Windows 11 on 8GB RAM: a 9-year-old Let's note gets a new job

After the update, he says, it stopped feeling sluggish. Pages load and tabs switch more smoothly, and Task Manager shows far more memory available to apps. The timing matters: memory prices have jumped on AI demand, and for consumer PCs the parts are sometimes hard to find at all. Buying a new computer is a harder sell than it was.

The typing problem: Meltype and live conversion

So he tried it as a backup writing machine. The sticking point was Japanese input. He uses Meltype, an input method that switches between Japanese and English automatically, with no special key press. Version 1.4.0 arrived on October 28 and works with the standard Windows IME or Google's Mozc engine. It also supports live conversion, which shows the kana-to-kanji process directly in the text instead of in a popup window.

On 8GB, though, live conversion fell behind. Partway through a word, the text turned into raw romaji. Kodera asked Codex, an AI coding tool, to investigate. Its diagnosis: when conversion responds late, Windows' text input framework passes the keystrokes straight to the app.

How the AI fixed it

The first fix simply switched live conversion off. That works, but it defeats the point, so he asked for a version that kept it. The second build puts a time limit on each Mozc call during live conversion and keeps the Japanese reading if the engine is slow.

The result: no more dropped input. Replies lag a little on this old machine, but the input waits instead of spitting out romaji. This article was typed that way, with only a browser and the Cursor editor open. An AI proofreads on one side while Codex works on Meltype on the other.