Microsoft Windows 11 review

  Positives

• New beautiful and smoother design

• New games and abilities

• Awesome window layout options

• Better multi-screen functionality

• Powerful and advanced performance features

• Runs Android apps

  Negatives:

• Requires a modern CPU

• The unfamiliar appearance may annoy old Windows users

• Some useful tools are missing

Microsoft Windows 11

After six years during which Windows 10 has remained largely unchanged, the world's most famous operating system has begun an overhaul and the unveiling of Windows 11. Even though Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 is the final version of Windows, it doesn't matter. After two years of mindless updates, the world is tired of using Windows 10, at least some of it.

However, when we first ran Windows 11, we were surprised that it was different from Windows 10 and its very new look. Not as much as we expected, based on the leaks we've seen. It certainly looks nicer with the rounded corners of all windows, taskbar icons in the middle, and sleeker settings boxes, but it didn't feel quite as exotic or require an entirely new process as Windows 8 did.

What are the requirements for Windows 11 and how do you get them?

There are many requirements to run Windows 11, but in reality they are very common and available such as: 1 GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM, and 64 GB storage. You will also need a computer with a TPM security chip and secure boot or boot activation. These are minor requirements, as they have been standard on most computers for the past six years or so. The real limiter will be the CPU model, the version of which must be no older than 4 years old.

Anyone with one of the newer processors should have trouble installing Windows 11 through the Insider Program. Outside of the Insider Program, the latest word is that standard Windows 11 upgrades from Windows 10 won't be available until 2022. My opinion is that Microsoft doesn't really want users to upgrade to Windows 11 - it wants them to buy new PCs.

As with Windows 10, there is a Home and Pro version of Windows 11. Just as when you install Android, iOS, and macOS, you'll need to sign in to an online account to upgrade to Windows 11 Home, a fact that has further angered some critics. , although I don't really think it's an issue worth paying attention to. If you don't really want to sign in with an online account for your operating system, can I suggest Ubuntu from Canonical - although Canonical would also like to sign in.

New look for Windows:

Let's take a look at what's new in Windows 11. A big part of the work is redesigning the interface rather than the actual features, and as I mentioned above, Windows 11 is more familiar than you might expect, despite some re-arrangement and updating of icons. It's a bit like Chrome OS, although the desktop still shows app icons, which Google's light desktop operating system doesn't. Windows mode and multitasking are still more advanced in Windows as well. The interface gets rounded corners like macOS for all windows, which isn't a really significant change, but it does give the OS a smoother look. The new design is much smoother and more consistent for the Windows interface, but there are some changes that I'm not a big fan of.

Taskbar, Start Menu and File Explorer:

For decades, the Windows Start button has been in the lower left corner of the screen or the right, depending on the language, so while the small details may be important, getting used to being in the middle and a little to the left next to the rest of the icons is tricky, which is the first thing I did. Adjust it and return it to its usual place in the bottom corner. The problem for me is that the start menu was always in the same place before, but now if I run more programs, it moves a little bit to the left. The advantage of not searching for the Start button and without any thought pointing the cursor to the corner and opening the Start menu was great instead of searching for the location of the menu button with multiple windows in Windows 11. Fortunately the system gives you the option to align the taskbar and return to the Start button in the old corner .

Nor am I obsessed with the new taskbar, with its smaller and less useful buttons. With Windows 10 it was quite clear which programs were running, as its taskbar buttons are much wider.

During Microsoft's Windows 11 unveiling event, Teams was prominently in the center of the taskbar by default, but this feature wasn't there yet in beta so I can't comment on it. It's a logical step: With virtual meetings becoming increasingly important, Microsoft may be able to grab some of the video conferencing market. However, adding the Skype Meetings button to the Windows 10 notification area doesn't seem to work yet in the new version.

The Start menu gets an overhaul in Windows 11. The new Start Menu little squares are still a good size.

File Explorer is a good example of the new look of Windows 11, especially the updated controls in the left panel and folder icons. Note the streamlined bar along the top, which is less busy and distracting than the previous file explorer bar. The "New" or "New" button in the top left works with new folders or documents that your apps support, and the same viewing options (menu, details, icons of different sizes) are available for files. The full menu provides file compression, selection, properties, and the legacy folder options dialog.

Touch support is still under development for Windows tablets. The onscreen keyboard receives a new update and now allows custom wallpapers. Tablet mode looks similar to the desktop interface, although there is more space between the taskbar icons. Touch gestures have been improved (as mentioned in the other sections here), and there's a new "Pen" menu for stylus users.

Widgets panel:

One of the few new features in Windows 11 is the Tools panel. It's not entirely new either, since the News & Interests taskbar popup that came to Windows 10 recently does pretty much the same thing. I'm used to having the weather indicator for news and interests always in the taskbar: to see the same information, you have to click the Windows 11 gadgets icon. In addition to the news and weather boxes, third-party developers can deliver content through Windows 11 gadgets as well. Touch screen users can easily swipe left to open and you can fill the dashboard screen if you want a bigger view.

