Is Windows 11 Performance Better Than 10

Warren noted that he rarely used the Widgets panel or Microsoft Teams, citing that he preferred the weather display that later versions of Windows 10 offered, and didn't use Teams to communicate with his friends and family. He also acknowledged the expansion of Microsoft Store to include more "traditional" desktop applications. Cunningham concluded that "as I've dug into and learned its ins and outs for this review, I've warmed to it more", but argued that the OS was facing similar "public perception" issues to Windows Vista and Windows 8. In October 2019, Microsoft announced "Windows 10X", a future edition of Windows 10 designed exclusively for dual-touchscreen devices such as the then-upcoming Surface Neo.

Legacy Windows applications would also be required to run in "containers" to ensure performance and power optimization. Microsoft stated that it planned to release Windows 10X devices by the end of 2020. I haven't noticed any big performance improvements or problems running games on Windows 11. It feels exactly the same as Windows 10 for gaming, as far as I can tell. PC Gamer has noticed that Windows 11's new Virtualization-Based Security can impact gaming performance by as much as a 28 percent drop in frame rates. It's a setting that Microsoft wants PC builders to enable by default on new Windows 11 PCs, so while it won't impact people upgrading or clean installs, new gaming PCs could ship with VBS enabled.

Internet Explorer has been replaced by the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser, and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via Microsoft Store, and to support Android apps on Windows 11 . Windows 11 includes several new features, such as improved snapping, Dynamic Refresh Rate, and Direct Storage, but the biggest change the operating system brings could be something that people never see. A recent Microsoft Mechanics video breaks down the performance improvements included in Windows 11.

Compared to devices running Windows 10 on the same hardware, PCs running Windows 11 should have better app performance, improved battery life, and quicker resume from sleep times. As part of the minimum system requirements, Windows 11 only runs on devices with a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 security coprocessor. According to Microsoft, the TPM 2.0 coprocessor is a "critical building block" for protection against firmware and hardware attacks. In addition, Microsoft now requires devices with Windows 11 to include virtualization-based security , hypervisor-protected code integrity , and Secure Boot built-in and enabled by default. The operating system also features hardware-enforced stack protection for supported Intel and AMD processors for protection against zero-day exploits. A redesigned user interface is present frequently throughout the operating system, building upon Fluent Design System; translucency, shadows, a new color palette, and rounded geometry are prevalent throughout the UI.

For new users, Windows 11 will seem like a good option with the new design. You get rounded corners, a departure from the sharp edges we've seen in Windows for a long time. The Start Menu is now cleaner, featuring pinned apps and a recommended tab that shows you files based on your recent usage. The desktop more or less stays the same, but the right-click menu gets a simplified look, with the most common options like cut, copy, paste, and rename, at the top in a grid. If you right-click on the taskbar, you now see just one option that lets you enter the taskbar settings, instead of the plethora of options in previous versions of Windows.

However, this means you cannot reposition the taskbar to either side or the top of your screen anymore with Windows 11, which is kind of a bummer. The Start button follows all the new design fundamentals of Windows 11 with rounded corners, colourful icons, pinned apps, and a huge search bar. The search button feels more useful and responsive compared to Windows 10's version. If you hover over the icon, it will show you your most recent searches, which could save you some time. Windows 11 SE was announced on November 9, 2021, as an edition exclusively for low-end devices sold in the education market, and a successor to Windows 10 S. It is bundled with applications such as Microsoft Office for Microsoft 365, Minecraft Education Edition, and Flipgrid, while OneDrive is used to save files by default.

Windows 11 SE does not include Microsoft Store; third-party software is provisioned or installed by administrators. The new Windows OS takes cues from its smartphone relatives, simplifying basic settings changes and making them easy to access. One click or tap in the corner of your taskbar to pull up a control panel similar to Apple's Control Center, which lets you futz with settings like brightness and volume, connectivity, and more. Windows apps now feature more aesthetically pleasing curved corners, and the Settings app has more options to change how you interact with the OS thanks to more accessibility features. New sounds and audio cues are available for blind users, and themes for people with light sensitivity or those working long hours have been updated to be easier on the eyes. I've been running Windows 11 on my laptop and I enjoy the experience there, but on my desktop with three monitors, I'm holding off on upgrading.

The way I use my laptop is very different from my desktop PC, so Windows 11 fits just fine in my lap. I regularly use full-screen apps and games on my main PC, so not being able to see the time and date across multiple monitors is annoying. Coupled with the taskbar changes that prevent drag and drop, I feel less productive using Windows 11 on my main PC. Keeping on top of your applications will be critical moving forward as Microsoft confirmed that Android apps will be coming to all Windows 11 devices. Regardless of whether you're running a laptop with a touchscreen, a tablet, or an expansive desktop PC with multiple screens ...you'll be able to run smartphone and tablet apps from the Google Play Store.

