Windows 11. Anyone going to install it? Plus discussion and observations, experience etc.

[Quarryscapes]

I'm out on two counts: Xeon E3-1535M CPU and TPM1.2. Theoretically the latter is upgradable according to Dell, but the utility to do it hasn't managed to. (suspect it applies only to the i7 versions of this laptop)

[melmerby]

I'm out with my Main Desktop (processor too old), although TPM module can be provided.

Same with my Laptop (again processor too old)

Both are core i7 but below the cut-off number.

Missus laptop is also out as it only has a dual core Pentium, even though it was new towards the end of Win 8.1 and several years younger than either of the above.

 

The only one that will be OK is the railway room PC as that has a AMD Ryzen 7-3700X with TPM 2.0 activated.

 

 

However the sands are shifting, see here:

There is a hard floor of minimum specs, below which Win 11 will not install and a soft floor, where it is not recommended to install.

The "not recommended" will allow many more PCs to have Win11

https://fuentitech.com/can-i-run-windows-11-on-my-pc-microsoft-says-its-not-over-4-years-old/96983/

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2022 by melmerby

[RFS]

Well I wouldn't risk putting Windows 11 on a PC that doesn't have the required hardware. It may work to start with but you could end up with problems later. MS have said that they will be developing Windows 11 further to take advantage of the hardware capabilities to improve the security. Windows 10 is supported till October 2025.

[Stevebr]

Hi,

 

Just taken the plunge and installed WIN11 after delaying for a few weeks.  No issues and a smoother upgrade than previous 7-10 etc. Hope it stays that way!

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Stevebr said:

Hi,

 

Just taken the plunge and installed WIN11

Where from?

[TheQ]

My machine is fast enough but way before TMP so no chance, looks as though it's going to be a complete new machine or an upgrade of the current one.. Either way  it's a lot of modelling tokens.. So it may just get delayed a year or two.. 

[RFS]

33 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Where from?

 

If you are registered as a Windows Insider, you may be offered the update now if you are on the Release Preview option.

 

See also here.

[stewartingram]

I'm looking at a new motherboard bundle off ebay or a computor fair sometime soon, any suggestions as to what to look for?

 

Stewart

[RFS]

6 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

I'm looking at a new motherboard bundle off ebay or a computor fair sometime soon, any suggestions as to what to look for?

 

Stewart

 

If you're using an Intel processor, make sure it's 8th generation or later (latest is 11th generation). The motherboards that support these will all be compliant and will have TPM enabled in the firmware.  As to how much you want to spend is then up to you. 

 

I would also suggest using a specialist computer supplier so that you have some warranty and also the means of making sure everything matches up. I've used Ebuyer, Scan and Amazon in the past.

[melmerby]

My Win11 ready PC uses a Gigabyte AMD gaming board (AX-570) which has 2 graphics slots and loads of other connection options.

It has an AMD Ryzen 7-3700X, 16GB fast DDR3 memory, Samsung Evo 970 SSD (NVMe)

Recent AMD processors have TPM2.x onchip and it just needs switching on.

 

My choice for bits is "More Computers"

Absolutely first class service, every time and fast delivery as well.

(Or sometimes Amazon)

 

I use to use Aria, who were slightly cheaper but after a couple experiences where their customer service was zero, I stopped using them.

 

Once was when a display still under warranty went faulty. It included home pickup.

Someone from the manufacturer was sent to pickup the item but must have gone to the wrong house as there were two people in all day and nobody came.

Aria insisted that the courier had come to the house, rang the bell and knocked on the door. I said they hadn't and I wanted someone to pick up the item, they refused point blank telling me it was I that was in the wrong. Zero customer service.

 

Second time I ordered an SSD for fast delivery.

The Courier (DHL) lost it in their system, I expected Aria to send a replacement. No, I had to wait until DHL had done a full depot sweep. It eventually turned up over a month after it should have. Did I get an apology from Aria or any sympathy? No, not a tapper. Zero customer service. (again)

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by melmerby

[stewartingram]

I've always upgraded it myself, the PC started life in 1995! I usually buy from a fair or ebay, at the point where the price starts to climb; further increases in spec start to see massive price increase. 

For what its worth, my prent setup is:-

Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB 3

AMD FX 6-core 3500 Mhz, 

BIOS Award F! 08/11/2017

Win 10 Pro 64-bit

4x 1TB HDD (except the C drive which is a laptop 500GB HDD). All are partitioned.

[Vistisen]

1 hour ago, RFS said:

 

If you are registered as a Windows Insider, you may be offered the update now if you are on the Release Preview option.

 

See also here.

Don't do it! I have been using it for a couple of months, As soon as my new graphics card arrives I will do a reinstall of WIndows 10. It is windows 8 on again. Everything is dummed down. The new task bar is a disaster.  And the few options left always require more clicks of a mouse than they do in Windows 10.  I can't think of a single reason to change and loads of reasons not to.

[Michael Hodgson]

19 minutes ago, Vistisen said:

Everything is dummed down. The new task bar is a disaster.  And the few options left always require more clicks of a mouse than they do in Windows 10.  I can't think of a single reason to change and loads of reasons not to.

