I remember way back in July, 2015, Microsoft announced Windows 10 and said it would be the last Windows operating system. This past Thursday, June 24th, 2021 Microsoft announced Windows 11.
Since Thursday, there have been lots of rumors about cost, system requirements, and something called a TPM 2.0 security chip. I suspect there will be many more rumors published before we get to the truth.
I will explain what seem to be facts below, but I first want to “defend” Microsoft a tiny bit. We all know that recent Windows 10 updates have been buggy and have caused major problems for many users. I will not defend those buggy updates - they should not happen. What I will sympathize with Microsoft about is not supporting all computers currently running Windows 10.
Windows 10 has roughly 50 million lines of code, per sources with the ability to know such things. I imagine Microsoft has several hundred, if not thousands of coders managing Windows 10 programming. Can you imaging managing such a huge amount of code and making it work for all the millions of Windows 10 computers in use, all with different hardware and embedded technology? I did some coding for the Gwinnett Senior Learning Center while I was a volunteer there, and I was always surprised when a minor code change broke another set of code in a completely separate module. So, maybe Microsoft deserves a tiny bit of understanding in not supporting every Windows 10 computer in existence.
Now, back to the Windows 11 compatibility issues.
Supposedly, if your computer is currently running Windows 10, you can upgrade to Windows 11 at no cost.
Windows 11 requires certain processors (CPUs) to function. I’m not sure this list is fixed/complete yet, but go Here to check. If you do not know what processor your computer has, go to Settings>System>About (last entry in left pane). In the right pane, your computer processor will be listed. Use your browser's Search feature at the link above to find your processor - the list is not necessarily in order by processor type.
TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 - PC Magazine says if you you bought your computer in 2016 or later, you probably have this chip installed. Go Here for more information on TPM and scroll down to the section labeled Does My Computer Have TPM? for instructions to determine if your computer has this feature. Or, if you just want to do a quick check on your computer...
Click the Start button and type Windows Security or type that phrase in the Search box to the right of the Start Button.
When Windows Security appears on the Start Menu, look into the right pane and click Device Security.
Under the Security Processor section, click Security Processor details.
Check to see if the Specification Version is 2.0.
Because my computer has TPM, I don't know what happens if your computer is not equipped. I assume you will not be offered the Device Security option in Step b above, or you will receive a message indicating you do not have TPM.
Where does this leave Lowell? I don't know that either. I bought my computer in March 2016 and I have the correct TPM chip. However, my CPU is not on the list noted in Item 2 above. Not sure what I'll do if my computer is not Windows 11 compatible. Maybe I should have waited to verify compatibility before sympathizing with Microsoft!