidebar widget to a PWA, to a WebView version, to a native WinUI app, and now to a hybrid web-based model.
- The bundled Edge instance improves performance over typical web apps but creates significant bloat and redundancy on user systems
Editorial Opinion
Microsoft's decision to bundle a full Edge browser inside Copilot exemplifies a troubling pattern of resource-heavy, poorly-integrated AI features that sacrifice system efficiency for technical expediency. The dramatic increase in memory consumption—a five-fold jump—directly contradicts Microsoft's messaging about Windows 11 optimization and suggests the company is prioritizing feature velocity over responsible engineering. While the approach may technically deliver a smoother experience, shipping 850MB of redundant browser code when Windows already includes Edge represents a failure of architectural planning that will frustrate users with constrained resources.