Par for the course by the sound of it.  Windows has got greedier for resources every time they bring out a new version, but unfortunately so do all the applications.  I tend to work on the basis of it it ain't broke don't fix it.  Like all the previous new incarnations of Windows, I can see no merit in upgrading, just a learning curve of changes made for change sake.  But ultimately, there is no option - we will be forced to change.  I will move to the new version when my current laptop is no longer up to the job and I have to replace it.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Par for the course by the sound of it.  Windows has got greedier for resources every time they bring out a new version, but unfortunately so do all the applications.  I tend to work on the basis of it it ain't broke don't fix it.  Like all the previous new incarnations of Windows, I can see no merit in upgrading, just a learning curve of changes made for change sake.  But ultimately, there is no option - we will be forced to change.  I will move to the new version when my current laptop is no longer up to the job and I have to replace it.

Not true

Win 10 was easier on resources than Win 7, prior to that however, I would agree.

[Michael Hodgson]

Ah OK, I managed to by-pass that one altogether.  Used XP for a long time.

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Ah OK, I managed to by-pass that one altogether.  Used XP for a long time.

Yes Win 7 for some reason needed a lot more resources than XP, Win 10 improved on that, you could see the difference in resource monitor.

[Jonboy]

I preferred windows 7 over 10 purely for the much less invasive upgrade process. Being able to choose when to install updates was far more convenient. I work from home and tend to sleep the pc Monday to Friday, with whatever I am working on left open overnight, Coming back in the morning and finding the pc had restarted closing emails and up to 8 spreadsheets etc is a PITA….

I have subsequently found a way to disable the auto restarts overnight in the GPO but it becomes a real hanging dog whenever something is pending meaning all I gain is the ability to save everything and hit restart. I recently lost an hour to the restart on an i5 processor and 8gb ram….

 

 

As for office 365 and one-drives technique of auto-saving after every single action don’t get me started….

[melmerby]

11 minutes ago, Jonboy said:

 I work from home and tend to sleep the pc Monday to Friday, with whatever I am working on left open overnight,

 

 

Could you explain why you don't save and shut down overnight?

I've heard of others that do as you do but can't understand the logic.

[Jonboy]

20 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Could you explain why you don't save and shut down overnight?

I've heard of others that do as you do but can't understand the logic.

Simply because of the nature of the work I am doing, I can have a long term project and three or four urgent projects on the go, plus other staff phoning in for ad-hoc support on their work.
This can easily mean 8 or so spreadsheets, 4 different browsers with multiple tabs, various emails and a  Remote Desktop open at the same time across two screens. Trying to remember them all the following day and pick it all up again from where it’s left off is far easier if they are simply open already.

[zarniwhoop]

Just reading /. for some light relief (comments on the article there probably offend those who like the profanity filter here, so I won't link, it is currently on the front page of slashdot.org) -

 

"Microsoft Reportedly Broke Windows 11 By Injecting Ads" reported by xda-developers

 

links to the original posts at https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows11-empty-taskbar.html

 

and a link to the "how to recover" page https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-breaks-windows-11-by-injecting-ads/ if anyone has the misfortune to have been affected by this.

[Ian J.]

@Jonboy Could you use hibernation? That way the computer isn't 'on' overnight, and can have programs and files open when you restart in the morning. I believe it's still an option on Windows PCs.

 

I value hibernation in Linux Mint so much on my laptop (i5-7200U, 32GiB memory) that I won't do upgrades to the OS without ensuring that it can be enabled. Linux, and Mint in particular, seems to be very averse to getting hibernation available on install - it's always a very tedious and complex set of command line instructions that have to be gone through, and even then there's no guarantee it will work.

[RFS]

11 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

Just reading /. for some light relief (comments on the article there probably offend those who like the profanity filter here, so I won't link, it is currently on the front page of slashdot.org) -

 

"Microsoft Reportedly Broke Windows 11 By Injecting Ads" reported by xda-developers

 

links to the original posts at https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/windows11-empty-taskbar.html

 

and a link to the "how to recover" page https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-breaks-windows-11-by-injecting-ads/ if anyone has the misfortune to have been affected by this.

 

It's still beta software and bugs like these are the risk you take if you sign up as an Insider.  Not seen any of these problems myself. 

[melmerby]

6 hours ago, Ian J. said:

@Jonboy Could you use hibernation? That way the computer isn't 'on' overnight, and can have programs and files open when you restart in the morning. I believe it's still an option on Windows PCs.

 

 

It's certainly available for me on my desktop.

It says it uses less power than sleep but takes slightly longer to wake.

All previous work is available as left once awake .

[Ian J.]

It should use no power at all if it's proper hibernation as the whole OS in memory is copied to disk and the computer should shut down completely. If it's still using some power then it's partial hibernation, so in that case it maybe hybrid sleep...?

Edited September 4, 2021 by Ian J.
speeling and grandma - bl**dy wireless keyboard dropping key presses (that's my excuse, anyway)

[BMS]

The odd thing to me is that Win 11 can be loaded onto a Raspberry pi (best v4 onwards obviously). There is an application to do it.If you want to......... Not the fastest obviously.