We finally have an official date for the rollout of Windows 11 after much speculations online. Microsoft will roll out Windows 11 as a free upgrade starting October 5th.
Windows 11 comes revamped with features like a redesigned start menu, Teams integration, Windows Widgets, improved gestures on Tablets, support for Android apps(will rollout later after October 5th), among others.
Microsoft will offer the free upgrade as it did with Windows 10 for Windows 7 users when it first launched. Minimum hardware requirements to be eligible for the upgrade include that you should have a 64-bit CPU, 4GB or more of RAM and 64GB or more of onboard storage. You’ll also need a Microsoft account to get the update too.
Installing Windows 11 using other workarounds such as ISO method will have you registered as an unsupported Windows 11 PC and you won’t get access to either Windows Update or security updates.
“Following the tremendous learnings from Windows 10, we want to make sure we’re providing you with the best possible experience. We expect all eligible devices to be offered the free upgrade to Windows 11 by mid-2022,: said Aaron Woodman, general manager of Windows marketing at Microsoft.
Windows Update will pop up to alert users when their laptop or PC can install the upgrade. Another option is to click through Settings, Windows Update, and then choose Check for updates to check if your laptop/PC is ready.
Eligible Laptops and PCs
- Microsoft Surface Laptops: Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 4. Surface Book 3, Surface Pro 7+, Surface Pro X, Surface Go 2, Surface Laptop Go, Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2,
- Asus Laptops: Asus Zenbook 13 OLED and Asus Zenbook 14. Other Asus Laptops include: Asus ROG Flow X13, Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, Asus TUF Dash F15, Asus ROG Strix G17, Asus Zenbook Flip, Asus Vivobook S15, Asus Expertbook B9, Asus Zenbook Pro Duo
- Acer Laptops: Acer Swift 5 and Acer Swift X. Other Acer laptops inlcude Acer Spin 1, Acer Spin 3, Acer Aspire 5, Acer Aspire 7, Acer Enduro Unrban N13, Acer Nitro 5, Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, Acer Predator Orion 3000, Acer Conceptd 3 Ezel,
- Dell Laptops: Alienware X15, Alienware X17, and Dell XPS 13. Other Dell laptops inlcude Dell XPS 17, Dell Inspiron 15, Dell G15, Alienware M15 R6, Alienware X17, XPS Desktop, Dell Inspiren 27 7000, Dell Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10, Alienware Area-51 R4, Alienware Area-51 R5, Alienware Area-51 R7, Alienware Area-51 R8, Alienware Area-51 R9, Alienware Aurora R11, Alienware Aurora R12, Alienware Area-51m, Alienware Area-51m R2, Alienware m15, Alienware m15 R2, Alienware m15 R3, Alienware m15 R4, Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5, Alienware m15 R6, Alienware m17, Alienware m17 R2, Alienware m17 R3, Alienware m17 R4, Alienware x15 R1, Alienware x17 R1, Dell G5 5000, Dell G5 5090, Dell G3 15 3500, Dell G3 3579, Dell G3 15 3590, Dell G3 3779, Dell G5 15 5500, Dell G5 15 5505
- HP Laptops: HP Spectre x360 14 and HP Envy x360 15. Spectre x360 13, HP Pavilion 15, Elite Folio, Elite Dragonfly G2, Victus 16, HP Pavilion Desktop TG01, HP OMEN 30L, HP Pavilion Gaming Laptop(15,16,17), HP ProBook(430, 440, 445, 450, 455, 630, 635, 640, 650), Omen 25L Desktop, OMEN Laptop(15, 15t, 15z, 16, 17t, 17), HP Laptop(14, 14t, 14z, 15, 15t, 15z, 17, 17t, 17z), HP Spectre Folio(13, 13t, 13z, 14, 14t, 15, 15t)
- Lenovo Laptops: Lenovo Yoga 7 and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro. X1 Carbon, X1 Titanium Yoga, IdeaPad Flex 5, Flex 5G, IdeaPad Gaming 3i, Legion 7i, IdeaCentre 5, Yoga A940, Legion Tower 7i
- Samsung Laptops: Samsung Galaxy Book Pro and Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. Other Samsung laptops inlcude Samsung Galaxy Book Flex, Samsung Galaxy Book Flex α, Galaxy Book Flex2 ⍺, Galaxy Book Ion, Galaxy Book Go, Galaxy Book S, Samsung Notebook Flash, Samsung Notebook Odyssey
- Razer Laptops: Razor Tomahawk Gaming Desktop, Razer Blade 14, Razer Blade 15, Razer Blade Pro 17, Razer Blade Stealth 13, Razer Book, Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2017) RZ09-0239x, Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) RZ09-0281x, Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) RZ09-03100, Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2019) RZ09-03101, Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020) RZ09-03102, Razer Blade Stealth 13 (2020) RZ09-0327, Razer Blade 14 (2021) RZ09-0370, Razer Blade 15 (2020) RZ09-03519, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2018) RZ09-0238x, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) RZ09-0288x, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) RZ09-0301x, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2019) RZ09-0313x, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2020) RZ09-0330x, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2021) RZ09-0367x, Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2021) RZ09-0409x, Razer Blade 15 Base (2018) RZ09-02705, Razer Blade 15 Base (2019) RZ09-03006, Razer Blade 15 Base (2019) RZ09-03009, Razer Blade 15 Base (2020) RZ09-0328x, Razer Blade 15 Base (2021) RZ09-0369x, Razer Blade 15 Base (2021) RZ09-0410x, Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition (2019) RZ09-03135, Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition (2020) RZ09-0330Q, Razer Blade 17 (2021) RZ09-0406, Razer Blade Pro 17 (2019) RZ09-0287x, Razer Blade Pro 17 (2019) RZ09-0314x, Razer Blade Pro 17 (2020) RZ09-0329x, Razer Blade Pro 17 (2021) RZ09-0368x, and Razer Book 13 RZ09-0357
- MSI Laptops:Prestige 14 EVO, GF65 Thin, GS66 Stealth, MSI Creator 17, GE66 Raider, MSI WS75
- LG Laptops:LG gram 17, LG gram 16, LG gram 16 2-in-1, LG gram 14, LG gram 14 2-in-1, LG Ultra PC 13, LG Ultra PC 17, LG gram 15, LG gram 13
- Huawei Laptops: MateBook X Pro, MateBook D 1, MateBook 14
- Honor Laptops: MagicBook Pro(AMD-2020), MagicBook 14,15 (AMD – early 2020 and late 2020), MagicBook (Intel), MagicBook 14,15 (Intel – 2021), MagicBook X14, X15, MagicBook Pro(Intel 2021)
Microsoft will support Windows 10 until October 2025 and by then you’ll probably have upgraded to Windows 11 through the Update or bought a laptop or PC that ships with Windows 11 out of the box.
