Is Windows 11 good or bad or what are the pros and cons of upgrading to Windows 11? Is Windows 11 worth installing now? In this post, MiniTool shows you a detailed guide on the pros and cons of Windows 11 and you can know whether to upgrade to this operating system & how to upgrade.
As a brand-new operating system, Windows 11 has been on the horizon for some time. In this OS, Microsoft adds many new features and brings a new UI design & improvements. Until now, many users have chosen to upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10 to have a good user experience.
For some users, they are hesitating about the Windows update since Windows 11 is good and bad in some aspects. If you are also halting, move to the next parts to know the pros and cons of Windows 11. Then, you know the answer to the question “Is Windows 11 worth installing now”.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Windows 11
What are the advantages of Windows 11? What are the disadvantages of Windows 11? Let’s see a Windows 11 review below and you can find the answers to these questions.
How Good Is Windows 11
Is Windows 11 good? In the following aspects, it is worth installing and let’s see the pros of Windows 11 one by one.
#1. Glass UI Design
Windows 11 offers a new desktop aesthetics that is given a glass-type look. On the desktop, you can see a lot of transparency, from windows to menus. Background blur, drop shadows and rounded corners work well with transparency, looking extremely nice. To give a very simple and smooth user experience, everything is all GPU-accelerated.
Besides, desktop elements use transparency. To sum up, the user interface is fantastic and nice compared to Windows 10.
#2. Bar to Dock
If you ever see Linux and macOS, you can see the taskbar elements are in the center. Now, the Windows 11 Taskbar also becomes a dock and it looks dope. You can center the icons on it, which is helpful if you run Windows 11 on a touch-enabled device. For most users, the new design of Taskbar is sleeker, cleaner, and more user-friendly.
Besides, the Start menu is also simplified. Due to the combination of Taskbar and Start, Windows 11 is one of the most user-friendly systems.
#3. Widget
In Windows 11, Microsoft brings many widgets that offer much information about weather, news, etc. You are allowed to add some widgets in Windows 11 to show the items you prefer. Compared to Windows 10, it is easy to access widgets – just click the corresponding icon in the Taskbar instead of clicking on the Start menu icon to find widgets.
To know details about widgets, refer to our previous post – What Widgets Does Windows 11 Have & How to Add New Widgets.
#4. Android Apps Compatible
Windows 11 comes with the Android app support. That is, with the help of Windows Subsystem for Android, you can download and install Android apps, then run these apps or play Android games on Windows 11 without using an Android emulator.
To know this powerful feature, refer to our previous post – How to Use Android Apps on Win11? | Get Started with Android Apps.
#5. Easy-to-Access Snap Layouts and Groups
Windows 11 offers a feature called Snap Layouts which is very helpful in managing different screens when you need to multitask across many windows or programs. Snap Layouts are easy to access – you can hover the mouse over a window’s maximize button or press Win + Z.
#6. Improved Performance for Gaming
Is Windows 11 good for gaming? If you ask this question, the answer is yes. Windows 11 can bring a good performance in gaming.
Due to the support of DirectStorage, you can play large games very smoothly on Xbox and PlayStation since their CPU, GPU, and storage subsystems are interconnected. Besides, Auto HDR, another feature for gaming, helps to turn on the high dynamic range to have the best visual experience. This feature requires a display that supports HDR.
In this post – Two Gaming Features – How to Optimize Windows 11 for Gaming, you can learn more information about these two features. In addition, some other features come in Windows 11 22H2 or higher to let you own a good gaming experience and you can see this post – Windows 11 2022 Update Boosts PC Gaming with New Features.
#7. Teams Integration
Microsoft Teams has been added to Windows 11 as a pre-installed app. By clicking it in the Taskbar, you can start video conferencing with your friends and family. Besides, this app simplifies collaboration with teams to level up your work, scale your business to achieve more, and connect with others for greater impact.
Related post: Microsoft Teams Free Download for Windows 10/11 | Get It Now
#8. Security
Windows 11 has several security features and is more secure compared to other Windows versions like Windows 10. The requirements of TPM (Trusted Platform Module) and Secure Boot have improved the Windows 11 security model.
Besides, the improved features like Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) and Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI) make Windows 11 more secure. And perhaps this post – Everything You Should Know about Windows 11 Security is the one you are looking for.
Cons of Windows 11
These are the advantages of Windows 11. This post focuses on the pros and cons of Windows 11. Not an operating system is always perfect, so let’s go to see the disadvantages of Windows 11 next.
