What's the verdict? Windows 11 Discussion Thread

When will you upgrade to Windows 11?

  • As soon as possible

    Votes: 5 35.7%

  • 1-3 months

    Votes: 1 7.1%

  • 3-6 months

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 6-12 months

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • 12+ months

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • Never

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Total voters
    14
Will

Will

Senior Administrator
Staff member
So - Windows 11 has officially launched, and the initial reviews are in. What's everybody's thoughts on it so far?

I have to say, I've paid a lot less attention to Windows 11 than I did previous versions of Windows. With the similarity to Windows 10, and the previous Windows 10 updates adding in new features, in a lot of ways it feels like a UI update rather than a fully fledged OS update. The new UI changes look okay to me from what I've seen in reviews, but there's nothing jumping out at me as a reason to rush to upgrade.

I'm finding the rollout a bit strange as well - I have a notification on my PC that my PC is Windows 11 compatible, but no news on when I'll have the option to download it. On the MS site it looks like that could be anytime from now onwards, with some devices not getting rollout until some point in 2022.

I'll probably upgrade once I get the option to download, but I think that's more a deep set fear of unactioned update prompts.
 
I'm planning to upgrade as soon as the update is made available for my system, unless there is a major bug, which in that case I'll hold off until it's been patched.
 
I'm planning on upgrading as soon as it's available.

That being said, a lot of my systems, work, and home are in some way, not compatible. Mostly because the CPU isn't supported. These range from 1-year-old to 4-year-old systems.


Right now they are beating their "security chests" but someone will pass an excel spreadsheet around MS with the word market share on it and things will change.

The PC I'm typing on now, my office PC at work, passes except for the CPU. It's only 2 years old.
 
Any particular features that are making a quick upgrade more compelling?

My only real concern is bugs, but hopefully any major issues are going to be caught pretty quickly over the next few weeks.
 
I suggest adding and additional option -- already updated. :giggle: Even though I'm down to one device*, as a Windows Insider, it is running Windows 11 with absolutely no issues. I made changes that fit my preference -- moving the taskbar to the left, adding/removing apps from Start, adjusting Notifications and installing "Weather Bar" since I like seeing the temperature on the taskbar.

Will Watts said:
My only real concern is bugs
Click to expand...
The current "Known Issues" for the released version of Windows 11 are listed in Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22000.194.

____________
*The new PC is an ASUS VivoBook Laptop, AMD Ryzen 7 with 12GB Memory, replacing an HP Laptop I got in 2008 with Windows Vista and beta tested Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 DEV from the first day of the Windows Insider Program until it died.)
 
I've been running W11 for some time on a Virtual Machine and like the new design. Some of the changes include a new settings app which is much better and things are arranged in a more logical fashion. I like the way you can easily arrange multiple windows on the screen with a few new snap layouts. Some of the MS apps like Paint, Photos, Media Player have all had a makeover and are worth exploring. I'm waiting for my Surface Laptop to get the update - the banner is there saying it is compatible but the roll out through WU is very gradual. This could be a long wait so I may just go ahead and start the update assistant if nothing happens automatically in the next week or so. All my other laptops and desktops are too old to be compatible with W11 so they will carry on with W10.
 
Will Watts said:
Any particular features that are making a quick upgrade more compelling?

My only real concern is bugs, but hopefully any major issues are going to be caught pretty quickly over the next few weeks.
Click to expand...
I'm always excited for "new", especially major version changes in any software. I remember going to Comp USA to grab my copy of Win 95.

Now the work PC's are a different matter.
 
Don't really like the new UI, and have never been an early adopter anyway, so I'll give it a good while before I even think of upgrading.
 
Will Watts said:
I'm finding the rollout a bit strange as well - I have a notification on my PC that my PC is Windows 11 compatible, but no news on when I'll have the option to download it.
Click to expand...

Personally, and based on the absolute tsunami of, "How do I know if my system is compatible with Windows 11?," questions I'm seeing all over the place, I suspect that Microsoft did this very intentionally so that question is answered.

In every other respect, a rollout proceeding in cohorts, with those of smaller size and more time for monitoring telemetry between cohort formations, is entirely typical of how Windows 10 Feature Updates have been handled for quite a while now. I have been driven insane by the number of times I've had to give my little speech that Feature Update rollouts do not occur for the entire user base in a week, or in a month, but that it is a months-long process and, on rare occasions, you may even skip a Feature Update if the next one starts rolling out prior to your computer having been included in a cohort for the prior one (I've seen it happen more than once). "You'll get it when Microsoft offers it to you, and shouldn't attempt to rush it beforehand," is my general statement. All the more so since almost to a person my client base, and the folks I know as regulars here and elsewhere, typically cannot name a single new feature in these updates that they either want or need. Just let it come to you in due time.

For myself, unless Microsoft ends up adding the AMD A12-9600 series APUs to the list of allowed processors, it's doubtful that I'll ever upgrade on any of my existing computers. None meet the minimum requirements, all do what I need them to do now and I anticipate that continuing to be the case, and I'm perfectly happy with Windows 10 so long as it is in support.
 
