Microsoft confirms it will not lower Windows 11 system requirements
Microsoft has confirmed that the Windows 11 system requirements are not changing. Windows 10 users on older PCs may not like this.
Microsoft refuses to budge from Windows 11's minimum requirements
A couple of weeks ago, Martin wrote about the possibility of Microsoft lowering the system requirements for upgrading old PCs to Windows 11, especially those that do not support hardware-level security features that are only possible with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0. Uncompromising security or stubborn?
An updated support article (spotted by Neowin) on Microsoft's website states that "Windows 11 minimum system requirements remain unchanged". Microsoft is also advising users who installed Windows 11 on a device not meeting Windows 11 system requirements, to downgrade immediately. Wow, that is quite a bold statement, and useless.
Windows 10 was launched in 2015, it will turn 10 years old when it is retired by the Redmond company next year. That is a long time, no one can deny that Microsoft has done a good job of supporting the operating system for a decade. See, that's not the problem. The problem is millions of computers around the world will be ineligible to receive security updates, when Windows 10 reaches its end of life support in October 2025. We all saw what kind of impact a broken software could have when a faulty update by CrowdStrike's security software took down millions of PCs worldwide in June 2024. Now just imagine millions of Windows PCs that are exposed to security vulnerabilities, the impact could be much worse.
Windows 10 remains popular among users
Let's talk numbers. According to Statcounter's global stats for Desktop Windows versions, 61.82% of PC users are on Windows 10. Windows 11 has just 34.94% of the user share. Things are slightly different when it comes to gaming. Steam's Hardware Survey shows that 43.31% of players on its platform are using Windows 10, while 52.98% are on Windows 11.
Still, both surveys highlight the fact that nearly one half of PC users worldwide have not upgraded to Windows 11. This could be due to varying factors like unsupported hardware, economic conditions, Some users may do not wish to upgrade to Windows 11 for various reasons, and you can't really blame them. I mean, if a PC is working fine on Windows 10, there is no reason to stop using it. It's like the Bernie Sanders meme, "I'm once again asking your support". Come on, Microsoft! Play nice.
What about browsers? Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Brave Browser, etc., will likely be supported for a while on Windows 10. I guess the same would apply to many apps. There are way too many complications that factor in here, you can't just discard a large chunk of users just because they are on an older operating system. Not everyone can afford to lose their user base.
It won't cost much to provide security updates for Windows 10 users, will it? Windows 10 and 11 are not too dissimilar, all Microsoft probably needs to do is to do is provide the patches that are available for Windows 11, and ship them out to users who are stuck on Windows 10. Of course, Microsoft found a different solution for this issue, by launching Extended Support Updates for Windows 10. Users will need to shell out $30 a year to receive security updates.
Your other options are to upgrade your PC or buy a new one, or switch to Linux. Alternatively, you can use some third-party apps like InControl to prevent your PC from updating to Windows 11, you can find more details about it here. I use the app to block the Windows 11 24H2 update, at least until the major bugs are sorted out.
Personally, I feel that a trillion-dollar company like Microsoft that lacks in neither resources nor the manpower could, and should take the responsibility of providing security updates for older PCs, instead of choosing to leave users stranded in uncertainty.
Thanks ! Internet (Youtube) is full of fake news about it !
I still remember when the latest macOS version at the time of Windows 11’s release (Monterey) had lower system requirements with the oldest Macs it supported having a 4th gen Intel Core CPU which is 4 generations behind the “minimum requirement” for Windows 11. However, that was only a temporary win for Mac because the macOS versions that followed (Ventura and Sequoia) raised the minimum CPU requirement to match Windows 11.
It’s funny to think that the then-latest macOS version had lower system requirements than Windows 11 at one point in time. The last time a similar thing happened was when Apple released Mac OS X Leopard in 2007 and it had lower system requirements than Windows Vista with the former requiring only an 867 MHz PowerPC G4 and 256MB of RAM compared to the latter’s 1GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM requirement. Once Apple dropped PowerPC support in 2009 with Snow Leopard and PCs with enough power to handle newer Windows versions became more accessible by that point, I never thought I’d see another moment where macOS had lower system requirements than Windows, but then it somehow happened again.
Ironically, Windows 11 installs all drivers automatically on very old and “unsupported” computers… These kinds of warnings are just to scare those who don’t understand anything about computers into buying new ones. The bottom line is that Microsoft needs all home computers in the world to run Windows so they can keep showing ads, harvest and sell users data. Safety is not the word we are looking for here, hypocrisy is.
It appears that I will be using Windows 7 for some time to come. It is not Microsoft’s interest to improve Windows 11.
Nobody cares. Better for W10, better for Linux Mint, better for al us.
You mean 10. 7 is far fetched of a program to still be running
Backwards compatibility is convenient, but it complicates programming and hampers development of new generation computers. Stand by for more AI and less of what we are used to (with all the concerns and problems that brings).
That’s fine Microsoft… after looking at the telemetry via wireshark captures, ads in the start menu and embedded AI slop generation, I confirm I will not install Windows 11.
When I purchased our Windows 10 gaming computers, I was informed that it would be their last OS, always updated, and that I’d never need another OS or computer unless I wanted one. Now here we are. Was I misinformed?
Yes
I have been showing friends and family Linux Mint that I have on a older latop. IMHO this the most windows like Linux distribution. Several of them have swaped over already and while others are going to wait untill Windows 10 gets closer to its no support date.
Specifically most of the older ones are surprised that its free and does everything they used windows for. All are surprised that it runs on older computers and have installed it on such a computer to test out and have switched or planning on switching.
I have already dropped W10 from 2 of my computers in favour of Linux Mint. Sure there is a learning curve. But the OS is vastly superior to Windows in so many ways.
I admit that I do have a Windows 11 machine and a Windows 10 machine. The latter will get Linux Mint in the new year. The former is good until MS decided that it won’t support “new” W11 requirements. And then I will swap that OS out too.
I am still on Linux for less than a year and I’m still coming to terms that Linux is more lightweight and it’s not meant to fight you on everything along the way like Windows does. I was so used to every Windows version feeling heavier than the previous one where you had to throw more power at it to make it feel fast that it’s hard to let go of that habit.
I still remember how lightweight XP, my first Windows version felt and when I tried to install Vista on that same XP PC, it ran horribly so I had to go back to XP. Then I had a new laptop and put Windows 7 on it and it ran so good, and it looked so good, but after that, Windows became garbage and I’m so glad Linux is here and in this state, because the previous times I tried to migrate to it, it was almost impossible, because something always did not work properly, but now it does and I’m so happy I’ve moved away from Windows and I don’t plan to deal with it ever again, even when the next version of Windows releases, I will not install it or care about it, maybe look at a few videos or screenshots and forget about it. My prediction is Windows 12 is going to be even more restrictive and invasive than Windows 11 and even less people will like it.