Microsoft’s Surface RT, the little brother to the Surface Pro, features Windows RT running a Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 on 2GB of RAM. At times, the Surface RT can become a little slow for some users. Even if it isn’t slow and you want an added boost, here’s a little tip that will help you boost performance and make your life just a bit easier.
This tip involves adjusting the system’s performance settings on Windows RT. The idea is simple, do you want to sacrifice performance over appearance? If you want to give Windows RT an added boost of performance by disabling some visual effects, just follow these simple steps:
- Right click the Start Button area or hit Win Key + X and select “System”
- Select “Advanced System Settings” on the left side of the window
- You will be taken to the “Advanced” tab for system settings. Click or tap “Settings” under the Performance area
- Select the option “Adjust for Best Performance”
- Before you save and exit, also enable “Smooth Edges of Screen Fonts”
Congrats. Now Windows RT will run faster and be much more responsive compared to before. You will also notice that there are minor visual differences, as far as visual effects are concerned. You are pretty much disabling the visual effects that appear when you open or close menus and whether shadows are displayed.
One noticeable difference is that the Settings or Share Charm will glide out from the Charms bar when you have “Adjust for Best Appearance” enabled. However, when you have “Adjust for Best Performance”, the Settings or Share Charm will pop out and not glide out.
We recommend you play around with these settings to see what you like and don’t like. Select the “Custom” option to choose a balance between appearance and performance. Adjusting these settings will not only improve response time on Windows RT, but also increase your battery life.
