Win 11 pro's? con's? opinions?

I probably won't have time to install any preview builds until Friday, but I'm going to give it a try. Worst case, I just have to revert back to backup image and I wasted a few hours of my life.
 
Windows 11 will be the best gaming operating system,those who have the latest cpu and gpu and the fastest nvme disks will benefit the most,next year zen 4 will come,amd 3D processors maybe this year, it was logical to expect that microsoft will make a new gaming operating system.
Yeah, I am sure that's why Win10 is getting a reskin and "feature" updates. It's so Microshaft can cater to gamers. Not to absorb more of the market, while simultaniously gaining control over more data sources.
 
Same model here. XPS 13 9360 with the i7-7500u. It doesn't support it, with TPM 2.0 enabled.
Well then, this is promising.
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-i...te-on-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements/
Below you will find changes we are making based on that feedback, including ensuring we have the ability for Windows Insiders to install Windows 11 on 7th generation processors to give us more data about performance and security, updating our PC Health check app to provide more clarity, and committing to more technical detail on the principles behind our decisions.
 

"In support of the Windows 11 system requirements, we’ve set the bar for previewing in our Windows Insider Program to match the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, with the exception for TPM 2.0 and CPU family/model. By providing preview builds to the diverse systems in our Windows Insider Program, we will learn how Windows 11 performs across CPU models more comprehensively, informing any adjustments we should make to our minimum system requirements in the future."

this is the important part and is what i keep saying, they will assess and adjust, i hope. when they see the amount of systems without tpm, they might back off. maybe make a "certified" and "compatible" classifications or something like that.
 
I happened to already have a VM running on the Windows Insider Dev channel, it downloaded and installed Windows 11 Insider Preview 10.0.22000.51 through windows update. This VM doesn't have a TPM at the moment. There is some wording in this article about letting people who are already running in the DEV channel install it even if they don't meet system requirements, so perhaps that is why I didn't have any issues installing it.
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-i...ing-for-insider-preview-builds-of-windows-11/

Overall it seems OK for an early preview. There is still quite a bit of old UI elements sprinkled here and there, so I would say there is some room for improvement in newer builds if everything is going to be "modern" like they were promising in the presentation.

It seems like they got rid of the "Programs and Features" as I can only seem to find "Apps and Features". In Windows 10, there was a link to, "Programs and Features" there, but I don't see that here. I know in the past, some software had to be uninstalled / modified through "Programs and Features", so we'll see what happens there...

Network configurating is still as cryptic as ever with some links in the UI still opening the old UI for configuration. I really hope they streamline some of this stuff and make it a bit more simplified / functional.

Removing file explorer as a default pin on the task bar is a shame. I am confident that more than a few users rely on that being there to find their files. You can add a shortcut button beside the power button on the start menu by going to settings -> personalization -> start menu -> Folders. There are bunch of other things there too like downloads, documents, pictures etc. It would be nice if they surfaced that a bit better, since I don't think most users are going to find these settings... I just found it because I was reviewing all of the things in the main settings pages...

Going back to having to click "all apps" on the start menu to see stuff that isn't pinned may confuse some users who are used to just seeing all of their apps listed in more recent builds of Windows 10. To be honest, I don't think enough users were taking advantage to pinning apps to the old tile start menu, maybe having a more home screen like interface will make them more likely to do it since it somewhat resembles the home screen layout on smartphones.

The old control panel is still there. I wonder if it will still be there when this goes RTM.

For some reason snip and sketch and snipping tool are both still present. I thought snipping tool was supposed to be gone soon, to be replaced by snip and sketch... Wonder if both will still be there when it goes RTM...

I like what I see with the new Terminal app that is built in by default now. It houses Powershell, command prompt and azure cloud shell in one tabbed window interface. Seems cool. I am aware it has been available from the Microsoft store for a while... but it is nice to see it built in.

I enjoyed playing around with the window layout button that pops up when you hover over the maximize button, but randomly that just stopped working. I restarted and it started appearing again.

I can't really say much regarding application compatibility at the moment, I pretty much just wanted to take a look at the UI / general function of the OS for now.
 
I really, really hope they roll the old control panel into the settings menu for everyone's sake. That's one of the biggest UI blunders in Windows 10.
 
