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If it was 32-bit, then it's probable the windows 7 install wasn't using all the memory, so there shouldn't have been a big difference.

And 4GB is enough for a blank windows 10 install doing some OS things and browsing. I don't think more memory helps that scenario.

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32bit PAE was supported since Windows XP and initially allowed for more than 4GB of RAM to be supported, but driver issues made Microsoft put a soft-cap in 4GB under this mode[0]. But Win7 32 bits with PAE would've surely been able to use all of those 4GB fine.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension#Mic...

In my experience, also with some older hardware: Windows 10 is not happy with just 8 GB of RAM, much less 4 GB.

I mean, everyone uses a browser, even if they use nothing else, and browsers gobble up RAM like crazy.

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