Windows 10 Or 11 For Home Use?

[Impret-Sir]

I am planning to buy a new PC after Christmas, but I am vacillating over the choice of OS. I currently use Windows 7, and part of me thinks I should go for the most up to date version, but I have read that W10 is more user friendly. Opinions please?

[barry1010]

W11 is great, you will soon get used to it.

[Lie-in King]

I keep seeing posts on multiple sites from people unhappy with W11. Innumerable fixes just to make it work the way users want it to, with M'soft apparently doing their usual hiding behind the sofa routine.

I'm sticking with the perfectly good W10 until I *supposedly* have to change up in October 2025, as - according to current info - that's when security updates will stop.

[ichkeria]

Yes if you are buying a new PC plainly you should go with the latest version of Windows. In fact depending on how you buy it you may not have much choice.

[barry1010]

Every time Microsoft releases a new version there are complaints, people dislike change.
W11 will work very well on a new PC, it also works very well on my old machines that according to MS can't run it.

[Lie-in King]

Hi ich - that's a bit much, sorry. "Plainly you should go with the latest version..." - well, no. W10 works perfectly well, is secure & easy to use. Why accept an OS just because it's the latest version? That doesn't mean it's better than the previous one. A feature you like, or a way of working that you're used to might be no longer available. From the "Update" section in W10 "Settings" -

"Some Windows 10 features aren’t available in Windows 11. Certain apps and features may have additional requirements."

Also - "...depending on how you buy it you may not have much choice" - true, but it's very easy to downgrade back to W10 & it's completely free to do.

Barry - "...it also works very well on my old machines that according to MS can't run it" - but I'd bet you had to faff a bit to get it up & running? (I *could* get it on my old laptop, but the messing around ain't worth the trouble). If not, congratulations, you're obviously one of the anointed. Or perhaps you're someone that just *has* to have the latest of anything & doesn't mind what it takes?

Not having a go at you personally, I promise [:-)], but I'm frankly bored with posts (on any site) lauding W11, when it's almost 50/50 for/against & the "againsts" barely get a mention.

[Snackrite]

10 for me every time. Preferred 7 but had to bite the bullet recently.
Movie Maker was so much better and easier back then.

[barry1010]

I enjoy messing with tech. My pcs are at least 7 years old,my smartphone 5 years old. Haven't bought any new computers, tablets or phones for 4 years.

[Buenchico]

If "new", in your post, really means exactly that (and not a secondhand or reconditioned machine) then, unless you go to a specialist technician to get a 'made to order' computer, you won't have any choice available to you. Microsoft no longer licenses Windows 10 for manufacturers to install onto new computers, so all computers sold by Curry's, et al, now come with Windows 11 pre-installed.

I've got two identical laptops (Lenovo Thinkpad X250 models), both of which were bought as reconditioned. One of them has Windows 10 on it, whereas the other uses Windows 11 (despite the fact that the specifications of the X250 theoretically aren't good enough to run that OS). I'm using the one with W10 on it to type this and, indeed, as my 'main' computer. It's fully up to the job and I don't need W11 at all. However the only reason that I'm not using the W11 machine much at the moment is that I need to spend a day or two installing and configuring the software that I want on it. I'm not particularly put off by the thought of using W11.

[Hopkirk]

If you only use your laptop for lightweight functions like surfing the net and emails, ditch Windows and buy a Chromebook.

Start up is very quick for one thing, but with Windows you might as well make a cup of tea while it lumbers into life.

[Hazlinny]

Hopkirk/ Totally agree.

[Buenchico]

>>> with Windows you might as well make a cup of tea while it lumbers into life

Not so if your machine has an SSD and a decent processor. I just turn my laptops on and Windows is up and running almost instantly.

[237SJ]

My laptop has SSD and a decent processor. I was wondering about going with Windows 11. Not sure but I guess it's a 'must do' rather than a 'nice to do'

[Buenchico]

237SJ:
I wouldn't bother trying to update a perfectly good Windows 10 machine to Windows 11. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

[Impret-Sir]

Wow! looks like I touched a bit if a nerve! Thanks for all your replies, I have about a week to make up my mind! I do have the choice because I am not buying my new PC from a retailer like Currys, but from Palicomp.co.uk, where I can tailor the spec to suit me.

[barry1010]

Palicomp has a few bad reviews on Trust Pilot. Is it a big company?