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Bentley Home PC Support - Articles - Which computers can't be upgraded to Windows 11?

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Which computers can't be upgraded to Windows 11?

By now some of you may've received a notice from Microsoft stating that your computer is not compatible with Windows 11, and that you have until October 2025 to upgrade to a newer machine. This is poppycock. Most computers are compatible with Windows 11, and to date, out of the hundreds I have upgraded, only 3 have failed. This includes computers made 10 years ago, as well as some made recently. I have seen a tendency for machines older than 11 years to have more issues, but to be honest those machines are reaching their use-by date and should probably be replaced.

Microsoft imposed an artificial limitation on which computers can upgrade, but it is easily bypassed. The range of opinions as to why they chose to do so is vast. On the cynical side one can speculate that they're in bed with the hardware manufacturers (true) and that this is a scheme to boost hardware sales (entirely possible). In the middle is the idea that most laptops older than 6 years and most desktops older than 11 years tend to present with some hardware issues, and they don't want to be on the receiving end of tech support for those machines. Also possible.

But their stated reasoning is that the TPM2 chip which exists in PC's built later than 2017 is the only real way to achieve good computer security, which makes no sense. The chip in question has known vulnerabilities, and there are more pertinent areas which Microsoft should be addressing in order to prevent harm, such as the legacy software embedded in Windows. The real result of their action is that a vast number of computers around the world will stop receiving security updates after October 2025 because they weren't upgraded to Windows 11. Hardly an act of security-minded altruism.

Regardless of their actual reasons, most anyone can upgrade to 11, and should do so before Oct '25. If you've got a computer older than 2018 you'll need a hand from someone like myself, otherwise the upgrade will be offered to you directly by Microsoft at some point. Likewise if you want to make Windows 11 look and act more like Windows 10, you'll need my help or another professional's.

Pleased to say that 11 is getting better, gradually: performance is starting to get a little faster as of the most recent release, and also some of the useful things which they initially disallowed have been put back in. If only they'd done that in the first place, rather than vomiting it onto the marketplace in it's prior unpolished state, it's reputation as a "have-to, but don't wanna" operating system upgrade would not be fixed so firmly in people's heads.

- Matt Bentley, computer expert at Bentley Home PC Support.
Email info@homepcsupport.co.nz or phone 0211348576.

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