"In support of the Windows 11 system requirements, we’ve set the bar for previewing in our Windows Insider Program to match the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, with the exception for TPM 2.0 and CPU family/model. By providing preview builds to the diverse systems in our Windows Insider Program, we will learn how Windows 11 performs across CPU models more comprehensively, informing any adjustments we should make to our minimum system requirements in the future."

this is the important part and is what i keep saying, they will assess and adjust, i hope. when they see the amount of systems without tpm, they might back off. maybe make a "certified" and "compatible" classifications or something like that.
That is great and all but it still isn't allowing me to get it? :(
 
Microsofts site turned the download off for the pc health check app now, just says coming soon.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11

1624910182801.png
 
I really, really hope they roll the old control panel into the settings menu for everyone's sake. That's one of the biggest UI blunders in Windows 10.
nope, you still have to click start and type "con" then pin it.
 
That is great and all but it still isn't allowing me to get it? :(
are you signed up for insider, have tpm and secureboot on? if so, wait and check updates tonight/tomorrow or find the 22000 iso and install it.
 
just did an install on optiplex 9020 (i5-4570, 8GB, 256GB) with tpm and secureboot off, still using the 19669 iso. very odd that it seems to pick and choose when it wants tpm/sb...
 
This is not true. It does seem the beta release of Win 11 will not work with Gen 7 or older processors. At least per their checker. My XPS has everything that needs to be on for it to work, but it doesn't and per other articles out there they are saying gen 7 processor is the reason.
They updated it since I posted. I guess the TPM requirement is a hard wall that is only bypassable by OEMs.
 
I have the DEV channel insider build installing on my Surface Laptop 3 right now. Excited to give it a shot. The leaked version didn't run very well in a VM.
 
Mine is downloading now the Win 11 Insider on my XPS 13 9360 Gen 7 processor.
 
Does an ISO of the latest build exist? I'm going to give it a try over the weekend and that's always more reliable than installing something major via Windows Update.
 
Does an ISO of the latest build exist? I'm going to give it a try over the weekend and that's always more reliable than installing something major via Windows Update.
probably but you have to download from a 3rd party/tor. this is really just a visual update and should go smooth. mine updated in about 35min, ~20 installing in the background and ~15 to finish after restarting.
 
Running it successfully in a VMware VM with TPM 2.0 enabled. One quirk I noticed is that the time isn't updated in the taskbar despite the time zone being changed. I do really find the interface updates to be very good for my usage, which has me really looking forward to using a stable beta or RC whenever that may be.

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Another odd quirk. TPM is recognized but Device Security is playing dumb. It's booting with VBS (Virtualization Based Security) which has everything that is needed for a secured OS environment.
1624979423542.png

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Updated my W10 vm on my Mac to 11, and I gotta say, its good. I was always "meh" about win 10, just whatever it works, dont care.

I actually like what they have done in this.
 
Updated my W10 vm on my Mac to 11, and I gotta say, its good. I was always "meh" about win 10, just whatever it works, dont care.

I actually like what they have done in this.
does you vm have virtual tpm? i tried to update a w10 install on my macmini and it said no, no tpm or secureboot.
 
So far Win 11 has been working good on my XPS 13 9360. I am not sure about the interface, but it will take some time to grow on me.
 
They've made some very weird/craptastic decisions with setting default apps. It's very annoying now.
 
I installed it on my gaming pc and a personal laptop. So far I really like it. I think they realize that people wont mind the telemetry as much if it doesn’t present itself so openly. I don’t see any ads, cortana doesn’t randomly pop up, there’s minimal bloat (if you can call it that, the apps are all things most people would install anyways), and it follows suit back to the windows 7 days where it just gets out of your way and let’s you do your thing.

Styling is nice. I think they might have borrowed some ideas from my favorite Linux distro Pop OS with the window snapping. It’s solid too reliability wise.
 
Not keen on the added right click menu .. mainly because the normal right click options are now a sub menu of "show more options" .. when all the the other stuff should be there instead
 
Workes on my Pi4 4GB. Win 10 with everything moved to the center. The legacy Start menu and pop-up is all center. Woop. Installed a Windows non ARM app with no problem.
Made me log-in with MS account. Seems to really want me to use MS web browser.
 
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Not keen on the added right click menu .. mainly because the normal right click options are now a sub menu of "show more options" .. when all the the other stuff should be there instead
The show more options thing is incredibly obnoxious.
 
