Windows 11 upgrade, a rant!

[PaulSB]

I have an eight year-old Microsoft Surface Pro 4 which runs Windows 10. It still runs beautifully but will not update to Windows 11. This gives me a real dilemma. I'm very happy with the machine and have no reason to replace it. I've never encountered a security issue with the machine, in fact it's 25+ years since I last had any security issues on a PC/laptop/phone etc. It does everything I wish. All updates are applied on a regular basis.

When I try to update everything is compliant except the Processor which is an Intel Core m3-6Y30 CPU @ 0.9GHz.

It really irks me that Microsoft are rendering one of their own machines obsolete by stopping support for Windows 10. I understand the commercial reasoning but making working tech obsolete creates unnecessary waste.

I've always taken security seriously and successfully. I'm Treasurer to a small local charity so security is vital for my personal life and also the charity's. Unless I can find a solution in the next 12 months I'll probably have to junk a perfectly good machine in favour of a Chromebook.

I would pay for future support provided the cost was something I felt represented value for money. I'm not sure what that cost would be before I baulked at it.

 

[Drago]

Car manufacturers usually cease parts supply inside of 10 years. It's not an unusual scenario with any consumer item.

You can always carry on using it and invest in a separate security package to protect it from any vulnerabilities that might be discovered with windows over time.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

Yes, having worked in hospital IT for years in the past I'm aware of these kind of issues. It's no help for you but it's an object lesson in procurement. People never seem to consider the end of life costs and processes when procuring systems. Extracts to feed data migration to new systems. Code access (e.g escrow) if the supplier goes under. It's not in the supplier's interest to help you onto a competitor's product so it needs to be in the contract.

Absolutely not the case with us I can say. All due diligence was carried out at the time of purchase but, due to unavailability of some parts, the end of support date was brought forward.

 

[Dogtrousers]

My desktop computer is back with the shop just now. It's Windows 8.1 with an i5 chip and the guy was pessimistic about being able to upgrade it. He said anything over 6 years old is basically obsolete.

I got my old desktop which must now be coming on for 20 years old to win 10 ok. No TPM chip so I think that's the end of the line for it.

 

[lazybloke]

I just read something suggesting there IS still a way to put the latest win 11 update onto unsupported hardware.

But with win 10 still supported for another year, there's no rush.

 

[DCBassman]

Just to be clear, SSE 4.2 excludes very old CPUs. 2nd generation Sandy Bridge onward have it. My 24H2 machine is a 4th gen i7-4790, and eats it for breakfast.
The latest wrinkle is whether or not you are doing a clean install. Clean? Just make your Rufus stick and carry on. In-place upgrade? There's some registry editing to do first.

 

[Drago]

So, which hammer would I use for that?

 

[Dadam]

Just to be clear, SSE 4.2 excludes very old CPUs. 2nd generation Sandy Bridge onward have it. My 24H2 machine is a 4th gen i7-4790, and eats it for breakfast.
The latest wrinkle is whether or not you are doing a clean install. Clean? Just make your Rufus stick and carry on. In-place upgrade? There's some registry editing to do first.

Cheers. SSE 4.2 was what google was suggesting as the reason for that chip being unsupported.

 

[ColinJ]

I may have to go through this with my Lenovo laptop. I am getting messages telling me that it is not compatible with W11.

It is a nice lightweight machine so I would prefer to keep it, BUT the battery life isn't great, the speakers are blown, and the keyboard has started playing up... Maybe a new laptop might be better after all!

 

[DCBassman]

I may have to go through this with my Lenovo laptop. I am getting messages telling me that it is not compatible with W11.

It is a nice lightweight machine so I would prefer to keep it, BUT the battery life isn't great, the speakers are blown, and the keyboard has started playing up... Maybe a new laptop might be better after all!

Yup, a new one sounds like a plan!

 

[Dadam]

I may have to go through this with my Lenovo laptop. I am getting messages telling me that it is not compatible with W11.

It is a nice lightweight machine so I would prefer to keep it, BUT the battery life isn't great, the speakers are blown, and the keyboard has started playing up... Maybe a new laptop might be better after all!

As it happens I have a nice lightweight machine that might, if what @DCBassman says, actually be compatible after all.

 

[ColinJ]

As it happens I have a nice lightweight machine that might, if what @DCBassman says, actually be compatible after all.

I can put up with a 3-4 hour battery life because I usually use it on mains power.

The naff speakers are irritating but I have a Bluetooth TV soundbar right in front of me that I could use if I wanted to. TBH though, my big OLED smart TV is much better for watching videos on than the laptop!

The keyboard problem is annoying though. Sometimes it misses keyprsses [<-- actual unedited example!] and sometimes it doubles up on them. If I carry on waffling for a few sentences and then look up I will probably see an example or two. Of course, the keyboard will spite me ow [<---!] by behaving itself. Well, no auto-repeats yet but there was a scond [<---!] missed letter, and a third. Maybe I will give up looking for auto-repeats. A watched pot and all that...

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm... It is usually the 'e' that is missing or repeated. Maybe not surprising given how ofteen [<---!!!] it is used... Hah, there you go!

I will try cleaning inside the laptop to see if any gunk has got in. That might give the keyboard a new lease of life.

 

[albion]

Quick check on ebay. From about £85.Used laptop with 11 Pro, 12 month warranty.

 

[CXRAndy]

I'm all for keeping old equipment going, but the price selling a old laptop will be minimal. Wouldn't it be worthwhile as a backup of some sort?