#1. High System Requirements
Windows 11 brings many new and improved features but this means the machine needs to deal with more, which also indicates the hardware requirements to run Windows 11 are considerably higher than what you need to run Windows 10.
In Windows 11, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage space, UEFI, a GPU with DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver, and more are required.
For many users who run Windows 10, the PC hardware cannot meet the criteria. To install Windows 11, some choose to bypass Windows 11 system requirements but some crashes always happen on the unsupported PC. To gain a good user experience, some choose to upgrade the PC hardware or directly buy a new PC but the cost is high.
#2. No Skype and Cortana
Skype is the first Windows program that allows you to make free video conferencing and Windows 11 removes it. Besides, Microsoft also removes the voice assistant – Cortana. For users who are used to using them, it is not friendly.
#3. Cancel Timeline
Timeline is a good feature that can show you the tabs, used apps, and opened docs, basically keeping track of everything. But in Windows 11, Microsoft removes it.
In addition to these cons of Windows 11, you can find some others in our previous post – Why Windows 11 Sucks? See Everything Wrong with Windows 11. If you feel interested in them, read the guide.
Is Windows 11 Worth Installing
After seeing so many pros and cons of Windows 11, you may ask: Should I upgrade to this operating system? In terms of this Windows 11 review, Windows 11 benefits over Windows 10 in many aspects compared to the bad aspects.
Microsoft is always encouraging users to upgrade to this new OS. If you still use Windows 10, it is time to perform the update since the latest build Windows 10 22H2 soon ends its life. If not, no security updates are offered to the PC, making it vulnerable to viruses and malware.
How to Upgrade to Windows 11
Although you find many pros and cons of Windows 11, we recommend upgrading to it via multiple ways below. Let’s see them.
2 Things to Do Before Update
Before the update, you should first check Windows 11 compatibility to see if this OS can run Windows 11. To do this thing, run the PC Health Check app. If the system specifications meet the system requirements, start the update. If not, perhaps some of you can upgrade the hardware or take measures to bypass the restrictions although Windows 11 compatible issues may happen on unsupported hardware.
Besides, you had better create a backup for your PC before upgrading to/installing Windows 11. This is because some potential update issues can happen, leading to crashes or data loss. Besides, if you perform a clean install of Windows 11, you should back up data since this can erase your entire system including files saved to C drive.
To back up the machine, run the professional and best backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker. It supports file, folder, disk, partition, and system backup to revert the PC to a previous state or get lost data back in case of PC accidents. Just get it now for a trial.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 1: Run MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial Edition and click Keep Trial to enter its main interface.
Step 2: Under Backup, click SOURCE > Folders and Files, choose files to back up, and click OK.
Step 3: Tap on DESTINATION to choose a drive as the backup target.
Step 4: Click Back Up Now.
Via Settings
Step 1: Go to Windows 10 Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.
Step 2: Check for updates. If the PC is ready for the Windows 11 update, you can see a section for this update. Just tap on Download and install.
Step 3: Finish all the update operations by following the on-screen instructions.
Via Windows 11 Installation Assistant
This tool can run well on Windows 10, version 2004 or higher to help you easily upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11. Get Windows 11 Installation Assistant from Microsoft’s website, open it, accept license terms, and click Restart now after downloading & installing Windows.
Via Windows 11 ISO
You can download an ISO file of Windows 11 from the official website, mount it in Windows 10, and get a virtual drive. Double-click on the setup.exe file to perform the update operation.
Via Clean Install
In addition, a clean install is also recommended to install Windows 11 on your PC. You can run Windows 11 Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB drive, or directly download an ISO and run Rufus to burn it to a USB drive. Via Rufus, you can choose an option to bypass the requirements of RAM, TPM, and Secure Boot. Next, boot the PC from the USB drive and perform a clean install.
Final Words
What are the pros and cons of Windows 11? After reading this post, you know many advantages of Windows 11 and disadvantages of Windows 11.
Although this system is good or bad in some aspects, it has come and will eventually replace Windows 10. You will get more used to it. Just upgrade to the OS by following the instructions above. Hope this post can answer your many questions.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Vera is an editor of the MiniTool Team since 2016 who has more than 7 years’ writing experiences in the field of technical articles. Her articles mainly focus on disk & partition management, PC data recovery, video conversion, as well as PC backup & restore, helping users to solve some errors and issues when using their computers. In her spare times, she likes shopping, playing games and reading some articles.