Notifications and Quick Settings:

Microsoft has split Windows 10 Action Center into two separate panels. This is similar to what Apple did with macOS Notifications, which was once a clean, simple panel, but is now a collection of smaller popups.

I liked the circled number feature — similar to the one on some mobile app icons — that shows how many notifications you have. Touch users can swipe from the right to display the notifications panel.

The Quick Settings panel opens when you tap the Wi-Fi, Speaker, or Battery icon. By default, the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Flight Mode, Battery Saver, Focus Assist, and Accessibility buttons are displayed, along with indicators for speaker volume and screen brightness. The pencil icon allows you to customize the buttons that appear with connection selection (for external screens and audio), keyboard layout, nearby sharing (such as AirDrop for computers), and night lighting. You can still hover over each of the three icons in the taskbar to see their status, but I'd prefer the sound settings to appear when I tap speaker options and Wi-Fi to appear when I tap the Wi-Fi icon.

Settings:

The new Settings interface has been pleasantly redesigned, but some advanced dialogs still display elements of the old design.

One of the most annoying things about Windows 10 is the inconsistency of its windows and dialogs: sometimes you uninstall a program in the new Settings app, and sometimes in the old Control Panel. This discrepancy goes away in Windows 11 - almost completely. For some detailed controls, such as audio devices, you still see the contents in the old style, even though the window has the new design.

The light and dark mode settings are still found in the Personalization > Colors setting area, and the modes look much better than they did in Windows 10, especially the dark mode, which uses transparency effectively. Dark Mode can now proudly raise its head when compared to macOS.

You can still change the system sounds in Settings, but the new set of default sounds for Windows 11 are cool, fast, and modern.

Layouts and multitasking:

Windows has long overtaken macOS in the way it lets you arrange app windows on the screen, and the gap is widening even further with the new layouts option in Windows 11. You can get to this by hovering over the maximize button in the top right of any window — this looks like A bit hidden to me - and I hope and expect Microsoft will showcase the capability more in the final release. When you hover over the maximize button, you will see a group of layouts - two windows side by side, three windows with a large window and two small ones, and so on as shown below.

The current application window moves to the position on the layout you click (shown in blue here), and you can move it to another position in the same way at any time. After you have a group of apps in a layout, you can hover over any of their icons in the taskbar to see the layout group to easily restore the order of windows, in what Microsoft calls the Snap Group. You can also load it onto a second display that you docked to your computer. Windows 11 also improves the dock by remembering the layouts you had on the external screen even if you didn't select a Snap set. Fortunately you can still snap a window to the side, taking up exactly half the screen.

New Store and Android Apps:

One notable feature is that Windows 11 will be able to run Android apps, although there are some caveats. You will either have to install it via the Amazon Appstore running within the Microsoft Store for Windows or as a sideloaded APK file. Like the rest of the interface, the store gets a neat design update, but in the preview build there are no Android apps available yet. Note that in addition to apps, the Store offers movies and TV as well as games.

One app that Microsoft has indicated will be pinned (and front and center in the taskbar) is Microsoft Teams, the company's video calling and business messaging service. The teams have grown tremendously during the COVID pandemic, from 20 million to 145 million active users, but it remains to be seen if it can become as ubiquitous as Microsoft wants. Teams integration is not yet included in the preview build of Windows 11 we tested.

You also get all the standard apps like Photos, Groove Music Player, Audio Recorder, Paint 3D, Mail, Calendar, etc. We can hope that the last two mentioned will be greatly improved as the development of Windows 11 progresses.

New games and technologies:

PC gamers aren't forgotten about major new Windows updates, and Windows 11 is no exception. Two areas benefit: game selection and techniques. For the first time, the Xbox app built into Windows 11 will provide access to the Xbox Game Pass collection of video games. This will include titles such as Halo Infinite, Twelve Minutes, and Age of Empires IV. The app will also enable Xbox Cloud Gaming, Microsoft's streaming gaming platform.

Other technical advances in Windows 11 include Dynamic Update, which will save laptop batteries, by reducing the display's high refresh rate when it's not needed. The operating system will also support the much faster Wi-Fi 6E standard. TPM and Secure Boot requirements are part of Microsoft's enhancement of operating system security technology, a topic that deserves an entire separate article.

What no longer exists?

A couple of window amenities that I personally like but seem of little use will be gone. The Aero Peek and Aero Shake disappeared in the preview build of Windows 11 I tested on. On my test laptop, Cortana is already pre-installed since it came pre-installed, but Microsoft says the AI ​​voice assistant won't come pre-installed on Windows 11 systems. The live tiles are also gone with tools now replaced with their functionality. No doubt there will be more features coming to the pasture by the time Windows 11 is released.

It's time for the new Windows:

Minor complaints aside, it's good to see Microsoft pay serious attention to its flagship software: Over the past few years, the company has been putting more work into its Azure cloud services — and justifiably so. Maybe Microsoft is tempting some Chrome OS users or even — dare you suggest — Mac users? Aside from the cool new look, there are useful new tools and capabilities, as well as performance improvements - much more than can be discussed in a preview on PCMag.com.