Would you buy from the first batch of Windows 11 computers?

bobkn said:

I say, without sarcasm, good for you. I presume that MS will produce a more robust upgrade process by General Availability....

...Fortunately, I've worked out techniques over the years so that a clean install of Windows isn't too bad...

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So have I. Most of my machines were bought used, and most of them have had a clean install. But that one machine is still the one I use most often and I have it configured just how I want it. Also it has some software that cannot be reinstalled as there are no installers available. Plus, at getting on for 11 years old there are some signs that its hardware is near end of life. It's time to migrate it to new hardware anyway.

Haydon said:

The first batch of Windows 11 computers will presumably be on sale this yearend holiday season. Would you buy one?
......
What about you?

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I have such an interesting situation that I recently bought two complitely new laptops, both of which are ready to work with Windows 11 as well, so there is no need to buy a new one. But if I see a version with a good processor and other good features, then why not. Of course laptop or two-in-one, tower don't like and also not need for me.

My own planning update, FWIW. I plan to buy an early batch laptop with Windows 11 Home in S mode. I don't do anything serious with it, and something like 15", i3, 8GB, 128GB SSD, will do. I had some concerns about installable apps, but the new (and enhanced) Windows 11 store app appears to have all the apps I need (I don't need many apps for the laptop) So, I hope the promise of better performance, better security, better price will bear out without a downside

But after post #135 (by barman58) I will wait until holiday season 2024 before replacing my workhorse (the desktop, a much better machine) paying tribute to the stable release issue (I am replacing the workhorse during the holiday season when activities are down, but I can't wait for holiday season 2025 as support for Windows 10 will have run out)

I am not really an enthusiast, BTW, I am one out of necessity. Like most of us are handymen around the house out of necessity :)

Bree said:

So have I. Most of my machines were bought used, and most of them have had a clean install. But that one machine is still the one I use most often and I have it configured just how I want it. Also it has some software that cannot be reinstalled as there are no installers available. Plus, at getting on for 11 years old there are some signs that its hardware is near end of life. It's time to migrate it to new hardware anyway.

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I'm pleased to have no pre-installed software to preserve. I don't even recall whether I received any when I bought my only appliance PC, a 133 MHz Dell Pentium machine in 1995. (Splurged on a 17" CRT monitor upgrade.) Dell may have still been charging $99 at that time to ship a system anywhere in the continental US. According to my sister the accountant, who was employed at Dell once, that was calculated to be profitable.)

bobkn said:

Fortunately, I've worked out techniques over the years so that a clean install of Windows isn't too bad. The main challenge is remembering to deactivate my Photoshop CS6 installation before installing it in a new OS.

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Care to elaborate how ticklish Adobe is about such old software?
What happens if you don't deactivate prior to installing it in a new OS?
What is your best practice/technique in general for doing a clean install of the OS?

LMFAO , Buy them?! they may not even be able to make them! is anyone aware of the semi conductor chip shortage? it first hit the automotive industry which is why you are paying up to 50% more for a new vehicle these days and just last week Intel announced it is coming up short on it's chip supply for cells, laptops , pc's , Xbox, Playstation etc, ect, etc also.

Microsoft may have no other choice but to make Windows 11 work on older hardware, with the price it will cost to purchase a new computer with Windows 11 no one will be able to afford one ! or any piece of electronics that take these chips for that matter!

It is not even the chip itself, it is the wafer board it goes on , it is organic material that is grown and unfortunately they do not have enough of it and cannot grow it fast enough.

Not sure about the heightened concerns and prices to that extent, but for early batches of Windows 11 computers, I would certainly ascertain that you actually get a discrete TPM (if that's what you want) and not a cheaper (and slightly less secure) firmware TPM.

Haydon said:

Care to elaborate how ticklish Adobe is about such old software?
What happens if you don't deactivate prior to installing it in a new OS?
What is your best practice/technique in general for doing a clean install of the OS?

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Ticklish? Not at all, so far.

