Should I Wait For Windows 11

Minor complaints aside, we like to see Microsoft giving its marquee software some attention. For the last few years, the company has focused more on its Azure cloud computing services—justifiably given that business's profitability. Windows 11 brings slick new looks, useful new tools, updated default apps, extra capabilities, and performance advances. Perhaps that's enough to lure away some Chrome OS users or Mac users. Regardless, it's still early days for the desktop OS that's used on 1.3 billion PCs, so we look forward to Microsoft fine-tuning and perfecting Windows 11's design in future updates. The date that millions of Microsoft fans have been waiting for is finally here with the all-new Windows 11 operating system launching today October 5.

Windows 11, unfortunately, ditches a couple of its best tablet- and touch-friendly features. Most importantly, you can no longer swipe in from the left to open the task-switching view, a gesture I use all the time on my Surface Go tablet. You can no longer swipe down from the top to close an app, either. This omission is less of a big deal because you can still hit the X in the window's upper right corner as you'd do in desktop mode. Again, though, for a handheld device, the down-swipe is more direct and requires less dexterity. There are, however, new three-finger swipe gestures to show the Task View and to minimize and app on the desktop.

A sideways three-finger swipe switches you between running apps. And you can, of course, use the Task View button in the Taskbar, but that's not as immediate as a swipe of the thumb. I'd argue that switching tasks is more important to tablet users than accessing Widgets, the new result of that gesture, too. Anyone with one of the newer chips should have no trouble installing Windows 11 via Windows Update.

Microsoft made a downloadable ISO disk image file for the beta Insider version available for installing Windows 11, allowing in-place upgrades or clean installations on a PC or in a virtual machine. A similar installation option is now available for the release version of Windows 11 via the Microsoft's Download Windows 11 page. Perhaps the most important thing to know about the release of Windows 11 is that we should expect it to change significantly over the next few years. I've been using beta versions of Windows 11 for a month in the lead-up to writing this review, and it seems like every few days there's a minor new feature or redesigned app to check out.

We may not see that feature fully realized in Windows until next year. Aside from the potential for updated specs (which is worth considering whenever you're buying a new PC), the only advantage of waiting is that the new device will come with Windows 11 pre-installed. That'll save a bit of time when compared to the free upgrade, but you'll still have to go through the full setup process. All eligible devices can be updated to Windows 11 without losing existing apps, files and settings, although a full backup is still highly recommended. It's not imperative that you upgrade your system to Windows in the next couple of weeks, or even months.

For many people, that's about the time to upgrade to a newer device, one that will come with Windows 11 already installed. If you are having a brand new laptop or PC, then your system must be compatible with Windows 11 or even might come with it preinstalled. But issues may arise with the older versions of PCs, as its hardware might not match with the requirements of Windows 11. If your PC has a 7th gen or previous Intel CPU, then it is unsupported by the latest upgrade. Still, you can migrate to Windows 11, but the way is a little more complicated as you will need to download install files, then perform a clean install and then restore the program and data files. File Explorer is a good example of Windows 11's new look, particularly its updated left panel controls and folder icons.

Note the simplified ribbon along the top, which is far less busy and distracting than the previous File Explorer's. The New button at the top left works for new folders or documents supported by your apps, and the same viewing options for files are available. The overflow menu offers file compression, selection, and Properties options, as well as the old Folder Options dialog.

The right-click context menus, which have grown longer and longer over the years, get shorter, smarter, and clearer in Windows 11. On the touchscreen, you can slide from the left on the desktop to have widgets appear. The official, release version of Windows 11 is now available as a free upgrade to anyone who has Windows 10 and a PC that meets Microsoft's minimum hardware requirements. However, the Redmond software giant isn't pushing the upgrade to every eligible system at once.

Some users will be offered the option to upgrade in their Settings menu on or around the October 5th official launch date while others may be waiting until 2022. These feel like features Microsoft will inevitably add back in over the coming months, which does highlight how meager an upgrade Windows 11 feels on launch day. And we're likely to see some other problems pop up as more people start using Windows 11, like the file explorer memory leak. Aside from the new aesthetic, the few big features Microsoft talked about in its presentation this summer—especially the ones to do with gaming—just aren't here yet. Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now.

Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more. Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. There's no official list of computers that support Windows 11 — given the fact that there are tons of PC models that support it, and you may have built your own PC. Microsoft has provided a free PC Health Check app that can check if your computer is compatible with Windows 11. Once it's installed, hit the "Check Now" button to see if your computer can run Windows 11. We think most people should wait a few months to give Microsoft time to iron out Windows 11's biggest new-operating-system bugs and finish releasing updates for Windows' built-in apps.

