Windows 11
Are you ready for the new change to windows?
On Thursday 24th June 2021, Microsoft announced that they are now releasing Windows 11. According to Microsoft “Windows 11 is built on the same foundation as Windows 10” which means you do not have fork out on a new build or new laptop*.
*Microsoft has released a new system requirement for the new operating system – Please check their requirements out (See below).
Important parts:
1. What? Windows 11 - This is a new operating system that has been announced by Microsoft at “Microsoft’s Big Event”.
2. Release date? Unsure – ‘Holiday season’ possibly late November/December and early 2022 for standalone (Licensed) copies.
3. Costing? Free for Windows 10 users (part of the upgrade) Unsure of the actual cost of licensing for those who build or re-image PCs.
Notable features and functionality:
Auto HDR: Bring in line with the new Xbox (Better for gaming)
Supports Android Apps: In the Microsoft Store through Amazon app store (Tough one to read)
Direct Storage: Better loading speeds so that games can be access straight from your SDD to the GPU.
Icon improvements: Rounded edges/ corners with new animations
Central start menu: Like Macs
Snap Layouts: Better split screening and automatically suggest which layouts to use.
Microsoft Teams Integration within Windows: No independent app.
Widgets: They are back! In a separate window (Not like Vista).
Windows Updates: Only One Major feature update (instead of two) – We cannot speak for other updates or how annoying updates can be. However, Windows update size will be 40% smaller which will help with bandwidth issues.
Xbox Game Pass: Now integrated with the Xbox app (Hopefully some cross platform game play)
Task bar now locked to the bottom of the screen.
Live tiles are now gone.
Cortana will no longer be included in the first start up or pinned to task bar.
Minimum System (Hardware) Requirements:
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with two or more cores.
RAM: 4 gigabytes or higher
Storage: 64GB or higher (Addition space is required for updates or features)
Graphics Card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 2.0 driver.
System Firmware: Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Secure Boot capable*
TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Version 2.0**
*Guide to enable UEFI and Secure Boot will be upcoming.
**Guides on how to enable TPM version 2 will be upcoming.
To check if your system is compatible with Windows 11 - Microsoft has released a PC Health Check (you have to scroll down)