When I have forgotten to deactivate, I called Adobe support. They reset the activation counter. (It's allowed to have PS CS6 activated on 2 PCs.) I believe they wouldn't be suspicious about that, as long as the request wasn't made too often. (At their discretion, of course.)

Best practice for a clean install? Short version: copy all file directories (documents, picture, etc.) onto a backup drive. Ditto for the data files for my email client (Thunderbird) and favorites file for my browser of choice (Edge Chromium). (Not the HTML export for Edge. That'd show up as "imported favorites" or something similar when imported.) Make an archive of all necessary installers. (I have no pre-installed software.)

The file directories can be simply copied back into the same-named directories of the clean Windows installation.

Doing it that way still takes hours to restore the system from a clean install, but not days.

I also have a couple of golden oldies (as someone put it) for which support has long ended. I always have an uneasy feeling because there isn't even security updates anymore, although nothing bad has actually happened. Wonder how you (and others) feel about it.

@bobkn

My method for reinstallation (under normal circumstances) is as follows ...​

My system disk is always backed up so I can simply reload onto new or recovered hardware - to a Disk of whatever type is appropriate.

my data is always kept on a separate drive or drives - a physical drive is prefered but on Laptops and other limited devices I set up partitions - this is also backed up

I also have an area on the data drive, or preferably a separate Disk [I'm currently using a 512 GB SSD for better access speed], for the databases of those applications that rely on them
The links between the software and their data are constant so replacing any drive is simple

One thing that helps is that all the default user locations - Documents, downloads, Desktop Etc are relocated on to the Data drive to keep the system drive clean.
This also helps if it's ever necessary to perform a clean install as a quick use of the location tab of these folders on the new install will reactivate the links to the data on the new install

this is also all backed up

A complete recovery System and data can be performed in less than an hour, but - a fresh install will take longer as each application needs reinstalling to aid in this I keep a copy of the shortcuts that make the start menu work and this is restored as soon as the fresh install is completed, of course these will not work but I install the main items immediately and I then load the less used applications as I need them, or if I have some down time the shortcuts work as a reminder of what needs to be installed

Haydon said:

The first batch of Windows 11 computers will presumably be on sale this yearend holiday season. Would you buy one?

...

What about you?

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No, not the first batch... specs have to be interesting enough for that.
But as long as my old-timer workstation laptop runs fine, I'm gonna hold on there.
My other PC runs fine on W10 Pro at the moment.

The question is would I buy an OEM PC to begin with and the answer is no. I would much rather build mine own and know that all the parts are ready for 11.

A number of tech media, for example, Notebookcheck, have published yesterday or today a leaked test of the last pre-released hardware: Intel Core i9-12900K on Asus ROG Strix Z690-E. While the particular results may be not too interesting (they are not the last and definitely will be improved near to release of these components), these CPU and motherboard are a good approximation to those I suppose to use in the near future: Alder Lake and Z690 MB with DDR5 as soon as they will be available. And OS, of course, will be Windows 11.

On my Backup disk I keep a running update on software as it is upgraded, that includes drivers as well as the normal things like Music, Pictures and Documents. I also keep a running list of what software I use in a separate folder to make the transition easier. Also I have a separate Archive disk in case of disk failure, this has happened. I have a 1 TB outside disk, I call Ghost to recover if I have as total power failure as well. Backup is not just an idea, it is a necessity.

Bree said:

For my main machine I'm intending to move the installed Windows 10 with all my installed apps and files from it's current (10 year old) Legacy BIOS/MBR/no TPM laptop to a new UEFI/TPM 2.0 'Windows 11 ready' laptop ... I've just tested the migration process, seems to have gone well..... This was just a test run, I'll be waiting for Windows 11 to go RTM before repeating the migration.

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Done - W10 system migrated to its new home at the end of September, WU offered it the upgrade to 11 on 20th October. Installing now....

Edit: nearly three month later, and it is still running well. This machine's install date history does now make for interesting reading though, starting with Windows 7, then through every version of 10 until the upgrade to 11.