Announcement Date
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 - 1:45
Windows 11 and Mac OS 12 Guidance
Faculty, Staff and Students,
Weitzman ITS would like to provide you some guidance on personal devices with the recent announcements of Microsoft’s Windows 11 release and the anticipation of Apple’s new OS 12 (Monterey) expected to be released sometime before the end of this year.
Windows 11
Windows 11 was released on October 5th, 2021. This latest version of Windows includes a modernized user interface, widened application availability in the Microsoft Store, and improved support for the few ARM-based Windows systems available. Windows 11 is a no-cost upgrade for current licensed users of Windows 10. While the system has new features and performance enhancements because this is a completely new release of an operating system, we strongly recommend a “wait and see” approach before upgrading. A new release of an OS typically has initial bugs to work out before one has a smooth experience. Many factors must be considered including hardware and software compatibility. Weitzman will only begin to review the use of Windows 11 on Weitzman owned devices sometime early next year due to the vast software collection that is used throughout our environment. In addition, the new release of Windows 11 has some hardware implications that one needs to consider before upgrading.
Microsoft is rolling out Windows 11 using a phased approach, with many “eligible” systems not expected to receive it until 2022. Hardware vendors such as Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft themselves will have some product lines with Windows 11 pre-installed available shortly, though other product lines will not be available with Windows 11 for at least a few months. For the rest of 2021, whether a particular new system can be ordered with Windows 11 will often depend on driver support.
The “eligible systems” phrase hints at one of the significant challenges with upgrading to Windows 11: Microsoft has sharply tightened the hardware requirements to install Windows 11 versus what they deemed acceptable for Windows 10. These requirements leave many relatively modern desktops and notebooks unable to install the upgrade in a supported fashion. Microsoft’s PC Health Check app tests systems to see whether they are considered eligible. One of the major drivers for the renumbering of Windows from 10 to 11 was likely these new hardware requirements.
With Windows 11, Microsoft is moving from the two major updates per year seen in Windows 10 to one major yearly update, likely in the fall. The new operating system is also the first Microsoft operating system in about 25 years to ship without some version of Internet Explorer. Microsoft currently plans to stop supporting Windows 10 in 2025.
Learn more about Windows 11 from Microsoft here.
***SPECIAL NOTE running Windows 11 on Mac hardware****
With the recent introduction of Apple’s M1 chip and strict hardware requirements for Windows 11, one of the requirements for Windows 11 is the use of a TPM chip. Macs DO NOT come with TPM chips. Although many have started to publish recent articles on how to circumvent the TPM chip when installing Windows 11, we are cautioning users that this is NOT best practice as this will break important functionality including security updates! Even with virtualization applications, the possibility of using Windows 11 on a Mac is currently not supported!
Apple
Traditionally Apple doesn’t officially state an end-of-life cycle, however users should consider only being on one of the last three versions of the OS. Currently Apple is planning (as it typically does each year) to introduce Mac OS 12.x “Monterey” before the end of 2021. With this release time in mind, only versions 10.15.x, 11.x and 12.x will be supported. Apple will traditionally drop support for the oldest (10.14.x this year) and no longer provide security patches. Keep in mind the hardware you are currently using. Apple only provides a 3 year or 4-year warranty on their computer hardware. Generally speaking, the older the hardware, the less efficient it is when running a newer operating system (all is dependent on your configuration). The same concept applies to smartphones and versions of iOS.
Learn more about Mac OS 12 from Apple here.
- Weitzman ITS