[Help] Laptop won't upgrade to Windows 11 - do I need a new one?

[1066familyman]

I have purchased 4 macs since 2020 starting with an IMac, spent €7,500 in total and received around €2,000 back when selling them on. So I would say €5,500 for 25 years of no hassle turn it on and works is pretty good.

I have purchased one old Windows 7 laptop for about £200 about 10 years ago. I've used various releases of Linux Mint on it with no hassle turn it on and works.

 

[1066familyman]

I don't store anything older than 3 months on my laptop. I have four external HDs and back it all up there.
Let the laptop gambol free without having a caravan strapped to its back.

My ongoing digitised music collection is backed up on 3 external HDs and two 512gb sd cards. We can't be too careful with the things that really matter in life

Just waiting for the prices to come down, which they will, for the 1tb cards next.

 

[clapham_gull]

This makes the argument a bit silly. If you buy a cheap Windows laptop, then it won't last as long. If you spend as much as you would on a Macbook, you will get a well-built machine which lasts just as long as a Macbook and will likely be easier to upgrade.

User experience is really down to which a user prefers. I don't love the more recent version of Windows but I still find their user experience better than MacOS with more customisation options.

MacOS is an appalling user experience. For the record I have both a Mac and a Windows PC for work.

Performance wise the Mac has a much better battery life and never overheats. The PC overheats all the time so badly I have to run in on a special heat extracting fan.

Apple were definitely ahead in terms of UI years ago, but have got complacent and to me it feels old.

For home, Ubuntu (Linux) is a dream to use and gets progressively better.

My surface go 1 is a lovely little machine running Ubuntu. It even supports the touch screen. I recently had to buy a new keyboard cos I split water all over it (£35)

So for the money, I've built a lovely and hugely portable machine for £135. At todays prices I could it for much less.

Next time, I'll get a refurbished surface go 2 and do the same. Just waiting for the prices to come down.

The surface is a lovely bit of kit with an operating system that kills them. I've got the bigger one as well (probably 8 years old). I've been using that to remote into my other PCs, but I'm going to dual boot with Ubuntu because I've had such a great experience recently with the latest version.

My current issue, those sneaky guys at MS have been overwriting the dual boot menu, but I'll work that out.

 

[boik]

No let's not. Load a Linux variant like Mint or Ubuntu and wonder why you didn't years ago.

The downsides little. The only thing I can think of the lack of support from various streaming sites, the most notable one being Sky's Now TV.

Linux on a Mac book is a lovely experience. Best of all worlds.

 

[dadams2k11]

You can still upgrade it to Win 11.
You will need to do a few things, though.

- A USB memory stick with 10GB of space
- You will need to download Windows 11 - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
- Download Rufus USB boot creator - https://rufus.ie/downloads/

You create a bootable Windows 11 image with Rufus, and it basically stops all the compatibility checks and bypasses your CPU issue.

Instructions on creating the boot drive -

You simply plug the USB stick into the laptop once you are in Windows 10, open the USB stick and click on Set up and sit back and wait.

 

[Madafwo]

You can still upgrade it to Win 11.
You will need to do a few things, though.

- A USB memory stick with 10GB of space
- You will need to download Windows 11 - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
- Download Rufus USB boot creator - https://rufus.ie/downloads/

You create a bootable Windows 11 image with Rufus, and it basically stops all the compatibility checks and bypasses your CPU issue.

Instructions on creating the boot drive -

You simply plug the USB stick into the laptop once you are in Windows 10, open the USB stick and click on Set up and sit back and wait.

That's what I've done on my old laptop but stopped short of recommending it as it won't install the latest updates, so it's kind of no different to Windows 10 in this case.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Out of curiosity, I checked what my compatibility issue is. Apparently to change it to UEFI(protected boot thing), I need to adjust it from legacy boot but it's not installed on GPT but the usual MBR so I'd have to do a clean install anyway. Linux it is as per my original plan.

 

[dadams2k11]

That's what I've done on my old laptop but stopped short of recommending it as it won't install the latest updates, so it's kind of no different to Windows 10 in this case.