These apps are treated exactly the same as native Windows software, so features like Snap Layouts will work too. In January 2021, it was reported that a job listing referring to a "sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows" had been posted by Microsoft. A visual refresh for Windows, developed under the codename "Sun Valley", was reportedly set to re-design the system's user interface. Citing security considerations, the system requirements for Windows 11 were increased over Windows 10.

While the OS can be installed on unsupported processors, Microsoft does not guarantee the availability of updates. Windows 11 also drops support for 32-bit x86 CPUs and devices which use BIOS firmware. So even if you want to upgrade, you'll need to check Microsoft's PC Health Check app to see if your PC will even support Windows 11.

You may need to enable TPM 2.0 from your PC's BIOS settings to get Secure Boot working, or perhaps even switch how Windows is installed on your storage if you manually installed the OS. The hardware requirements have changed a lot here, but the PC Health Check app should guide you on anything that needs addressing. Even the newly-released AutoHDR feature is available on both Windows 11 Home and Pro editions. So it's safe to say that neither of the editions will disappoint you in terms of gaming performance. That said, Windows 11 Pro offers you a larger ceiling for hardware expansion.

It supports up to 2 CPU sockets, 128 cores, and up to 2TB of RAM, whereas Windows 11 Home supports 1 CPU socket, 64 cores, and up to 128GB of RAM. Simply put, Windows 11 Home is more than enough for most users, even for hardcore gamers. Instead of the somewhat clunky tiling system found in the previous iteration of the iconic taskbar, Windows 11 peels away the cruft and gives you what you need. In my case, it's a list of recently accessed files along with a tray of pinned apps for easy access, with a universal search bar at the top for easy web (or on-device) searching. The clean lines and use of widgets to display information like weather, news, and photos is a welcome change of pace from the busy screen in Windows 10.

Depends on how you feel about some of the biggest changes coming to Microsoft's primary OS. The biggest change to Windows 11 is its more stringent hardware requirements. If your PC is recent, say, within the past five years, you should be alright, but older devices may be stuck with Windows 10 for the foreseeable future. That's not to say the company won't be providing security updates to Windows 10, but that's about as much as you can hope for.

Since the controversial hardware decision—implemented for both performance and security reasons—Microsoft added Windows 11 support for some older computers, but the company still recommends against it. The millions of Windows users who don't use Teams can remove the icon, but they'll need to do so from Settings — there is no simple right-click, unpin option for pre-installed apps. Those who do use the video conferencing software can launch video calls, host chats, or bring up the full Teams app. I'm sure some will find this convenient, but most Windows 11 users will wonder why something they'll never touch is featured so prominently on the desktop. For the past six years, Windows users have watched on the sidelines as the tech landscape changed at a breakneck pace.

When Microsoft's sporadic "feature updates" did arrive, they were often plagued with bugs, some so damaging the updates were suspended. And yet, despite its rocky path, Windows 10 will go down as a success, a stopgap to the mess its predecessors left behind. It brought back the traditional desktop interface, gave PC owners reliable performance, and popularized touchscreen displays and hybrid 2-in-1 laptops.

What we ultimately care about with the store is Microsoft's handling of games—trying to install one just redirects you to the Xbox app, which is still just a glorified front-end for the store itself. When I started installing a game from the Xbox app, I could see it appear in my Microsoft Store library and watch its download progress there too. Just browsing around the Xbox app for a while, it does feel a bit more responsive to me than it does in Windows 10 where it's real chunky, but the design is unchanged.

There's definitely nothing here that would compel you to upgrade. These feel like features Microsoft will inevitably add back in over the coming months, which does highlight how meager an upgrade Windows 11 feels on launch day. And we're likely to see some other problems pop up as more people start using Windows 11, like the file explorer memory leak. Aside from the new aesthetic, the few big features Microsoft talked about in its presentation this summer—especially the ones to do with gaming—just aren't here yet.

Windows 11 is here, though it remains an optional upgrade for anyone on existing desktops and laptops that are eligible for it. New PCs will increasingly begin shipping with Windows 11 pre-installed, so adoption rates will gradually rise in 2022 and beyond. If you're tempted to try Windows 11 on a supported PC you own, or will purchase a new machine with Microsoft's latest OS soon, you may be wondering if and how it will affect performance with the apps you use every day. Windows 10, which was available as a free upgrade at launch, has been a huge success for Microsoft, with more than 1.3 billion devices now running the operating system worldwide. At the time, Microsoft said Windows 10 would be the "last version" of Windows.

New features and design tweaks would be delivered over time with regular updates, as Microsoft transitioned to "Windows as a service". As such, it's pretty astonishing that Microsoft is pushing ahead with the launch of an all-new version of Windows at all. Performance will be faster on your existing PC or laptop when you upgrade to Windows 11 too, the US company has promised.

