5 reasons to switch to Windows 11 (and 5 reasons not to)

It’s lastly time to improve to Windows 11. Or is it?

In 2021, our preliminary evaluation of Windows 11 known as Microsoft’s newest working system “unnecessary.” Windows 10 was such a powerful entrant inside the Windows succession that we noticed no want to transfer on to one thing new. It’s time now, nonetheless, that we expect you need to begin significantly contemplating it.

Why? Because the panorama has modified. Microsoft now supplies some excellent reasons to transfer to Windows 11, a few of which weren’t accessible at launch. Some PCWorld staffers have switched full time to Windows 11, and the aim of this story initially set out to persuade you that it was time to switch to Windows 11.

But there’s an issue. Microsoft doesn’t appear as decided to persuade you to improve to Windows 11 because it as soon as did. Our arguments that you need to switch had too many caveats hooked up. So we determined to distinction the 2 methods: why you need to switch to Windows 11, and why you need to stay on Windows 10. After all, it’s all about what’s finest for you.

Editor’s notice: Now that Microsoft has stated Windows 10 will now not obtain any new options, we needed to resurface this piece breaking down whether or not you need to improve to Windows 11. It initially revealed on January 25, 2023. If you determine to make the switch, try our information to 5 Windows 11 settings value altering instantly.

Why you need to switch to Windows 11

Try before you purchase

Quite merely, Microsoft isn’t promoting Windows 10 any extra. All new PCs now ship with Windows 11, and any choices to purchase a Windows 10 PC as an alternative have largely gone away.

Upgrading your present PC provides you flexibility a brand new PC doesn’t provide. After upgrading from Windows 10 to 11, you have got 10 days to revert. After that, in case you’ve upgraded from a Windows 10 system, you’ll be able to reinstall Windows 10 through a clear set up.

Mark Hachman / IDG

If you purchase a Windows 11 laptop computer, you could have the choice to downgrade to Windows 10, however not all the time. You’ll possible want to contact that laptop computer producer and inquire if these rights can be found, which mainly implies that the laptop computer producer has dedicated to supplying {hardware} drivers for Windows 10. Without them, there’s no assure that the clear set up will work.

In different phrases, you have got a possibility to check out Windows 11 now, reasonably than being pressured into it. Why not attempt it out, then revert again to Windows 10 if it’s nonetheless not for you?

Windows 10 is lifeless

Windows 10 will now not obtain any new options, which for some could also be a key motive to transfer to Windows 11. Granted, Windows 10 isn’t lifeless lifeless, as Windows 10 ends its assist lifecycle in 2025. Until that date arrives, your Windows 10 PC will proceed to obtain safety patches for Windows 10.

Windows 11 will get options Windows 10 received’t

Some customers desire that Microsoft go away Windows alone, making customers the one agent of change on their PCs. But for many who like new options… properly, don’t count on many to arrive on Windows 10 anytime quickly. The final two characteristic releases have mainly handed over Windows 10, relegating the brand new options to Windows 11 solely.

Granted, Microsoft isn’t precisely issuing main revisions of Windows 11 with each new characteristic replace, both. Windows 11’s 2022 Update marked a return to the annual replace cadence, with Microsoft seemingly spending extra time updating its apps and providers as opposed to the working system itself. But it’s clear that Microsoft’s time and a focus is being spent on Windows 11, and not Windows 10.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Our evaluation of Windows 11’s 2022 Update (aka Windows 11 22H2) indicated some key enhancements: Snap Bar/Snap Groups, dwell captioning of recorded video, Voice Access, and extra. Windows 11 itself initially shipped with important upgrades to the Settings app. Say what you need about these options (the up to date Snap is our favourite) however none of those have arrived on Windows 10.

One of these new options is Bing Chat, the AI chatbot hyperlink that Microsoft added through its Windows 11 Feb. 2023 Update. Bing Chat seems in Windows 11’s Search characteristic, however not in Windows 10. We can’t make too a lot of this, because the “feature” is de facto only a shortcut to the Bing web site, which opens inside Edge. Still, it’s a characteristic that’s unique to Windows 11.

Windows 11 has unique new apps

Microsoft’s many growth groups proceed to work on parallel tracks: on the working system itself, on Office, providers, and extra. While not all of Microsoft’s new functions appear to be reserved for Windows 11 (just like the up to date, worse Photos app, for instance) a pair are: the spiffy new Windows Media Player, for instance. If you attempt downloading it on Windows 10, the OS will attempt to load the legacy Groove Music app as an alternative.

A greater instance could be Windows’ new Android apps, as soon as only a few hundred and now into the 1000’s, in accordance to Microsoft and Amazon. Granted, the Amazon Android app retailer works finest on tablets, and for many who like cellular video games. But it’s one thing you’re not going to discover on Windows 10. Android 13 ought to be arriving quickly, because it’s accessible as an improve for Windows Insiders.

Mark Hachman / IDG

You can resolve Windows 11’s issues by means of utilities

We’re not going to sit right here and defend Windows 11’s flaws. We proceed to dislike Windows 11’s implementation of the Start menu, for instance; and whereas the centered taskbar permits loads of house for icons on a 4K or widescreen show, not everybody has one.

