After the debacle over the controversial Windows 11 system requirements, the question of how they would change in future versions remains a point of interest.
And now, some of the first details about Windows 12’s system requirements are beginning to surface despite its prospective launch still being some time away.
According to the German publication Deskmodder, Microsoft has been working on the future operating system version since February 2022 and is referring to the software internally as “Next Valley.” Though the final version is not expected to roll out to the general public until the second half of 2024, there has already been enough progress on the software to draft a decent list of specifications and minimum requirements for installation.
There is word that Microsoft plans to make Windows 12 compatible with Intel’s 14th Gen Meteor Lake-S desktop processors out of the box, suggesting that devices with such CPUs might be the first to run Next Valley. However, there have been few details about Meteor Lake-S circulating, particularly not any connecting the component to Windows 12, according to Neowin.
Deskmodder also claims that Windows 12 might support the Pluton coprocessor, which was first introduced on the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs in January 2022.
As for protection, Windows 12 will likely use the same TPM 2.0 Trusted Platform Module for its security crypto-processor that was seen on Windows 11, despite Microsoft testing out SHA-3 (Secure Hash Algorithm 3) support in a recent Insider Build.
Other hardware specs potentially include 8GB RAM, which would be an upgrade for Windows 12 at twice the capacity as for Windows 11.
There is no word on whether there would be a boost in minimum storage requirements. Currently, the minimum disk space needed to install Windows 11 is 64GB. However, Neowin noted that Microsoft could nix hard disk drives (HDD) in favor of solid-state hard drives (SSD) for software installation. This was a Windows 11 rumor that didn’t come to pass, but perhaps it could be a feature of Windows 12.
Overall, Windows 12 is expected to be “cloud-powered and AI-driven,” according to Microsoft’s chief product officer Panos Panay.
The company is still not finished updating Windows 11, which has been available to the general public since October 2021. The current OS will also be inundated with some of the features that will eventually make it to Next Valley. Users can also expect the retirement of such legacy features as MSDT and VBScript, which have been prone to exploitation.
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PC gamers are flocking to Windows 11, new Steam survey says
According to the latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey, more PC gamers are switching to using Windows 11. Although Windows 10 continues to top the charts, it’s slowly losing users to Microsoft’s newer operating system, as Windows 11 now compromises over a third of all operating systems in Steam’s monthly survey.
It’s happy news for Microsoft as Windows 11 continues to inch forward in the Steam Hardware Survey. While the survey doesn’t include the software and hardware utilized by each and every gamer on the platform, it still shows us some significant averages. Microsoft has continued to push Windows 11 for new PCs, and the latest survey from Steam suggests that the effort is working.
5 Windows 11 settings to change right now
Windows 11 is great — it’s worth upgrading to from Windows 10. But as with every version of Windows, it’s at its best when you make some tweaks to it. Beyond making Windows 11 look like Windows 10, or customizing the Windows 11 taskbar, there are a few changes anyone can make to Windows 11, and they’re changes that everyone should make. In my humble opinion, at least.
So, if you’re looking for an upgraded, augmented, and altogether better Windows 11 experience, here are the top five changes you should make to it right now.
Disable tracking and personalization
If, like me, you aren’t a fan of deep personalization or data collection on you in general, then like me, you’ll be looking for the least-tracked version of Windows you can find. While Windows 11 does collect more data on you than previous versions, you can disable some of it, and restrict the way the operating system automatically personalizes your experience.
New Windows 11 update adds ChatGPT-powered Bing AI to the taskbar
Microsoft has just unveiled the latest update to Windows 11 which has already started rolling out. There are plenty of changes on the horizon, including those involving the ChatGPT-based Bing AI search.
The new update lets Windows 11 users communicate with the AI-powered version of Bing right in their taskbar. The AI model itself also seems to have received an update that might make conversing with it less bizarre.
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