Windows 11 Vs Windows 10
Windows 11 vs Windows 10 is the IT match of the moment. Now that Windows 11 is ready and can be deployed on all compatible devices, it’s time to ask yourself the big question.
Windows 11 vs Windows 10: is it worth updating?
The answer is Yes. This is because upgrading to Windows 11 is very important and, consequently, brings numerous differences and improvements in comparison to the previous version. Compared, for example, to the transition from Windows 8 to Windows 10, the upgrade to the new operating system will be less “traumatic”, although significant in terms of new features and the overall user experience.
Broadly speaking, the differences concern three main categories: visual, productivity, and applications. On a graphic level, the substantial changes bring the design of Windows to be more similar to that of Macs. The new operating system will be much more focused on productivity and, finally, there will be the possibility of using Android apps on Windows 11 devices (a great improvement, given that the Microsoft store has never been brilliant).
In this article, we are going to show you all the improvements and differences between Windows 10 and 11 and why you should consider upgrading it, even for a fee. However, before you pull your credit card out, here’s a fun fact: you don’t need to pay for it.
If your device meets the minimum requirements, here’s how you can upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 free of charge:
- Enter “Settings”, go to “Update and Security”, and then click on “Check for updates”.
- As soon as you enter the page, at the top, you should read: “Upgrade to Windows 11 is ready, and it’s free”. Click on the blue button, “Download and install”, accept the terms, and then proceed with the setup stage.
- Now you should see the status of the upgrade to Windows 11 in “Windows Update”. All you have to do at this point is wait for the process to complete.
- After the update, restart the PC. Click on “Restart Now”, then install Windows 11, and restart again as prompted. Once the reboots are finished, you will be presented with the Windows 11 screen.
In case you’re not eligible for the free upgrade or you need an alternate method for any reason, the cheapest way to get Windows 11 is to purchase Windows 10 and then upgrade it. This is a smart move since Windows 10 costs a fraction of the Windows 11 price tag.
Why buy a license for Windows 11?
In case you want to buy Windows 11, and skip the upgrade from Windows 10, your winning option is Mr. Key Shop, one of the best online stores for software and operating system licenses globally.
We had already covered Mr. Key Shop in an article on the best Microsoft Office Deals.
Mr. Key Shop is a premium digital seller, with over 18 years of expertise in the digital industry. With over 350,000 customers worldwide, this store was awarded an average rating of “Excellent”, with over 1700 positive reviews on Trustpilot. In addition to its reputation, Mr. Key Shop boasts an encompassing catalog, providing its customer with a wide range of genuine digital products.
As for the licenses for sale, Mr. Key Shop’s store offers all current Windows operating systems at a lower price (Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7), competitive prices for the best Microsoft Office suites (Office 2021, Office 2019, Office 2016, Office 2013, and Office for Mac), a curated selection of premium antivirus (Kaspersky, McAfee, Avast, Norton, ESET, Bitdefender), excellent VPNs (Avast Secure Line at the time of this writing – with HMA VPN and NordVPN announced to be soon available) and any other product keys.
Another strength is the efficient and fast service offered to customers. An immediate email delivery system, coming along with an official invoice and clear installation and activation guidance. Furthermore, the store offers secure payment methods (Paypal, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Visa, Amex, Mastercard, etc.), as well as a full money-back, guarantee in case of issues. All this is backed by a solid Technical Support team, always ready to solve any inconvenience and answer any question, both before and after any order.
If you are looking to buy a genuine license for Windows 11 at a discounted price, Mr. Key Shop is your go-to option.
Windows 10 vs Windows 11: The real differences
Windows 11 offers substantial advantages over Windows 10. We already mentioned the differences in the design, the use of apps, and the productivity capabilities of this new Operating System. But how different is Windows 11 from Windows 10?
The following are the key differences between Windows 10 and 11:
- Design and Interface: The first and foremost difference is the new interface, which is quite similar to macOS. In particular, one feature in common is the introduction of the dark mode, allowing to switch from a bright screen to a darker one, to lighten the eye strain and the battery consumption. In addition to the dark mode and other minor changes, such as the more rounded design and pastel colors, the other two main changes are the menu and the taskbar, as follows.
- Menu and taskbar: Both the menu and the taskbar are now centered in the lower part of the screen, just in a Mac fashion. However, if you wish to, you can move them to the left, like on Windows 10. As for the menu, Windows 11 boasts a much more simplified version, in the form of a static list of applications and the most used documents. However, it can be changed by adding other apps, documents, etc. The taskbar, on the other hand, shows the most significant changes. Cortana’s features have been removed, as they are now included in a downloadable app, and the search box has been collapsed into an icon. Microsoft Teams has also been added to the taskbar, so you can access it more easily and quickly. There isn’t much you can do about the appearance and functionality of the menu, but if you miss the Windows 10 taskbar, you can modify it with no hassle.
