Should I Upgrade?
All the initial issues I experienced with Windows 11 now seem to have been resolved and all the computers I have upgraded for my own use and for customers are working fine, therefore for those of you who wish to upgrade then I would now consider it safe to do so.
As to whether you can or should upgrade I have summarized the main points below, all of which are explained in further detail in previous posts:-
oIt is personal choice, you don't have to upgrade and can stay with Windows 10 if you prefer - Windows 10 will continue to be supported until October 14th 2025 anyway.
oThe upgrade from compatible versions of Windows 10 is FREE.
oNot all Windows 10 computers will be eligible based on compatibility - see section below for more details - for those customers who have had PC Health Checks recently I have checked compatibility and details will appear in your report.
oWindows 11 doesn't feature anything that makes the upgrade from Windows 10 essential, yes it has a newly designed user interface but underneath it is still very much like Windows 10.
If you want to upgrade the full step by step instructions can be found here.
Staying on Windows 10
If you don't want to upgrade to Windows 11 then in Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update when you see the following message click on Stay on Windows 10 for now.
Hardware Requirements
Compared to Windows 10 the hardware requirements for Windows 11 have changed considerably, this means that a lot of older and lower specification machines will not be eligible to upgrade.
Below is a list of these requirements and my comments:-
UEFI / Secure Boot |
This will rule out a lot of older machines that won't support this, but most newer machines feature this as standard. |
TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 security chip present and enabled |
This requirement is all about making the computer as secure as possible, again this will rule out a lot of older machines (pre 2014), but also a lot of machines since then which were cheaper / lower spec wouldn't have come with one fitted, and since it is a chip that is often soldered on the main circuit board (motherboard) it is not possible in a lot of cases to fit one to existing boards, in fact a lot of boards do not even have the required socket for one to be fitted.
Good specification machines released in last 5 years should be fine. |
Processor (CPU) - 1 Ghz+, 2+ Cores, 64-bit, on supported list |
In reality this rules out most Intel processors released before mid 2017 and AMD processors released before April 2018. |
System Memory (RAM) - 4Gb minimum |
This will rule out a lot of cheaper / lower spec models which only came with 2Gb RAM - for some it may be possible to upgrade the RAM but this will depend on the other specs of the machine as to whether this will be worth doing. |
System drive has to be 64Gb or larger |
This will only rule out a small number of cheap computers which came with very small SSD drives. |
Graphics card must be compatible with DirectX 12 and use a WDDM 2.0 driver |
Should only affect some older computers which were made pre 2014. |
Display larger than 9" |
Shouldn't affect too many people as not many devices were sold with screens less than 9". |
So, in summary any good specification machine bought in the last 3 years should easily meet all these criteria, anything older than that which was a lower spec or cheaper model probably wouldn't be worth upgrading anyway as you won't get the benefits of the new OS.
Microsoft have provided a free tool you can download, install, and run to check whether your computer will be compatible, or just ask me and I will let you know from past PC Health Check results and/or by connecting in remotely whether your computer is compatible or not.