Not only that, but future updates will be smaller and as a result, faster to download and install as well. A number of tweaks used inside the Xbox software will be making their way to Windows 11 too, which should make gaming on the next-generation operating system even better. Microsoft has limited the number of devices that can officially run the latest version of Windows, with its restrictive hardware requirements.

Most of the latest laptops will support Windows 11, but you're probably out of luck if you built your own desktop PC or use anything more than around four years old. With that said, if your device supports Windows 11, there is no reason you should not upgrade. Original equipment manufacturers can still ship computers without a TPM 2.0 coprocessor upon Microsoft's approval. Some third-party software may refuse to run on unsupported configurations of Windows 11. At least 16GB of RAM The basic system requirements of Windows 11 differ significantly from Windows 10.

Windows 11 only supports 64-bit systems such as those using an x86-64 or ARM64 processor; IA-32 processors are no longer supported. Thus, Windows 11 is the first ever consumer version of Windows not to support 32-bit processors and 16-bit software . The minimum RAM and storage requirements were also increased; Windows 11 now requires at least 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The compatibility list includes the Intel Core i7-7820HQ, a seventh-generation processor used by the Surface Studio 2, although only on devices that shipped with DCH-based drivers. Windows 11, the first major Windows release since 2015, builds upon its predecessor by revamping the user interface to follow Microsoft's new Fluent Design guidelines.

The redesign, which focuses on ease of use and flexibility, comes alongside new productivity and social features and updates to security and accessibility, addressing some of the deficiencies of Windows 10. For long-time Windows users, this update may cause a few annoyances. The start button resides in the center by default, although you can move it back to the left. Also, the right-click menu hides away some menu options, like some app-specific functions you get with apps like Winrar, or some other Windows options like Troubleshoot compatibility. Windows 11 is a free upgrade, but the minimum system requirements are quite a bit higher than ever before. Microsoft calls Windows 11 the most secure Windows yet, and that tag comes at the cost of backward compatibility.

Trusted Platform Module 2.0, aka TPM 2.0, is one of those requirements. There are ways to manually install Windows 11 on incompatible systems, but those include giving up on official future updates via Windows Update and/or modifying the Windows 11 ISO file to remove security checks. For those in love with the tactile note-taking power of Windows and the Surface Pen, Windows 11 brings some minor tweaks to the must-have feature that make it feel more like you're writing on a sheet of paper. Haptic feedback means you'll get some physical sensation when drawing thick lines on your screen or checking a box with your pen, and barely anything when doing more delicate work like sketching. The Ink Workspace now lets you add apps of your choice rather than the usual Whiteboard and snipping tool, so you'll have quick access to your creativity tools as soon as you pull the pen off your Surface device. The Microsoft Store app itself also feels more simplified, with a library section that lists app updates and purchases, as well as individual sections for apps, gaming, and entertainment.

Combined with Microsoft's Store revenue changes, it looks like we'll finally have a single location to reliably download Windows apps and avoid running into viruses by searching for .exe files on the web. During their tests, TechSpot completed multiple performance comparisons using half a dozen different configurations. The outlet also enabled Virtualization-Based Security; a feature sometimes enabled on Windows 11 by default.

There have been multiple reports that this feature has caused users to lose performance when running Windows 11. Some reports even claimed drops of up to 25 percent when gaming on desktops or laptops. Microsoft has reworked some core Windows programs, like Paint and the Snipping tool, but strangely neither are available at launch, either; they're currently in testing in the Windows Insider dev build.

I guess Paint was never going to be a killer app, but even those modest updates still being in testing highlights how arbitrary this October 5th 'launch' date feels. Windows 11 is officially out, meaning millions of PC owners are free to upgrade today (as long as their computers meet Microsoft's ridiculously strict system requirements). I've been testing a near-final pre-release version of Windows 11 for a while, and I'm here to spread the good news that my computer hasn't blown up once. Windows 11 is so far a completely non-lethal operating system, which is definitely a good sign, but maybe not enough justification to install it.

To make the call on whether other PC gamers should actually install Windows 11 today, I've been spending some quality time with its new Start menu and rounded corners. There's no firm timeline on when fixes will be available for either bug, but AMD is promising they'll be ready this month. This issue is separate from the performance-impacting security features that are baked into Windows 11, which impact AMD Zen performance by 4-5 percent if left enabled on an OEM system or turned on by an enthusiast.

While these two issues are unrelated, the net effect of them knocks most of a generation's worth of improvement off AMD's CPU cores. Enthusiasts will want to be careful when using OEM PCs, both as far as driver updates and underlying security configurations. What does Auto HDR mean and what will it do to improve your gaming experience?

In simple terms, HDR refers to the ability to reproduce a wide spectrum of light between the darkest part of the display and the brightest. This can change the entire look and feel of a game with richer colours and higher contrast. Auto HDR is a new feature that allows games that weren't designed from HDR to still benefit from it.