Windows 11's built-in Weather app wastes more than 1 GB of RAM

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Windows 11’s built‑in Weather app is reported to use around 0.5–1 GB of RAM because it’s essentially an MSN Weather web page wrapped in Microsoft’s WebView2/Chromium framework, and it also displays ads. Commenters contrast this with native weather tools that use tens of megabytes at most, noting that even Apple’s macOS Weather app at ~250 MB is considered bloated for such a simple task. The thread broadens into criticism of modern software bloat, perverse corporate incentives, and the renewed importance of efficiency as RAM prices rise, with some users proposing lightweight alternatives or abandoning Windows entirely.

Memory usage and comparisons

  • Many commenters see 1 GB for a weather app as outrageous; some report “only” ~450–700 MB on their own systems, but still call this excessive.
  • The article’s comparison to macOS Weather (~250 MB) is viewed as damning for Microsoft but also evidence that Apple’s app is bloated.
  • Other weather apps mentioned: GNOME Weather (150 MB), KDE/Plasma widgets (1–50 MB incremental, because libs are shared), various CLI tools and tiny native apps in the 1–10 MB total range.

Root causes: web tech, architecture, and graphics

  • Key point: Windows 11 Weather is essentially the MSN Weather website in a WebView2 (Chromium) wrapper, spawning multiple renderer/GPU processes.
  • Debate over how much RAM modern GUI compositing and high‑DPI graphics “need”:
    • Defenders: 100–300 MB for a rich, animated, localized UI on 4K/HDR screens is “reasonable.”
    • Critics: framebuffer and assets for a modest window should be on the order of tens of MB at most; the rest is framework and browser overhead.
  • Clarifications on measurement:
    • Task Manager’s default “Memory” is private working set (actual committed, non‑shared RAM).
    • Windows generally does not overcommit like Linux; over‑reserving virtual memory can cause allocation failures even before all RAM is physically used.

Ads, incentives, and Microsoft practices

  • Strong criticism that a built‑in OS app both uses huge RAM and shows ads; some connect this to internal incentive structures (teams chasing engagement/ad metrics rather than user experience).
  • Start menu ads and other “enshittification” patterns in Windows are cited as context.
  • Some argue Microsoft has deprioritized native efficiency in favor of web-tech reuse and organizational convenience.

Alternatives and workarounds

  • Suggestions include:
    • Uninstalling the Weather app.
    • Pinning the MSN Weather page as an Edge PWA with uBlock Origin (~130 MB, no ads).
    • Using terminal tools (e.g., wttr.in, wego, curl scripts) or lightweight desktop widgets.
    • Switching to Linux desktops (KDE, GNOME, tiling WMs) where full systems often idle under a few GB.

Broader reflections: software bloat, RAM prices, and AI

  • Long subthread recalling how rich applications used to run in a few MB, contrasting with today’s multi‑hundred‑MB utilities.
  • Debate over “RAM is cheap” vs. recent RAM price spikes and 8 GB systems being common again.
  • Several suggest LLMs/agents could now be used to systematically de‑bloat or rewrite apps in lean native code, but worry that current incentives favor more web/electron‑style bloat instead.