1. Introduction
This article will list the Windows 10 and Windows 11 System requirements and compare them.
2. Windows 10 System Requirements
|
Processor: |
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
|
| RAM: | 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit |
|
Hard drive size: |
32GB or larger storage device |
| Graphics card: |
Compatible with DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver |
| Display: | 800x600 |
| Internet Connection: |
Internet connectivity is necessary to perform updates and to download and take advantage of some features. This relates to Windows 10 Pro in S mode, Windows 10 Pro Education in S mode, Windows 10 Education in S mode, and Windows 10 Enterprise in S mode require an internet connection during the initial device setup. Also, either a Microsoft account (MSA) or Azure Activity Directory (AAD) account is needed. Switching a device out of S mode also requires internet connectivity. |
2. Windows 11 System Requirements
| Processor | 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC) |
| RAM | 4 gigabyte (GB) |
| Storage | 64 GB or larger storage device |
| System firmware | UEFI, Secure Boot capable. Check here for information on how your PC might be able to meet this requirement. |
| TPM | Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0 |
| Graphics card | Compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver. |
| Display | High definition (720p) display that is greater than 9” diagonally, 8 bits per color channel. |
| Internet connection and Microsoft account | For all Windows 11 editions, internet access is required to perform updates and to download some features. A Microsoft account is also required. |
3. Windows 10 vs Windows 11 System Requirements
As we can see, new Windows needs much more resources. It's explicitly stated that the processor needs to have at least 2 cores, while for we had listed processors that are compatible (all of them 2 cores or more). Anyway, we were able to run Windows 10 on single-core but it was very bad experience.
As we can see, Windows 11 requires a double amount of RAM memory and storage. Also, the graphic card for Windows 11 needs to be compatible with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver, while with Windows 10 DirectX 9 compatible cards with WDDM 1.0 driver were enough. Also, the requirements for display increased, now we need high definition (HD) 720p display with at least 9'' diagonal, and 8 bpc channel.
Also, there is a new requirement related to TPM - Trusted Platform Module. We must have it and it must be version 2.0. Trusted Platform Module technology should provide hardware-based security-related functions. A TPM chip is a secure crypto-processor that is designed to execute cryptographic operations.
Internet access and Windows account are also among the requirements for Windows 11 but this is not new.
4. Conclucsion
As we saw, Windows 11 requirements are a bit different from the ones for Windows 10. Older machines will probably need upgrades or replacement if we're about to run it.