Windows 11: Will You Need New Hardware?

It seems only yesterday that I had an upgrade on my 2014 Lenovo Laptop. It had Windows 7 Professional as it is used in a business environment and used to be on a domain controller with Active Directory installed ...

I had the 1TB standard hard drive duplicated and removed; you know, the noisy type which spins inside and takes 5 minutes to boot up the machine. In place, I had a 500GB SSD (as I only had 250GB of data on the old disk) and Windows 10 Professional and now it boots in less than 30 seconds.

"A marked improvement and not bad for an old bit of kit!"

So, I have been checking out the requirements for Windows 11 now and was concerned that old hardware may not have the correct specifications to run the brand new resource-hungry operating system that Microsoft is currently rolling out around the world.

I try to always buy a mid-range device and predict a five-year life span for it. This model has lasted the test of time, but now, with the fast pace of software/firmware/OS changes, my next device purchase will only have a 36-month life span before considering replacement again.

This is not limited to just Windows on a laptop or PC either. Apple users have similar problems whereby, at some point in time, the latest OS will not run on old hardware as it is just too much for the hardware.

Other hardware that is now constantly in demand is Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switches. In the commercial environment, where VoIP Phones and Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) are required in abundance, buying cheap switches with lower combined wattage will lead to switches being overloaded and a potential fire hazard.

For example (and here's the Maths), if you have 10 APs, each requiring 27w, then your 12/24/48 port PoE switch needs to be well over 270w to allow for future growth!

For businesses, price is now the secondary consideration because, in technology, cheap price means cheap specification, unless you are a smaller company that doesn't require much in the way of usage.

Never just look at the 'minimum' specification requirements for your operating system or any other software/firmware. Do think of future updates, patches and improvements that may be required for the licences to function in the most optimum way.

"Buy the best you can afford!"

In summary, always buy hardware that is two tiers (or more) up from what you need right now depending on your budget. My motto has always been to, "Buy the best you can afford" as it will last longer. But not as long as it used to.

Consult your Technology Partner and make sure they do the maths.

If you feel inspired to find out more then do call me on 07555 807700 or leave a comment below and I'll be in touch as soon as I can.