Windows 10 support did not last forever, and the upgrade question is back: is your PC ready for Windows 11 — and should you even bother? Here is the honest, checklist-driven answer.
The three hard requirements
- TPM 2.0. The chip that broke a million upgrade plans in 2021. Most PCs from 2017 onward have it — often disabled in BIOS, where it shows up as “Security Device” or “fTPM”.
- A supported CPU. Officially, roughly Intel 8th generation / AMD Ryzen 2000 and newer. Older CPUs can run Windows 11 but sit outside the supported list — fine for enthusiasts, debatable for work machines.
- Secure Boot capable. It does not need to be enabled, just supported by the motherboard.
Microsoft’s PC Health Check app gives the verdict in one click. “This PC can run Windows 11” — done. Otherwise, the app names the failing requirement, and most failures are BIOS settings, not hardware.
Should you upgrade at all?
Reasons yes: better security architecture, nicer window snapping, continued feature updates. Reasons to wait: a work machine that must not break this month, older hardware where drivers are uncertain, or plain inertia — Windows 10 works, and everything you run runs on it.
The upgrade, done safely
- Back up. File History, OneDrive, a disk image — any of them, but do one.
- Update everything first: BIOS, GPU drivers, Windows updates. Half of upgrade failures are stale firmware.
- Use Windows Update’s offer rather than a downloaded ISO — it validates compatibility before committing.
- Go in with 30–60 minutes and plugged-in power; the machine reboots several times.
- Afterward, check drivers: Device Manager, look for warning triangles, grab fresh GPU and audio drivers.
The rollback window
For ten days after upgrading, Settings lets you go back to Windows 10 in one click. After that, only a clean reinstall. So use the machine hard for that first week: the odd printer driver or old game is the usual regret.
Either way, the underlying machine matters more than the OS version — the keyboard shortcut fluency carries over unchanged, and an SSD makes more difference than any Windows version jump, as we covered in our deals guide.