- New Widgets: Managed by artificial intelligence that improves as it progresses, Windows 11 Widgets will allow you to have a feed of information in real-time on whatever subject: updates, advice, calendar, weather, personalized news, traffic information, Todo lists, reading suggestions, etc. They are stored in a panel to the left of the screen, inside a transparent box that can be easily enlarged or stowed away.
- Virtual desktop support: As in Macs, you can also set different digital desktops that can be quickly exchanged as needed. One Desktop for work, one for gaming, one for study, etc. This is a simple but very useful feature that allows you to create an unlimited number of virtual desktops.
- Microsoft Store with android apps: One of the main novelties lies in the support of Android apps on Windows 11. The apps can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store, which is similar in design to Windows 10, except for the integration with the Amazon Appstore. There would be over 500,000 Android apps that will be available in the Microsoft Store. This is a big piece of news, as demanded by Windows users for many years. An advantage not only for users, as they will be able to download all the apps they want from a single store, but also a significant step in the integration of all Microsoft devices. In this way, the new Microsoft app store becomes unique for all its devices, and this is a great advantage, especially if you intensively use Android apps for professional reasons: therefore, there is no need to bring your smartphone to work. It is still unknown whether Windows 10 will offer this feature or not.
- Productivity and multitasking: Windows 11 includes Snap Layouts, a system designed h to improve multitasking and productivity. This is a new feature that’s not available on Windows 10. Snap Layouts allows you to group all open windows in the taskbar. Not a big difference from the past, you say. But this is not the point. Snap Layouts can be used by hovering the mouse cursor over an app or window enlarge/collapse icon, or by pressing Windows + Z while an app is open. Then, a popup will appear, with different grids from which you can choose, allowing you to arrange 2-6 windows on the screen with a few clicks. There is some news about external monitors too. Windows 11 can memorize the layout of windows on external monitors. This way, if you detach and then reconnect your external display, you won’t lose the original layout. A unique feature of Windows 11 that saves you a lot of time.
- New Tablet Mode: Windows 10 has a tablet mode that allows you to use some laptops, such as the Surface devices, with an interface closer to tablets. This mode has been removed from Windows 11 as it focuses on improving all the “tablet” aspects of laptops. The touchscreen experience has been improved as well by increasing the space between apps and supporting touch gestures (to open or close apps and windows, switch between desktops, etc.). Furthermore, the digital stylus has been enhanced with vibrations, and voice dictation commands have been included as well.
- New update cycle: The update cycle will no longer be every six months, like on Windows 10. Now, you’ll receive annual updates, just like on macOS. This new update system will also apply to Windows 10, which will be officially supported by Microsoft until 2025.
Windows 11 Performance
In addition to the improvements to interface and features, one of Microsoft’s biggest promises with Windows 11 is the overall performance boost for this OS.
With the transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11, your PC should feature a solid list of performance improvements:
- Faster logins with Windows Hello.
- Faster web browsing.
- Your PC will “wake up” from sleep mode more quickly.
- A new feature with app reset protocols. That way, once you’ve reinstalled Windows, all the programs you use will be already available.
- Windows 11 updates will be 40% smaller than the previous operating systems and will run in the background, not blocking your PC during the whole update process.
- The battery will be more efficient and durable.
Windows 11 was specifically designed to improve your PC in terms of speed and use. One of the highlights is the way the new OS handles the system background processes (the ones you see when you open the Windows Task Manager).
Windows 10 can get bloated with apps that work in the background by default (Like OneDrive, for example). In Windows 11, however, not only are there far fewer apps working in the background but the resource allocation algorithm is updated to manage memory by prioritizing the open apps running in the foreground.
This way, Windows 11 ensures the apps you actively use will have more CPU power than the ones in the background. This feature was also shown by Microsoft, which demonstrated how the Excel app in Windows 11 opened quickly with the CPU under 90% load.
As for the “wake-up” speed of the PC, this depends on the new RAM management. On Windows 11, RAM can remain powered even when the PC is in sleep mode. As a result, this allows the PC to “wake up” from sleep mode up to 25% faster.
The edge has been improved as well. Here, Microsoft’s browser performs much better than what we say on Windows 10, saving 32% for memory and 37% for CPU usage. As for browsers, in general, Microsoft has stated that with Windows 11 the cache will use much less disk space. Not to mention that its new design and features have been enhanced to such an extent that browsers like Chrome or Firefox seem obsolete.
