What are our Windows 11 Recommendations?

Whether for business or personal use, if the uptime of your computer and software applications is important to you, then we highly recommend delaying the Windows 11 upgrade anywhere from 1-Month minimum, to 3-Months recommended. 

This is to allow Microsoft time to fix any unforeseen issues that popup during the initial roll out of Windows 11.

If past major Windows update and upgrade debacles have taught us anything... is never be the first to adopt :)

For those uninterested, or do not like the new Windows 11 look, you can continue to use Windows 10 until support ends on October 14th, 2025.

When will Windows 11 be available to me?

For existing devices running windows 10

• The upgrade will first be offered to devices that rank highly on Microsoft's Windows 11 compatibility test

  • Basically, newer computers running the latest hardware and minimal third-party software will be given upgrade priority

  • From there, the upgrade will be gradually offered to a greater number of devices throughout 2022

For newly purchased computers

• Soon, most newly purchased computers from us and elsewhere will come with Windows 11 pre-installed

For those who wish to manually upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as possible

• For the adventurous, you can manually upgrade to Windows 11 at any point via an in-place upgrade using the Windows 11 Upgrade Assistant. 

Should I upgrade to Windows 11?

As discussed above under our general recommendations, we don't recommended upgrading immediately. Our position with regard to upgrading existing computers has always been the same.  Sit tight and see what happens around you.  Businesses tend to hold off a lot longer than home users but our advice is still the same.

Is my computer compatible with Windows 11?

Newer computers, yes, older computers, maybe not.  It looks like Microsoft has set a minimum processor level for Windows 11 for both Intel & AMD processors, where Windows 10 runs on pretty much anything.

The major requirement is known as TPM or Trusted Platform Module (version 2.0 or later) which is a security component built-in to pretty much all recent computers.  We will be using a 5-year rule of thumb with regard to upgrade questions where we expect that all computers we have sold in the past 5 years will support Windows 11 but those supplied prior to that may not. 

It is our view that it is no big deal even if your computer cannot run Windows 11, provided it is doing what you need it to do, carry on.

Can I still use Windows 10?

Yes.  The Windows 10 operating system will be supported by Microsoft until at least the 14th of October 2025 so there is no need to upgrade any desktop or laptop computer until then.  We have seen every version of Windows be useful for at least 12 months beyond the nominal support expiry date.

So if most computers purchased in the last four years will run Windows 11, then that implies a useful working life of your Windows 10 computer of at least 10 years which is how it should be.  You may want to upgrade to Windows 11 earlier, but we doubt that you will need to.

How much does Windows 11 cost?

The software component of the upgrade is free.  If the upgrade via Windows Update goes well and you are happy with the way your computer works afterwards then it is definitely free.

If something does not play nicely and Windows 11 does not install correctly then we can provide technical support.  It may be as simple as configuring your computer so that it is ready for the upgrade for (say) $50, or we may do a fresh install and configure all of your existing programs and data to work as they do now for (say) $200.  The length of a piece of string comes to mind.....