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Android app TikTok on a Windows 11 PC
Photo: Microsoft
The month-long test phase is coming to an end and with it the era of Windows 10: According to Microsoft, the first new PCs with Windows 11 should be available on October 5th.
At the same time, the new Windows version is to be gradually made available as an update for older computers.
However, some users will have to wait a long time, others will never get it.
In a blog entry on the so-called “rollout” of the new software, Microsoft manager Aaron Woodman writes that the focus in this month-long process was on quality. Therefore, "new eligible devices would get the upgrade first". The software is to be made available to older models step by step, whereby Microsoft wants to take into account the “suitability of the hardware”, its age and “other factors” when grading. The last ones will therefore only receive the message in mid-2022 that they are now also allowed to upgrade.
If you don't want to wait until the PC indicates that an upgrade is available, you can look it up manually.
To do this, click in
Settings
on
Update and Security
and there on
Check for updates
.
Especially on computers that are not completely fresh, this can only bring the usual security updates for Windows 10 to light for a while.
A major feature update for Windows 10, which is soon to be sidelined, should come later this year.
Microsoft is promoting new PCs
In his blog post, Woodman praises a number of notebooks that will be among the first to be upgraded to Windows 11, namely the following models:
Acer Swift 5 and Swift X
Asus Zenbook Flip 13 OLED and Zenbook 14
Alienware X15 and X17
Dell XPS 13
HP Specter x360 14 and Envy x360 15
Lenovo Yoga 7 and Yoga Slim 7i Pro
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 4.
There has never been a “better time to buy a new PC,” says the Microsoft manager.
Whether this is really necessary can be clarified by looking at the system requirements of Windows 11.
Alternatively, Microsoft wants to "soon" publish a new version of its "Windows PC Health Check" app that can automatically check whether a computer is suitable for the new system.
Warning of do-it-yourself upgrades
If you don't want to wait until the update is available for your PC, or if you have a computer that does not meet the system requirements, you have another option.
At the start of Windows 11 on October 5th, Microsoft should also provide a new version of its "Media Creation Tool".
Windows 11 should then be able to be downloaded manually onto DVDs or copied to a USB stick and then installed from there.
Aside from the fact that some things can go wrong, the company warns that there will be no updates, including security updates, for Windows 11 versions installed in this way.
Such a do-it-yourself upgrade is also a potential gateway for malware.
If you have an old computer and want to keep it, you should stick with Windows 10, for which Microsoft has promised software support until October 10, 2025.
One feature is missing
In any case, a particularly exciting innovation that Microsoft announced at the presentation of Windows 11 will not be included in the operating system for the time being: the ability to use Android apps on the PC.
A preview version of this function is to be distributed "in the coming months" to so-called Windows insiders who have agreed to test new and possibly unstable Windows updates.
One can therefore realistically assume that Android apps will not work under Windows 11 until 2022.
more on the subject
New PC operating system: Microsoft releases pre-release version of Windows 11
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The other innovations, such as the fundamental modernization of the design, the new start menu, the new Microsoft Store as well as functions that are intended to simplify the use of multiple monitors, multitasking and much more, will be delivered with the update.
However, Microsoft does not hide the fact that with the upgrade to the new Windows you will have to say goodbye to some things that you loved - or hated - about Windows 10. With Windows 11, Internet Explorer is finally being put aside to make way for the new Edge browser. And the tablet mode, which some users of so-called convertibles confused more than used, will no longer exist in the future.