It should definitely do updates once you're on Win 11.

 

[Badger]

This thread prompted me to finally make the switch to Linux. I've been wanting to upgrade the SSD in my laptop, so I bought a new one and did a clean install of Linux Mint.

It's been many years since I last used Linux on a PC and they really have made the process so much more user-friendly. I installed all the programs I used regularly in Windows with no issues. It's basically Windows without all the crap you don't want running in the background. I don't think I'll be switching back any time soon.

 

[Surrey Phil]

That's what I've done on my old laptop but stopped short of recommending it as it won't install the latest updates, so it's kind of no different to Windows 10 in this case.

Do you know, with the link you provided (which is brilliant by the way) if it comes with Windows 11 or do you have to buy this separately?

 

[Blues Guitarist]

Get a Mac you won't go back

If you had bought a Mac you would not need to upgrade, so in the long term you would be saving money. I'm writing this email on an iMac I bought in 2017. It's as good as new.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

This thread prompted me to finally make the switch to Linux. I've been wanting to upgrade the SSD in my laptop, so I bought a new one and did a clean install of Linux Mint.

It's been many years since I last used Linux on a PC and they really have made the process so much more user-friendly. I installed all the programs I used regularly in Windows with no issues. It's basically Windows without all the crap you don't want running in the background. I don't think I'll be switching back any time soon.

Ive used Mint, but for a linux OS it's quite a memory hungry system....not like windoze, but a bit grabby. Also, being Debian/Ubuntu based it's a bit 'same as'. Nothing wrong with that, but it's like going to a sweet shop and not knowing what to choose

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

It should definitely do updates once you're on Win 11.

Yes it does. I have my son's old computer just to run RDR2 on the TV and it had this stupid compatibility issue. I used the method described and it updates perfectly.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Ive used Mint, but for a linux OS it's quite a memory hungry system....not like windoze, but a bit grabby. Also, being Debian/Ubuntu based it's a bit 'same as'. Nothing wrong with that, but it's like going to a sweet shop and not knowing what to choose

I take that back. Just tried it and it's a lot more user friendly and compatible than a few years ago...Let's see how the idiot technophobe/wife gets on with it

Yes it does. I have my son's old computer just to run RDR2 on the TV and it had this stupid compatibility issue. I used the method described and it updates perfectly.

I'll try this if the idiot wife can't get on with a decent OS

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Ridiculous Barnet from the aptly named Barnatt aside, Explaining Computers should give you the advice you need.

 

[Madafwo]

Do you know, with the link you provided (which is brilliant by the way) if it comes with Windows 11 or do you have to buy this separately?

It should come with Windows 10 at least, and if it does, it most definitely should be compatible with Windows 11 so will upgrade shortly after you get it once you've run Windows update.

 

[Madafwo]

It should definitely do updates once you're on Win 11.

In which case I'll investigate why it's stuck on version 23H2 at the moment but claiming it is up to date, I just figured that due to the Rufus shenanigans it played havoc with the updates.

 

[perseus]

I am in the same position as my email is fauty on Windows7.

 

[jackanada]

Unless you're into serious video editing or gaming or some specialist work application you can do everything you need to entirely comfortably on pretty old hardware.
Not if you run windows though.
Another +1 for mint. I'm not running it currently but it does run quite light has most software you need already included and feels like an older but better version of windows.

Blows my mind the expense and indeed processing power people waste to browse the internet and write the odd email.

 

[1066familyman]

Unless you're into serious video editing or gaming or some specialist work application you can do everything you need to entirely comfortably on pretty old hardware.
Not if you run windows though.
Another +1 for mint. I'm not running it currently but it does run quite light has most software you need already included and feels like an older but better version of windows.

Blows my mind the expense and indeed processing power people waste to browse the internet and write the odd email.

Exactly this!

My only real 'specialist' need from a laptop is an optical drive, and it's the old ones that still have that built in, so a win/win for me.

Asunder for cd ripping and kid3 for album art tagging and I'm as happy as Larry!

Linux Mint has my old Windows 7 machine running like new.