Unfortunately as much as I love it, the new AoE2 DE has fallen to the same trap. Old AoE2 uses a fraction of the power (and disk space) compared to the new one.
Eh I disagree. On the same computer original aoe2 would lag like crazy even on a LAN with 4-5 players and pop. limit to 200, with AoE2 DE it's muuuch smoother