Microsoft revealed Windows 11 today but missing from its presentation was a release date for the operating system. The company isn’t announcing an official launch day, but we know Windows 11 will be available on eligible Windows 10 PCs as an update and on new PCs this holiday season.
That means we can expect Windows 11 to arrive between October and December.
We also know how the transition from Windows 10 will go down. Windows 11 will be a free upgrade for Windows 10 users in the same way Windows 10 was a free upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. PC requirements for running the OS include a 64-bit CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, which shouldn’t be a problem if you’ve purchased a laptop in the past 5 or so years.
The next-gen OS will be delivered via a WIndows update similar to how Windows 7 and 8 transitioned into Windows 10 instead of requiring a physical disk. Several vendors have reached out to Laptop Mag, and while they can’t provide a release date for Windows 11, the companies are promising to ship products running Windows 11 on the day the OS launches.
Windows 10 is nearing its fifth birthday and will receive support until October 14, 2025. At that point, the OS will no longer get important security updates and users will be strongly encouraged to move to Windows 11.
We have reached out to Microsoft for an official release date and will update this article if we heard back.
