Microsoft Tries To Clarify Windows 11 System Requirements
On Saturday, I posted a story on the rather hefty system requirements for Windows 11. There must have been one hell of a blowback from that because Microsoft has now posted a blog post to clarify this situation:
The intention of today’s post is to acknowledge and clarify the confusion caused by our PC Health Check tool, share more details as to why we updated the system requirements for Windows 11 and set the path for how we will learn and adjust. 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. With Windows 11, we are focused on increasing security, improving reliability, and ensuring compatibility. This is what drives our decisions.
Reading the rest of the blog post, they try to clear this up. But I don’t think this is going away anytime soon. But I guess that Windows Insiders will find out what the truth is as the first Insider build is available today. The results will be all over Twitter shortly after people try that build out.
June 29, 2021 at 11:57 am
Since the PC Check tool has been removed I did a little further investigation on the Processor requirements of previous versions of Windows listed here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/windows-processor-requirements
It looks like even the oldest version of Windows 10 listed and even Windows 7 (according to the same page) required at least a 5th generation Intel processor, whereas I know of numerous installations on 2nd generation intel processors that still seem functional for most modest users… I wouldn’t be surprised if it may still work, they’re just not testing on processors that old for the sake of simplicity.
August 28, 2021 at 7:45 pm
[…] run it. Including some of Microsoft’s own Surface hardware. I guess the heat got to Microsoft despite trying to clarify things. Because on Friday they announced a change to Windows 11 minimum operating requirements, though the […]