But you may want to install the operating system anyway because you want to test it or because you like to run the newest thing. Or maybe you'd like to install Windows 11 on an "unsupported" PC because Microsoft is not your parent and therefore cannot tell you what to do. For example, Windows 11 has new Contrast themes, redesigned closed caption themes, and AI-powered Windows Voice Typing. The new OS also adds APIs for programming assistive apps, and even the Windows Subsystem for Linux now has accessibility options.

Pinned app buttons (they're larger than icons but smaller than Windows 10's tiles) are at the top of its panel. Recent and frequent apps and documents are in a section below them. The Start menu's new mini-tiles are still good for touch input, but you lose info that live tiles offer, annoying as those could sometimes be. Another quibble I have with the new Start menu is that it's harder to get to the All Apps view than in Windows 10.

With that version of Windows, you can see all installed apps as soon as you open the Start menu; they're in a list on the left while tiles for your pinned apps are on the right. As before, Microsoft doesn't recommend installing Windows 11 on a device that doesn't meet the system requirements — though you can still do so. One thing to keep in mind is you might not get updates on a PC with an unsupported processor. When Microsoft first released Windows 11 on October 4th, the company said it expected it would offer the upgrade to all eligible devices by mid-2022. If you've been patiently waiting to install Windows 11 on your PC, Microsoft has good news. The company announced today it's increasing the pace of the operating system's rollout, and making it more broadly available.

Provided your system is running version 2004 or later of Windows 10 and you recently installed the September 14th, 2021 servicing update Microsoft released, you can now upgrade directly to Windows 11. If you work in similar ways, I think you'll find Windows 11's expanded Desktop groups feature useful once you spend some time coming to grips with it. But if you don't care to, that's fine too — like many new features of Windows 11, these desktop groups are optional and can easily be ignored. You can even remove the button from the taskbar entirely, though you're still able to access the Task View by hitting the Windows key + Tab. Some high-profile companies have already announced Windows 11 devices.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 8, Go 3, Pro X and brand-new Surface Laptop Studio all come with the new OS pre-installed. Acer's updated Vero, Nitro 5 and Swift 5 laptops do too, as well as the Honor MagicBook V 14. There is a way to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, but we wouldn't recommend it. Although Microsoft hasn't confirmed it, the company has heavily implied that unsupported users won't receive critical security updates. If you still want to install, you can do so using the Media Creation Tool, which bypasses hardware checks. Updating your PC from one Windows 10 version to another typically offers you security updates, bug fixes, and new features, justifying the hassle.

You don't really have the freedom to opt out of a Windows 10 update, either—you can only delay it for a short time. Microsoft says that it will support Windows 10 until 2025, giving you the option to remain on it for a few more years before it goes end-of-life. When you check for updates in Windows Update, it simply tells you that a feature update is available if you want it, and you can opt into taking it. The only time Microsoft forces a Windows 10 feature update is if the one you're on is nearing the end of support, but that's not even going to happen with Windows 11. The short answer is no, Microsoft isn't going to force anyone to upgrade to Windows 11. Starting with Windows 10 version 1903, the Redmond firm stopped forcing people to install feature updates.

This came after a disastrous Windows 10 version 1809 that actually deleted some users' files. If you haven't seen it through Windows Update yet, you can still get the final build through the Beta and Release Preview channels of the Windows Insider Program, as long as you have a compatible PC. The Dev channel is already running rs_prerelease builds to test out new features, so be careful with that.

If you enroll in the Dev channel, you'll have to do a clean installation of Windows 11 to roll back. And of course, you can also get it on a bunch of new laptops and desktops like the Surface Laptop Studio and Surface Pro 8. In addition to apps you can get in the Store, you also get all the standard apps like Photos , the FLAC-capable Groove Music player, Voice Recorder, two Paint apps , Mail, Calendar, and so on. We can hope for the last two mentioned to be greatly improved as Windows 11 development progresses.

In the initial release, we still have the existing apps, albeit with rounded corners, but new versions will be based on the excellent Progressive Web App versions of Outlook.com. Microsoft has already teased an updated Paint app (though I've started to enjoy the modern Paint 3D), as well as new versions of Notepad (with a dark mode!) and the Calculator. Many of the in-box apps on Windows 11 have been updated with new designs, and in some cases, new features too. Microsoft has finally updated the Windows Ink Workspace, now called the "Pen menu" that gives you quick access to pinned apps that are designed with inking in mind. What's great is that it's finally customizable, so you can put any app of your choice in there.

It's accessible via a button shortcut on a physical pen, or via the System Tray as a shortcut for it pops up when you begin interacting with your device with a pen. For tablet users, Snap Assist will now intelligently snap apps above and below when using a device in portrait mode, a behavior that was missing in prior versions of Windows. Microsoft has also updated the switching orientation animation so that it's much more fluid, and also remembers where your apps were positioned when switching between landscape and portrait mode.