The biggest Con of Win 11 is TPM. TPM and secure boot is disabled on my system and I will refuse to enable it. TPM is the last thing MS needs for a locked down PC and I will never allow mine to go the way of Apple devices, locked down to whatever they decide is "good" for me. The PC is the last bastion for technology we are in charge of and actually control. So as far as I am concerned the TPM requirement is too much to pay for windows 11 even if it is just a bios option away to turn on. If Windows 11 needs it to be on, then I don't need Windows 11. I hope people don't upgrade to this and tell MS that the PC is our property not theirs. Only we decide what can and cannot run on them and we should adamantly refuse to cede that right to them.
 
The biggest Con of Win 11 is TPM. TPM and secure boot is disabled on my system and I will refuse to enable it. TPM is the last thing MS needs for a locked down PC and I will never allow mine to go the way of Apple devices, locked down to whatever they decide is "good" for me. The PC is the last bastion for technology we are in charge of and actually control. So as far as I am concerned the TPM requirement is too much to pay for windows 11 even if it is just a bios option away to turn on. If Windows 11 needs it to be on, then I don't need Windows 11. I hope people don't upgrade to this and tell MS that the PC is our property not theirs. Only we decide what can and cannot run on them and we should adamantly refuse to cede that right to them.
at the moment it only seems to need it for install, it doesnt even need to be active, just on and you can turn it off after install and it runs fine. i still suspect theyll back off after all the outrage...
 
With the Control Panel still being in play, I suppose the first thing I plan to investigate is how to make it accessible via right clicking the start button again. Even though MS removed that a few versions ago, it's easy enough to bring it back in Win10.
 
With the Control Panel still being in play, I suppose the first thing I plan to investigate is how to make it accessible via right clicking the start button again. Even though MS removed that a few versions ago, it's easy enough to bring it back in Win10.
click start, type "con", right click control panel and "pin to start". now you can left click start and its right there at the top.
edit: the icon "trick" doesnt seem to work, just tried.
 
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ExtremeTech opinion piece: "I Will Never Use a Microsoft Account to Log Into My Own PC", complaining about the dark patterns that Microsoft uses to make people use a Microsoft account to log in locally:
https://www.extremetech.com/computi...use-a-microsoft-account-to-log-into-my-own-pc
Someone needs to buy a tpm module to get support for win 11 and some one obviously doesn't? I do not understand....
I don't think anybody with a supported CPU needs to buy a TPM module, because those all include fTPM 2.0 in principle. The BIOS might not enable it by default, that is all.
I've installed the leaked Windows 11 ISO on a Pentium D and Athlon 64 X2, both 15+ year old CPUs, no TPM module. So far the only actual limitation I've run into is that that Dual Core is an actual requirement now apparently. In my quest to try this on a bunch of older computers I tried to put it on a computer with a Single-Core Celeron 430. This is Core2 architecture, just only 1 core. Newer than the Pentium D that I was able to get it working on. But it flat out refuses to install with only 1 core.
That is interesting, because the Pentium D and Athlon 64 X2 do not support SSE4.1 instructions, which is a minimum requirement as stated by Microsoft. Not sure about the Celeron 430, Intel back then sometimes disabled SSE on the Celerons. I expect that like with CMPXCHG16B, later builds may be compiled to use SSE4.1 instructions and fail to run on those CPUs.
 
I've had Win 11 installed on a test machine since yesterday. So far, so good. It generally feels snappier and runs everything as before under 10.
I like the center icons, even if it might be Apple-ish. The UI / placement of things will take some adjustment but the specific design of the icons and UI looks overall are good (subjectively) but may not do it for others ... so YMMV there for sure.

This was for Win 11 Home, since the box originally had Win10 Home.
 
That is interesting, because the Pentium D and Athlon 64 X2 do not support SSE4.1 instructions, which is a minimum requirement as stated by Microsoft. Not sure about the Celeron 430, Intel back then sometimes disabled SSE on the Celerons. I expect that like with CMPXCHG16B, later builds may be compiled to use SSE4.1 instructions and fail to run on those CPUs.

We'll see. I've setup a dedicated Q6600 system for testing insider builds going forward, just to see how compatibility with older hardware plays out. The Q6600 doesn't support SSE4.1 either. In fact, the only Windows 11 requirements that the system meets is >2 cores, 4GB Ram, >64GB Storage.

Q6600_21H2.jpg
 
ive got it running on a 2012 macbook pro, works fine except audio, which was an issue with 10 too... its quad i5-3210m/4GB/120GB.
 
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