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So should I download windows 11 tomorrow cos it's shiny and new, or do i wait a few days to see if it borks everyone's PC?
I would advise that you make sure your device has a TPM 2.0 chip before deciding...
You can bypass the TPM requirement with a registry edit but it might cause you problems later on if you do... 🤷♂️
I tried but my 6 year old laptop didn’t have the right version of an i7 to use it
do i wait a few
daysmonths to see if it borks everyone’s PC?
FTFY.
I tried but my 6 year old laptop didn’t have the right version of an i7 to use it
Me too!
I'm having problems on my rather old system. I've a TPM 2.0 installed on the motherboard and my system passes all the tests on the Windows 11 Health Checker (more than 2 cores, >1Ghz etc.) but the Health Checker indicated that and my CPU (Intel I7 i7-4790K) supposedly isn't supported; it's old I'll grant you but runs W10 Pro flawlessly and really should manage W11 (W11 installation won't proceed as hardware requirements aren't met).
I'm not sure if they're a workaround to force installation (or perhaps Microsoft will alter the minimum specs. at some point).
Embarrassingly, my 12 months old work PC doesn't have TPM, or indeed any way of installing one, so I can't. I'll probably install it onto my laptop.
Some of the guys in work have been using the pre-release version of it, it's been very stable so far..
I've not really played with it, but I'm not sure how popular it will be, for 99% of users, it's windows 10 with the task bar and windows menu centred and it's pretty.
That said, Windows 8 was windows 7 with a full page windows key menu and everyone hated that.
I really wouldn't bother if Windows 10 works for you. Windows 11 is horribly laggy if you don't have an Iris Xe or Ryzen CPU (or dedicated graphics). I'm running it on a Matebook X Pro with an 8th gen i7, and it's painful. The whole UI runs at about 20 fps.
Explorer is rubbish and can't do multiple file copying operations without the whole thing collapsing, and the new start menu is pointless (half of it is "recommended", which in the modern world means "sponsored by third party companies").
If you play games then expect Windows to randomly take focus and drop you back to the desktop. Right click menus take ages to load, and half the time the option you need is still buried in the original menu, which means extra clicking.
Want to watch a video? Expect the mouse pointer to keep popping up.
If you paid for HEVC codecs in Windows 10 (or they were supplied with your machine), you'll have to buy them again for Windows 11.
Control Panel etc is still this painful mix of new and legacy stuff.
High DPI support is worse than on Windows 10, with older applications ending up with really blurry text.
If you accidentally turn on OneDrive you'll discover that your Documents / Photos / Music folders are remapped to OneDrive, which breaks other stuff. This can't be undone once activated without clean installing Windows.
Calendar entries no longer appear on the pop-out mini calendar by the clock.
Dark theme is still half-baked.
Teracopy can fix some explorer problems but to be honest it's a sticking plaster on a bigger problem.
On the "good stuff" front, I quite like the new wallpapers.
^^^^
Oh dear!
That does not sound very positive @Flaperon.
I think that it will leave the upgrade for a while.
Downloaded this morning on a year old Dell desktop, so far works perfectly. Looks nice and clean with no issues yet.
My ~4yo laptop doesn't have a compatible Intel i7 processor. But no fear, Microsoft say I can buy a new one. Thanks!
Your PC does not currently meet the needed requirements. You can continue to get Windows 10 updates<sup><span class="supText">7</span></sup> <sup><span class="supText">8</span></sup>, or you can shop for a new Windows 10 PC that does meet the requirements.<sup><span class="supText">4</span></sup>
Not compatible with my 6 year old laptop. Strongly suspect compatibility with an AMD A8 CPU isn't a high priority for MS!
Think i'm going to wait a bit longer and see if its Cat69 or Flaperon experience that comes out on top.
Use onedrive and sharepoint so would be a major PITA if that got borked.
Installed this morning on work Surface Pro 7. All good so far. Everything is Office 365 so all my files are on either OneDrive or Sharepoint (via Teams files) anyway.
They've messed with the taskbar / start menu again haven't they? This was the main reason why I took so long to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10. I'd hate to have to go through all that again.
I’m having problems on my rather old system. I’ve a TPM 2.0 installed on the motherboard and my system passes all the tests on the Windows 11 Health Checker (more than 2 cores, >1Ghz etc.) but the Health Checker indicated that and my CPU (Intel I7 i7-4790K) supposedly isn’t supported; it’s old I’ll grant you but runs W10 Pro flawlessly and really should manage W11 (W11 installation won’t proceed as hardware requirements aren’t met).