Windows 11 does permit for methods round these limitations, although. I personally launch apps by typing the Windows key, then the primary letters of the app itself, or just Alt-Tab by means of accessible home windows. Stardock’s Start11, nonetheless permits you to redo the Windows 11 Start menu to make it seem like Windows 10 or earlier working techniques, and align the taskbar in numerous parts of the display screen. It’s a $5.99 utility that makes Windows 11 really feel acquainted and extra productive.

Why you need to keep on Windows 10

While we expect that these are legitimate reasons to improve to Windows 11, we simply can’t assist however assume that Microsoft isn’t fully dedicated to pushing you in the direction of Windows 11. Or whether it is, its personal enterprise fashions contradict these efforts.

Some of those arguments, nonetheless, boil down to easy ease of use—equivalent to the primary.

Why keep on Windows 10? Familiarity

There’s one thing to be stated about stumbling into your workplace after a protracted evening, booting your PC, and feeling your method by means of the start of the day. With these first few mornings on Windows 11, you could have to consciously take into consideration what to do. An working system that you simply’re accustomed to is one that you simply’re extra productive in.

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While we’re not claiming that Windows 11 is radically totally different than Windows 10, upgrading comes with its personal potential hassles, sudden tweaks to Settings and different preferences, and so forth. The new interface may be very related, but additionally very totally different. Sometimes it’s simply simpler to stick to the tried and true.

As we famous above, too, Microsoft’s declaration that it received’t add any extra new options to Windows 10 could also be interesting to some. You’re assured a constant expertise till Windows 10 runs out of assist in 2025.

Windows 10 will get new apps through subscriptions anyway

Yes, Windows 11 does provide some unique new apps, however not that many. And there’s one other catch, too.

Microsoft chief government Satya Nadella has referred to Windows as a “socket” for Windows providers, and whereas it’s honest to say that the corporate is prioritizing Windows 11, Microsoft loves subscription income much more. Microsoft’s More Personal Computing Business (Windows and Xbox) has steadily misplaced cash over the previous 12 months, as gross sales of PCs and Xbox consoles have slowed. But gross sales of Microsoft’s Productivity and Business enterprise have elevated, primarily as a result of the enterprise unit makes cash on Office subscriptions for customers and firms. It is smart, then, that Microsoft would proceed doubling down on what makes it cash, subscriptions, and make these subscriptions accessible to as many individuals as attainable.

Some of those functions, like Clipchamp and Designer, are internet “apps” particularly designed to run on each Windows 10 and Windows 11. Both, nonetheless, include subscriptions: Clipchamp’s “professional” providing, and Designer by being a part of Microsoft 365. Add to that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Microsoft 365 itself—heck, even Solitaire had a subscription to get rid of adverts earlier than it was added to Game Pass. All of those subscriptions will work on each Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Will your PC even run Windows 11?

Quite frankly, the transition to Windows 11 has all the time been surrounded by a “will they or won’t they approach” to Windows 11’s {hardware} necessities. For some time, the restrictions that Microsoft placed on the accessible supported processors made Windows 11 fascinating; nobody likes being informed that they can’t improve, particularly after they’ve paid good cash for an present PC. Then there have been the exceptions, and the workarounds. In the tip, the effort of upgrading an older PC to Windows 11 may make some individuals experience out Windows 10 till they get a brand new PC.

No one, least of all Microsoft, needs PC customers to be hacked. But it’s to Microsoft’s credit score that no main exploit actually plagued Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Is Windows 11 quicker than Windows 10? No

On paper, there’s one other compelling motive to transfer to Windows 11: efficiency. If you’re operating a laptop computer with an Intel Core CPU within it (and greater than 80 % of laptops offered throughout 2022 included an Intel chip inside) Microsoft and Intel teamed up to provide Thread Director, a software program API that controls how the assorted efficiency and effectivity cores of Intel’s Core structure work together with the working system. Intel’s Thread Director is meant to work on each Windows 10 and Windows 11, however with enhancements that may make Windows 11 quicker.

Unfortunately, our current checks don’t bear that out. Simply put, there simply isn’t any measurable efficiency distinction between Windows 10 and Windows 11 proper now. In equity, Windows 11 is a bit quicker, however simply not that a lot to be important.

If that’s the case, you’ll be able to’t assist however be a bit suspicious of DirectStorage, the next-generation storage accelerator that Microsoft is promising. In 2021, Microsoft promised that DirectStorage could be made accessible to each Windows 10 and Windows 11 customers, excellent news for many who don’t need to improve. In 2022, Microsoft started delivery DirectStorage, a know-how that guarantees to velocity up video games by bettering how the SSD interacts with the GPU to enhance knowledge transfers.

You can watch DirectStorage slash sport loading instances down to a second on the primary sport to assist it, Forspoken, which releases on January 24. But the demo video confirmed how DirectStorage in contrast to an present onerous drive and M.2 / SATA SSD…not Windows 10. Our guess is that in case you personal the precise {hardware}, which working system you run received’t make that a lot of a distinction.

You can procrastinate on switching to Windows 11

All that, although, is fairly within the weeds for most individuals. For many, the query will merely boil down to: Do I actually want to improve? The reply, merely put, is not any—not but. Windows 10 ends assist on October 14, 2025, which means that in case you actually can’t take care of the added stress of upgrading—as comparatively easy as it’s—then don’t! Windows 11 will nonetheless be there in a 12 months or two.