Windows 10 or 11

[antdeedle1]

I am currently using Windows 8.1 and with the change occurring in January 2024, I am not familiar with Windows 10 or 11. Those of you out there that are using those operating systems..I would appreciate the pros and cons of each.. I am not looking for alot of bells and whistles. I use my computer mainly for playing games, I am leaning toward keeping my computer and just updating to a new OS rather than buying a new computer if possible. I am 75 and I love playing ATS and ETS2 so my computer knowledge is limited. Thanks in advance..

[JDaremo Fireheart]

i would go for win 10 for now. there are certain system requirements for 11 you may not have

[hackintoshchap]

I went from Windows 7 to Windows 10 some time ago now and Windows 10 is fine, despite a lot of early complaints. Windows 11 has been through most if not all of the growing pains, so If I was considering a move from W8.1, then going to Windows 11 makes the most sense and it means you don't have to do it again in the near future.

Personally, I bought a new SSD and did a clean instal, updated all the motherboard chipset and all the graphics stuff, then added Steam and copied over all the files from my original install disc. Add Steam, additional browsers etc and went from there.

Plenty of good reputable guides on YouTube. If you backup any important data you can also install a newer version of Windows over your W8.1 installation. Loads of advice available for those that would like some guidance - just plan your approach in advance.

Updating from W8.1 should be free - just have the original Windows license number to hand. Cheap keys also easy to get.

[The Pitts]

Your only reasonable upgrade path from 8.1 to 11 is to go through 10 so you might as well start with that and see how you get on. If you prefer not to change PC then you may find that 11 is problematic anyway (depending on the age and features of your existing system) as it requires a hardware feature that existing PC may not have.

[TW]

Windows 8 is almost the same as windows 10..

[antdeedle1]

I am backing up files (again) on my External Hard Drive. I back-up my files periodically. I am leaning right now to install the new operating system over 8.1..but it is scary. Not so much trying to learn the new OS..but losing all of the data and everything else. I also have on my computer Microsoft Simulator X and a lot of enhancement programs for that as well. And that program is a MONSTER. I have already copied ATS and ETS2 to the external drive and I will continue to update them as I play until I make the plunge. I appreciate all of your insight right now. I agree, unless I buy a new computer (doubtful) I am leaning toward Windows 10 and installing over 8.1. However I was looking at a gaming computer...$4,000+ YIKE!!!!

[Oz Gaming]

Originally posted by TW:

Windows 8 is almost the same as windows 10..

Windows 8 and 8.1 are nothing like Windows 10. I used both.

[[JPN] Tutomu Shikigami]

Originally posted by antdeedle1:

I am currently using Windows 8.1 and with the change occurring in January 2024, I am not familiar with Windows 10 or 11. Those of you out there that are using those operating systems..I would appreciate the pros and cons of each.. I am not looking for alot of bells and whistles. I use my computer mainly for playing games, I am leaning toward keeping my computer and just updating to a new OS rather than buying a new computer if possible. I am 75 and I love playing ATS and ETS2 so my computer knowledge is limited. Thanks in advance..

So What "I am 75"?

[BlackJakSchelack]

Only get Win 11 if you have a 12th generation Intel CPU or higher. Win 11 does a better job scheduling tasks to those P & E cores. Win 12 is supposedly going to be introduced around 2025. Some games do not run well with Win 11 and there is no feature warranting an upgrade as of yet. If you are using Win 8.1 then I am guessing your PC is at least 8 years old. If you plan on getting new DLC for ATS you should look into getting a newer PC. If you are happy with the states you have then keep the game locked into ATS version 1.45 maybe 1.46 if you have Montana and Texas currently running at a decent fps, not too much stuttering. Any updates from here on up will require more performance from your PC.

[Hiro Protagonist]

Originally posted by BlackJakSchelack:

Only get Win 11 if you have a 12th generation Intel CPU or higher. Win 11 does a better job scheduling tasks to those P & E cores.

FYI only i5-12600K and up have E-cores

[Don]

looking at Microsoft site you need to have win 10 to upgrade to win 11
so i guess win 10 first

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-11-specifications

[The Pitts]

Originally posted by antdeedle1:

I am leaning right now to install the new operating system over 8.1..but it is scary. Not so much trying to learn the new OS..but losing all of the data and everything else

You should not need to lose any data or indeed many of your installed programs but you do need to be sure that you have backups of everything just in case. If you are not under budgetary constraints I would recommend buying a large external drive (at least as big as the total of the disks you have in your system) and backing everything up to it. That peace of mind is worth the few hundreds of quid/dollars/euros/whatever that the drive will cost,

You should also be able to do an upgrade installation from 8.1 to 10 - I did exactly that with my development rig back in January just before 8.1 went out of support. You may have to hunt around to find the right installer but it was a seamless process for me although watch out - if you have a lot of data stored in Public Documents or Downloads I recommend moving them elsewhere, at least temporarily, as the upgrade installer wants to duplicate everything in there thus eating up storage space and possibly causing the upgrade to fail (I fell foul of that with both previous attempts to upgrade the same system and with an earlier move from Win7 on my old gaming rig).

[Aspen Ridge]

I recently upgraded to Windows 11 on a 9th Gen I7....it runs perfectly for Steam games on my Lenovo Y740 Gaming Laptop.

[Nimir-Raj]

To answer the OPs question, given it's an older system I would lean towards Win10 it's the option that will give you the least amount of hassle. Once you have Win10 you can then check to see if your system is capable of running Win11 or not.

From a comparison standpoint they are practically the same. There's nothing that really stands out from a average user and/or gamer stand point that really stands out. I would say Win11 gave me slightly better performance in some games like MS Flight Sim but it was a marginal improvement. Nothing you'd really notice.

Originally posted by Aspen Ridge:

I recently upgraded to Windows 11 on a 9th Gen I7....it runs perfectly for Steam games on my Lenovo Y740 Gaming Laptop.

I had a similar experience on a 5th gen i3, games ran as expected for a none gaming laptop. Though in my case I was only doing it to see how it would run windows 11 and to test if I wanted to upgrade my main PC. TBH Microsoft's requirements are BS and by-passable, a lot of systems that don't meet the spec run just fine.

[GT182]

I went from 8.1 to 10 about a year and a half ago and it runs ok. Steam too with it. Tho I'd rather run 8.1. Get the free version of Start Menu X and your home screen will be like XP was.

[Tom Johnson]

II would go to windows 11 if your system will work with it, I have one computer that I can not update to windows 11, because it requires newer processors.