Windows 11 is coming, but what are the specific reasons to upgrade from Windows 10? In this article we will answer this question by showing you all the important new features in Windows 11 and what they mean to you.
1. Stay up to date (Free if you’re using Windows 10!)
The first and most obvious incentive for users to upgrade to Windows 11 is to stay current, especially in today’s era of ransomware attacks. Windows 11 will be the first to receive all major updates and security patches that may affect users of previous versions of Windows. Even if you don’t care about new features at all, you should care about staying safe and up to date.
2. Android App Compatibility
Windows 11 offers support for Android apps through the Amazon Appstore and even integrates them into the taskbar when in use, like a native Windows app. According to a Windows developer, it should be possible to sideload your own APKs, although Windows 11 has not yet enabled this feature in the preview. (The Insider preview available at the time of writing does not yet have Android support.)
3. Direct storage support
Everyone knows that an SSD (solid-state drive) makes your PC faster, but most modern games aren’t designed to take advantage of all that extra speed. But with PS5 and Xbox series consoles benchmarked against NVMe SSDs, games are being developed with this level of storage speed in mind, dramatically expanding the possibilities. DirectStorage brings this technology to Windows, but will only be available on Windows 11.
4. Instant layouts for better windows snap
Snap has been a core feature of Windows since Windows 7, but hasn’t seen many changes so far. Predefined and customizable snap layouts have been added to Windows 11’s snap feature, making an unlimited number of unique window layouts easily accessible at any time.
5. Capture Groups (to remember capture layouts)
Snap groups have been added in addition to the new predefined and customizable snap layouts. Snap groups are used to save specific layouts of specific apps. For example, if you need to edit a video and have your video editor on one half of the screen and a media player on the other, a snap group will remember that for you.
If you’re familiar with Windows, you might recognize some of these new Snap features from FancyZones/PowerToys. We don’t consider this the equivalent of the feature actually being in the operating system, but if you want a taste of this Windows 11 feature, check out our PowerToys article!
6. Microsoft Teams integration
The realities of 2020 have made good video conferencing software more important than ever. Microsoft Teams has done well in this regard, so it’s built right into Windows 11. That’s quite a turn of events falling in the early days of work from home, isn’t it?
7. Auto HDR to automatically add HDR to new games
4K HDR displays are more common than ever, but there are very few games that support HDR on PC… until now.
HDR can add a lot to a game, but unfortunately not all games support it natively. This makes sense since HDR is a bit complex, but with Windows 11 Microsoft took Xbox’s Auto-HDR technology and applied it to any DirectX 11 (or newer) games running on the operating system.
At least for people with HDR TVs and HDR monitors, many games will look better than ever without any extra work from developers.
8. Improved support for multiple desktops
Previously, multiple desktops on Windows had to use the same background, which prohibited the use of third-party programs. Windows 11 will have desktops with custom backgrounds built into the operating system, allowing for that extra layer of customization
9. Ultimate DirectX 12 support
All next-gen gaming features on Windows will be available in DirectX 12 Ultimate, especially for games that use features like real-time ray tracing and mesh shading. If you want the highest graphics settings and frame rates while gaming, DirectX 12 Ultimate will be a necessity for Windows gamers in the future.
10. Last but not least: la nouvelle interface
The new UI will have a taskbar with centered icons, a heavy focus on glass-like transparency that we haven’t seen since Windows Vista, and it looks really promising, especially if you’re used to centered taskbars from other operating systems.
It’s okay if you’re not interested because we’re sure the developers will step up and create classic-style taskbars for Windows 11, just like they’ve done for every version of Windows since Vista. That’s why we put this feature last—at the end of the day, a whole new UI is just that: a whole new UI.
What are you most looking forward to from Windows 11? Comment below and let us know.
Photo credit: Kārlis Dambrāns
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