Possible reasons why Microsoft mandate a recent processor discussed here: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/10/windows-11-the-ars-technica-review/2/#h4.
They’ve messed with the taskbar / start menu again haven’t they? This was the main reason why I took so long to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10.
Gotta be honest, this is a huge turn-off for me. On W11 it's at the bottom and you can't change it, I've had the taskbar at the top of the screen since I had an Atari.
Upgraded yesterday. Runs flawlessly. Few UI changes that I'll get used to very quickly because I'm not old and stuck in my ways.
I'm a professional user who doesn't throw toys out of pram every time there's an upgrade to something through.
In two days, I'll not notice any difference. From a gaming standpoint I'm happy that some of my older games get "auto-HDR'd".
Everything has been stable, quick and just "windows 10 with slight UI improvement". The stuff under the hood is the important stuff really, but casual users'll never notice that.
They’ve messed with the taskbar / start menu again haven’t they?
The first thing I do with a new OS I have to adopt is make the interface look as much like the old one as possible. I'm not disappointed to have to just hang on to W10 for a while longer
I know, I know. My only excuse is I am quite old.
Snap layouts look useful, not seen too much else of interest just yet.
Windows 95 - good
(Windows 97 - not bad)
Windows ME - pony.
Windows XP - good(ish)
Windows Vista - utter utter sh*t.
Windows 7 - good.
Windows 8 - no point.
Windows 10 - good.
Windows 11...
Windows 12 - should be good.
The controll PC in the rack almost took down the entire recording the other day. Somewhere it had managed to find a connection to the internet and start a W10 automatic update......
Linux is beckoning I think.
Windows 95 – good
(Windows 97 – not bad)
Windows ME – pony.
Windows XP – good(ish)
Windows Vista – utter utter sh*t.
Windows 7 – good.
Windows 8 – no point.
Windows 10 – good.
Windows 11…
Windows 12 – should be good.
My 2p:
Windows 95 – shit
Windows 97 – never existed, no such thing
[Windows 98 which is what you meant – great]
Windows ME – named after a disease, wholly appropriately
Windows XP – shit but a necessary step in the right direction, aligning two OS streams
Windows Vista – Much maligned but the best thing MS had done in years
Windows 7 – Vista, fixed
Windows 8 – shit unless you've got a tablet
Windows 8.1 - W8, fixed
Windows 10 – looking good so far
Windows 11 - time will tell I guess
@Cougar - interesting on Vista. I too never had any major issues with it and it was such a step up from what came before it.
Windows 7 & 8 - meh. Really like W10 and just downloading 11 to see what all the fuss is about.
Never really had any issues with any version of Windows I've used, but I don't use a computer for work and not a vast amount for personal use. I would have liked to download W11 but my laptop has a 5 year old i5 processor so I couldn't. Finding that out took 58% of the battery after waiting a full 20 minutes for the laptop to fully boot up, so it obviously needs repairing at the least or maybe replacing. Tis a shame
Seems quite snappy to me. Not particularly excited by the look but so far no issues at all.
Been on insider dev channel for quite a while, and for something expected to be "rough edges and low stability" it's been absolutely fine for me. Not a massively exciting update, I do like the centred taskbar (big monitor means it's a long way to the bottom left), and when I upgrade my laptop the better behaviour when plugging / unplugging monitors will be nice.
interesting on Vista. I too never had any major issues with it and it was such a step up from what came before it.
Yeah. There was in fairness a lot wrong with Vista, and some very bad 'advice' circulating on the Internet at the time as to how to fix it. But what folk forget is that there was a lot right with it too, it was a paradigm shift from XP. Everyone loved W7 and that was Vista with a service pack in all but name.
They ditched a ton of legacy shit with the advent of Vista, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they're trying to do the same again now with W11.
We're banned from installing it at work, our IT dept (correctly) want to be sure just how badly it will affect people before deciding whether to roll it out
Well just turned my machine on having had it update overnight. So far no issues but I like my taskbar at the top of the screen and so far I cannot find out how to move it back there, if I even can.
Not sure about the rounded corners on all the windows either but that is hardly deal breaking. will see how it all behaves after a couple of days work.
@nbt - yes our IT service co have advised against deploying it yet but that is sensible in a commercial setting until they have had chance to validate it won't screw up anything important.
