Microsoft claims Windows 11's visual effects do not reduce performance

For some people, the upgrade to Windows 11 is little more than eye-candy, a visual change for those who have grown weary of the look of Windows 10. There is, of course, much more to the operating system than that, but aesthetics are certainly what most users will notice first.

And one of the concerns about the design of Windows 11 and the various visual effects that it includes is that there will be a negative impact on system speed. Not so, says Microsoft. Optimization has been implemented that should mean users "shouldn’t notice any difference" in performance.

See also:

• ASUS BIOS update gives motherboards TPM 2.0 support ready for Windows 11
• PrintNightmare fixing KB5005033 update is causing performance issues in Windows 10
• Remote Desktop Connection Manager is back after receiving important security update

There is certainly a lot to consider when it comes to the cosmetic side of Windows 11. In addition to the new Start menu and context menus, Microsoft's Fluent Design language continue to evolve. As part of this, Windows 11 uses a new material called Mica.

The company describes it as an "opaque, dynamic material that incorporates theme and desktop wallpaper to paint the background of long-lived windows such as apps and settings". There are also rounded corners and transparency effects, and all of these have led to concerns that users will suffer reduced performance in the name of looks.

But in a recent stream of its August 2021 Windows Community Stand Up event, Microsoft says there is nothing to worry about on this front: "Performance is really a top priority for us and we want to ensure that all these new functionalities (Mica and rounded corners) are super fast and don't impact the OS".

As Windows Latest notes, Microsoft's Kevin Gallo goes on to say:

For example, Mica was specifically designed for higher performance when compared to things like Acrylic (ed: another design material). And for rounded corners, we optimized our rendering performance so you shouldn’t notice any difference to square corners.

You can check out the full video of the event here:

You can try out the beta build of Windows 11 to judge performance for yourself.