What Pcs Can Install Windows 11 Has Been Revealed
Compared with Windows 10, the system requirements for Windows 11 have increased noticeably.
A page detailing Windows 11, including the operating system’s advanced system requirements, has appeared on Microsoft’s website. “Ten” debuted in July 2015 and initially had hardware requirements identical to Windows 8, but then the developers demanded a little more free disk space. The launch of Windows 11 marks the abandonment of x86–32. It’s important to stipulate here that Windows 11 won’t support older 32-bit platforms (Windows 11 won’t get a 32-bit version), but compatibility with 32-bit software remains.
Windows 11 minimum system requirements
- Processor: 64-bit dual core CPU clocked at least 1GHz
- RAM: 4GB
- Free Disk Space: 64GB
- System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot and TPM version 2.0
- Video Adapter: Compatible with DirectX12 or later and WDDM 2.0 graphics driver
- Display: 9-inch screen with 1366×768 pixels
Internet connection and Microsoft account:
- Windows 11 Home Edition requires an Internet connection and a Microsoft account to complete the device setup the first time you use it;
- to switch from Windows 11 Home to S Mode also requires an Internet connection;
- all editions of Windows 11 require Internet access to perform updates and to download and use some features;
- a Microsoft account is required to use some features.
The easiest way to check whether you can install Windows 11 on a particular computer is to install the official PC Health App (link to download the software). This lets you quickly find out if your computer can run Windows 11. You can also check for compatibility on a special page on Microsoft’s website, without having to download the utility.
What PCs can install Windows 11 — more about the system requirements and compatibility of the new Microsoft operating system with old hardware
According to users, in some cases, the web service shows a satisfactory result, while the utility notifies you that your PC does not meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11. Supposedly, the utility gets more rights for checking and gives more accurate results compared to the website.
But there is one, but (or even several).
Besides the hardware requirements (aka minimum specifications), there are also technical requirements for certain functions in Windows 11 (certain functions require appropriate hardware) and a separate list of compatible processors.
List of processors supporting Windows 11
Intel — CPUs of the Coffee Lake family, which debuted in late 2017, and newer. A total of 537 processors are supported versus 883 models for the current version of Windows 10. A full list of Intel CPUs with Windows 11 support is collected on a separate page of Microsoft’s website.
AMD — CPUs with the Zen+ architecture, which debuted in spring 2018, and newer. A total of 167 processors are claimed to support Windows 11, while Windows 10 runs on 369 AMD chip models. A full list of AMD processors with Windows 11 support is collected on a separate page on Microsoft’s website.
Qualcomm models are 2018 and newer. A total of seven chips are listed, including the custom Microsoft SQ1 and Microsoft SQ2.
It is possible that these are not the final versions and the lists will eventually be expanded, but for now they are. In addition, Windows 10 can often be “friended” with processors that are not officially supported. But how the situation will end up with Windows 11, we can only guess for now.
Microsoft has updated its Windows 11 Extended System Requirements page to clarify that the system will not officially support processors older than three years.
Windows 11 availability timeline
The first official preview build of Windows 11 will be available to Windows Insider members as early as next week. Windows 11 will be officially released in fall 2021 (no exact date has been announced yet). Windows 10 owners will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free — the update will be distributed to compatible devices in stages via Update Center, similar to other updates.
The new operating system from Microsoft will be released on October 20. This is reported by The Verge
According to journalists, the corporation will start rolling out Windows 11 at the end of October. This is hinted at by the above date, which was used in the OS interface taskbar in the official promotional materials. The authors noticed that the date 10/20/21 was repeatedly indicated in screenshots of Windows 11.
Media sources also declassified information that a global upgrade to the next-generation OS is expected in October, but insiders did not give an exact date. Officially, Microsoft does not give a release date for the operating system, limiting itself to the wording “at the end of the year.”
At the same time, the new OS will not be available to all users at once. Microsoft technical support representatives said on Twitter that Windows 11 will be released later in 2021 and will be delivered to users’ PCs within a few months. Deployment of the update will take until mid-2022.
Earlier, journalists pointed out that the new generation OS will get a limited number of users, which is due to the high requirements for the computers’ processors. Windows 11 was announced on June 24, users of the current Windows 10 will get the operating system for free.