Last but not least, a final performance improvement on Windows 11 concerns the disk footprints. With Windows 11, the use of data compression technologies has increased significantly. Therefore, all the apps residing on disks will be smaller, with a reduction in download traffic, update tasks, and resource consumption. This is particularly true for “non-essential applications”.
The benefits of Windows 11 for gaming
Here’s another frequent question concerning the new Windows 11 operating system: “Is Windows 11 good for games?”
Again, the answer is: Yes. Windows 11 has been developed with gaming in mind in terms of I/O management and the deeper integration of all the Xbox ecosystems. Although already available on Windows 10, Xbox Game Pass allows users to sync their Xbox game credentials on their PC, create groups and chat rooms with friends, track game results and achievements, listen to music and change their avatar. Furthermore, the Game Bar allows you to record videos and take screenshots, as well as monitor the performance of your PC while gaming.
Looking under the hood, instead, Windows 11 will enhance PC gaming with features taken directly from the Xbox, such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage.
The DirectStorage feature will allow developers to directly access the very fast memory of the new SSDs (especially the M.2 names), to make it available to the GPUs, bypassing the potentially bottlenecking CPUs. This way, PC games will load much faster, like on the latest Xbox consoles. Auto HDR, on the other hand, allows you to easily switch to the high-dynamic-range mode without having to change the graphics card settings or tweak them every time you want to switch between SDR and HDR.
Windows 11 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, so you can have a better high frame rate and better visuals. This is an improvement designed especially for gamers, as many next-gen games will take advantage of DirectX 12.
Another great benefit of Windows 11 for hardcore gamers is that it draws from an already integrated gaming ecosystem that is used to improve performance and remove the Game Pass bugs seen on Windows 10.
On Windows 11, as on the previous version, the “Game Mode” helps you increase performance. However, this new iteration seems to work way more efficiently than the Windows 10 counterpart. An example of the advantages of the Game Mode provided by Windows 11 is the ability to prioritize game processes so that you can get the most out of the performance. Other features offered by the “Game Mode” on Windows 11are the deactivation of background processes to optimize performance or stabilization frame rates in gaming, according to the specific game and your system configuration.
The bottom line is: that not only is Windows 11 a better operating system for gamers than Windows 10 but it was specifically built for this purpose. The integration with the Xbox environment is becoming more and more concrete and Microsoft has promised that, in the future, there will be even greater improvements.
The minimum requirements for Windows 11
The new features of Windows 11 are incredible but, as the characteristics and potential of the operating system change, so do the minimum requirements you must meet to use it. Hardware requirements differ significantly from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
Windows 11 marks a watershed. It was since the days of Windows 8.1 that there was not such a significant change in the CPUs supported by a new operating system. In other words, to use Windows 11, you will need at least an 8th Gen Intel Core or an AMD Ryzen 2000 processor. These are the minimum CPU requirements, but the newer the better.
This change makes it impossible for many PCs to be supported, at least officially, by this new Microsoft operating system. The 8th generation Intel processors are from 2017, while the Ryzen 2000s are from 2018. Therefore, if you have a computer that is over 4 years old, chances are you won’t be able to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
When choosing between upgrading Windows 10 or buying Windows 11, the CPU will be the tip of the balance. Not to worry, though, as the old OS will be supported with updates until 2025 and will work beyond the due date.
Other system requirements needed to use Windows 11 are:
- TPM 2.0: Trusted Platform Module, is a chip used to improve security on PCs. It is an industry-standard and has been in use since 2016 (TPM 1.0 dates back to 2005). If your PC is under 6 years, that’s okay.
- UEFI Secure Boot: A security system that controls what software or system can run on your computer, blocking all others.
In any case, both TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot are minimum requirements that Microsoft has been demanding for years. Consequently, if the CPU is good, you should have no problem updating Windows 10 to Windows 11.
One final requirement for Windows 11 is a “digital” one. To use Windows 11 Home Edition, you need to log into a Microsoft account, otherwise, you will not be able to use the operating system. This can provide many benefits: single sign-in to Office, backup to OneDrive, settings synced across multiple devices, full disk encryption, and the ability to reinstall Windows without a serial number. This is a brand new aspect, although very common among Apple devices or Chromebooks, where you have to log in with an Apple or Google account. On top of that, this is not a mandatory feature to use Windows 11 Pro, notwithstanding the benefits of connecting to a Microsoft account.
Mustafa Al Mahmud is the Founder of Gizmo Concept and also a professional Blogger, SEO Professional as well as Entrepreneur. He loves to travel and enjoy his free moment with family members and friends.