So..............

In my infinite wisdom, I accidentally deleted some important bits of my registry in Windows 10 without having a backup. 🙃 So now I have an opportunity to install Windows 11 and see how it goes. 😂

Currently in the process of doing an upgrade install.
 
One thing I don't appreciate - a bunch of apps I've never heard of being "Pinned" in my Start Menu. :-)

On the start menu, there are apps like "Facebook Messenger", "Candy Crush Saga", "Wikipedia" that look like they've been installed by default. If you right click them, you have the option to uninstall them. That said - I can't find any evidence of them installed in the Microsoft Store, or in Programs (with the exception of Candy Crush Saga - I'm not sure if this one is the responsibility of Dell or a different piece of software).
 
Will Watts said:
One thing I don't appreciate - a bunch of apps I've never heard of being "Pinned" in my Start Menu. :-)

On the start menu, there are apps like "Facebook Messenger", "Candy Crush Saga", "Wikipedia" that look like they've been installed by default. If you right click them, you have the option to uninstall them. That said - I can't find any evidence of them installed in the Microsoft Store, or in Programs (with the exception of Candy Crush Saga - I'm not sure if this one is the responsibility of Dell or a different piece of software).
Click to expand...
You are still on the Win 10 with the borked registry when upgrading? For instance, you downloaded the Win 11 setup from within Win 10 and chose upgrade, correct? Or did you create bootable media, booted from said media and chose the upgrade option?

Thanks!
 
xrobwx71 said:
You are still on the Win 10 with the borked registry when upgrading? For instance, you downloaded the Win 11 setup from within Win 10 and chose upgrade, correct? Or did you create bootable media, booted from said media and chose the upgrade option?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I upgraded using the media tool (I didn't need to boot, but I downloaded the upgrade tool from MS). It solved the registry problem fine.

The software that appeared wasn't installed previously - and I'm not 100% sure if it was "installed" at all. I might try spinning up a VM to see if it also appears there.
 
I got offered the Windows 11 update yesterday and now have upgraded too. No problems so far. I did prefer the Windows 10 UI to the current one though.
 
I started toying with an insider version of Windows 11 Pro insider preview (Build 22454.1000) which is due to expire on the 1st of November, so I also installed the Final Windows 11 Pro Version 21H2 (OS Build 22000.282), which according to Windows update I just ran in the Final, is fully up to date. I installed and am running both in Virtual Machines, activating them via existing Windows 10 Pro digital licences I already have stored in my Microsoft account.

A couple of days ago, I made a point of using the Windows 11 Pro Final for an entire day doing everything, mainly to see if I would warm to the new interface. I kind of did with regards to the new Start menu and the All apps button up top, and I prefer the way Pinned apps can be organised. Document history under (Recommended) is much more useful than Window 10's implementation, in my opinion, as there is a More button there to show a whole host of documents I'd worked on via Office 365 over the last couple of weeks to choose from.

The VM of Win 11 Final (once booted up) runs just as fast as my Windows 10 Pro host does on physical hardware installed to an NMVe 512 GB SSD, so its speed is fine, and I've only given it the required 8GB of RAM too.

I find its Windows File Explorer a bit slicker and better organised, too, though I'll definitely be replacing it with my favourite tool Directory Opus Pro eventually. Directory Opus has way too many features I've gotten used to and would miss if I had to stick with File Explorer to manipulate my files, folders, FTP needs, etc. For me, it's the ultimate file manager and my go-to on Windows 10 as well.

Overall, my impression is that it's pretty much the same as Windows 10, only with the UI organised differently. None of the new bits of included software and widgets does anything to excite me, and I dislike some of the nags that Windows Security keeps displaying, even after I've dismissed them, like reminding me to enable OneDrive for recovery options in case of a ransomware attack. I do my own backups thanks very much, so if I say don't warn me about it again, I expect it to respect my decision and not keep turning the reminder back on.

So will I upgrade my host? Not likely anytime soon. Maybe in a year or so, I'll rethink that position, but for now, I see no compelling reason to upgrade my Windows 10 Pro host to Windows 11 Pro. The bonus should be that Microsoft will have more time to iron out bugs that I may not yet be aware of.

I do still intend to keep playing around with it every now and then, though. Have to stay up to date these days, and I find VMs are a great way to do that without risking interruption to daily productivity from a newly released OS :)
 
Will Watts said:
The software that appeared wasn't installed previously - and I'm not 100% sure if it was "installed" at all. I might try spinning up a VM to see if it also appears there.
Click to expand...

Same here Will. I installed clean (not upgraded) into my VM and that bunch of apps I think you might be talking about appeared pinned to my Start menu too.

These the ones you mean?

PinnedAppsWin11Final.png

If so, won't have anything to do with a borked registry :)
 
I'm going to wait about the same amount of time I waited to upgrade from 7 > 8 and 8> 10. 6 months seems like a good amount of time to ensure all the hardware and software I use has the best chance of working. I use some finicky stuff for some of my classes so I'll also wait until my instructor has tested all of it. Might install it on a spare laptop I have, though.
 
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