Once you're up and running on Windows 11, the first thing you need to do is head to the Microsoft Store app and check for updates to ensure that you have the latest versions of all the pre-installed Windows 11 apps. Once that's done, you should also head to Windows Update in the new Settings app and check for updates there to ensure you have the latest drivers designed for Windows 11. If the Microsoft Surface family of products isn't your style though, other brands like Dell, Asus and HP have all released pages online that specify what devices are Windows 11 ready. Note that many won't come with the new operating system installed, but as they all meet the minimum system requirements, you can simply buy the laptop or 2-in-1 as normal and then update it yourself. HDR will also be supported on compatible machines, offering improved lighting and contrast for gaming and viewing media.

Direct Storage is also here, with the main game assets able to be downloaded and installed, enabling you to play your games even faster than before. DirectStorage, the foundation of the Quick Resume capability on the Xbox Series X, eliminates the need to launch a game and wade through splash screens, menus and other time-wasting cruft. It simply resumes the game right where you left off, and that's a literal game-changer. Meanwhile, the state of Android apps within Windows are more straightforward—they just aren't ready.

What we ultimately care about with the store is Microsoft's handling of games—trying to install one just redirects you to the Xbox app, which is still just a glorified front-end for the store itself. When I started installing a game from the Xbox app, I could see it appear in my Microsoft Store library and watch its download progress there too. Just browsing around the Xbox app for a while, it does feel a bit more responsive to me than it does in Windows 10 where it's real chunky, but the design is unchanged.

There's definitely nothing here that would compel you to upgrade. Windows 11 is officially out, meaning millions of PC owners are free to upgrade today (as long as their computers meet Microsoft's ridiculously strict system requirements). I've been testing a near-final pre-release version of Windows 11 for a while, and I'm here to spread the good news that my computer hasn't blown up once. Windows 11 is so far a completely non-lethal operating system, which is definitely a good sign, but maybe not enough justification to install it.

To make the call on whether other PC gamers should actually install Windows 11 today, I've been spending some quality time with its new Start menu and rounded corners. Microsoft is offering its all-new desktop operating system for FREE to anyone with an official version of Windows 10. The company has shared a new store page with details of its Windows 11 download, new laptops and desktop PCs with the new software preinstalled, help pages and much, much more... As seen in the screenshot below, when users with a compatible device check for updates, Windows 10 incorrectly reports the error message "This PC doesn't currently meet all the system requirements for Windows 11.

Get the details and see if there are things you can do in the PC Health Check app". Besides, major software updates often come with some bugs in those early weeks, the primary reason why the free upgrade to Windows 11 will take place in batches. It may even be months before you actually get a free Windows 11 update, and the wait is not a bad thing at all. You'd probably be running a much more stable version of the OS than build releasing on October 5. On the plus side, tablet users get new stylus options and on-screen touch keyboard tricks.

This latest-generation pen buzzes in your hand, for example, when you delete previously written text and when you tap the Back button to open the Whiteboard app. In that app, you can experience the full digital inking experience, which has gotten to the point of feeling exactly like writing with ink. You can, for example, highlight text, write freehand , and sketch diagrams. The on-screen keyboard supports swipe text entry and offers a healthy selection of emoji and gifs, and it now lets you choose custom backgrounds.

The new Settings interface is pleasantly redesigned, but some advanced dialogs still show elements of the old design.One of the more irksome things about Windows 10 is its inconsistent settings windows and dialogs. Sometimes you uninstall a program in the new Settings app, sometimes in the antiquated Control Panel. For some detailed controls, such as sound devices, you still see the content in the old style, though the window uses the new design.

Windows 11 has a new Widget panel, which shows you tiles for news, weather, stock quotes, sports scores, and more. It's not entirely new since the News and Interests Taskbar popup that arrived in Windows 10 recently is exceedingly similar. To see the same info in Windows 11, you have to click on the Widgets icon in the Taskbar. In addition to Microsoft-produced first-party tiles, third-party developers can offer content through Windows 11's widgets, too. Touch screen users can easily swipe in from the left to open them and you can full-screen the widget panel if you want a bigger view.

Much has been made over the system requirements for Windows 11, but they're very low—1GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, and 64GB storage. A 64-bit processor will be required; there's no longer a 32-bit version of the OS. You'll also need a computer with a TPM security chip and Secure Boot capability. Those are less of a problem than the internet is making them out to be, as they've been standard on most PCs for the last six or so years. The real limiter is the CPU model, which needs to be from about the last four years. Microsoft recently rereleased the tool that assesses your PC's ability to run Windows 11, the PC Health Check app, and the company announced that more PCs will be able to upgrade to it.