We’re banned from installing it at work, our IT dept (correctly) want to be sure just how badly it will affect people before deciding whether to roll it out
I doubt there's an IT team on Earth, outside of MS HQ that will be rolling out Win11 now, in fact any OS within months of release date. We're certainly not.
We've got a handful of PCs we upgraded through the insider programme so our guys can get used to it.
Given the goals of IT teams (and I don't mean just being petty, bloody minded and awkward) unless there's a compelling reason to do so, they'd rather wait until Win10 goes EOF in 2025, or at least until hardware replacement shifts the balance from Win10 to 11.
However that compelling reason might be security. MS seems to be going for a very Apple like look and Apple like security, if nothing else, it could mean a reduced need for 3rd party security tools, which could be a pain for me, a seller of 3rd party security tools.
Funnily enough my 11 year old Dell PC doesn't have the right bits. Ah well, W10 while it lasts.
FYI, for anyone finding their hardware incompatible, I've heard that a) installing via an ISO is a lot more 'forgiving' than upgrading inside windows b) if, like me you're having issues due to a lack of TPM, most Intel / AMD CPUs from the last couple of years have a built in TPM (intel call it PTT), but you need to enable it (and secure boot and UEFI) in the BIOS.
Basically anything that came Win10 should work, even if it says it doesn't, you just need to work on it, older stuff can be made to work, if you really want to.
scotroutes
Ah well, W10 while it lasts.
I think I read that Win10 will be supported until 2025, so no problem for a while yet.
I haven't looked, but doubt my laptop will take Win11 (bought it either late 2011 or early 2012 - I can't remember).
I will probably have replaced it by the time Win10 stops being supported.
There's a bodge for getting round the TPM requirement if you're brave - https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/how-to/bypass-windows-11-tpm-requirement . My perfectly good PC has neither a TPM nor a supported processor.
W10 while it lasts
W10 until applications stop running on it or the inevitable nagging messages get the better of me or Microsoft say if you don't upgrade soon you'll have to pay for W11. Or I bow to the inevitable and buy a new motherboard, CPU and RAM, which I wouldn't mind so much if I could find a plausible explanation for why they're not supporting older CPUs.
@cougar I think you meant
Windows 98 - dumpster fire
Windows 98SE - fixed
8.1 still never had a start menu either (unless you installed a third party version)
Fair.
TBH, the lack of a Start menu wasn't a great loss. I can't remember the last time I used it. Vista?
Hit the Windows key, start typing what you want, far faster than fannying about with menus. Notepad? Win, N, Enter.
NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 seem to be missing from most lists above, their charming qualities I have mostly forgotten by now...
No Windows 11 for me until they allow Start menu on top of the screen or on the side. Or at least not until my work laptop lease ends.
@Cougar – interesting on Vista. I too never had any major issues with it and it was such a step up from what came before it.
I was forced to use Vista by work and it was diabolically bad. And IT support were unable to help because they had no experience with it...
NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 seem to be missing from most lists above, their charming qualities I have mostly forgotten by now…
I deliberately skipped them. NT4 Workstation and W2000 Workstation were different development streams and never really intended to be home desktop OSes. XP is basically Windows 2000 with all the consumer bits added back in (and W2000 was NT5 in all but name).
Stories like this are fairly predictable when a new OS version is released, that's why waiting for the first big update is a good idea.
XP is basically Windows 2000 with all the consumer bits added back in (and W2000 was NT5 in all but name).
IIRC, Win2000 was literally Windows NT 5.0 and Win XP was Windows NT 5.1. Vista was NT 6.0 and Win7 was NT 6.1, Win 8 was NT 6.2 and Win 8.1 was NT 6.3.
Win7 was just a tidied up version of Vista (basically Service Pack 3). Win8 actually ran well, but it was optimized for touch screens. The problem was the interface was annoying if you didn't have a touchscreen. I had a touchscreen laptop but I never understood why MS didn't set it up to detect whether a touchscreen was present and default back to a Win7 style menu if it wasn't (which is basically what they did with Win10). You could pin apps to the taskbar (and, I think, to the start menu), so 10 minutes of setup and customization and it worked fine as a mouse based system. It's just that customers don't expect to have to customize workarounds to baffling decisions like forcing a touch optimized OS on non-touch screen equipped desktop PCs.
My 10 year old i7 Lenovo laptop downloaded it during last night's Zwift session. Presumably this means it passed the requirements?