Windows 11 - Do you like it? (with poll)

[Chomiq]

I would love to have same or better gaming performance on Linux but since I can't I will stick to W10. But I will also not pay $30 a year for security updates so I'll probably be forced to jump on W11 at some point next year.

 

[lexluthermiester]

But I will also not pay $30 a year for security updates

You misunderstand. Home(literally Home version users) only get one year of extended support. All others have the option of an extra 3 years at $61 for year 1, $122 for year 2 and $244 for year 3.

 

[lepudruk]

I've been using W11 since its release, no problems so far. Although I used some help from my chip-head coleege who ran a debloater on it and got rid of all the unwanted sh@t. It's runing fine, can't complain.

 

[masterdeejay]

It is ok, but with:

open shell windows 7 start menu (installed)
old Right-click Context menu (registry hack)
disabled memory integrity and a few tweaks (setting)
old calculator and notepad installed back
disabled all widgets
no default viewers i use 7zip, VLC, AIMP (with winamp skin), irfanview with plugins, chrome
disabled onedrive
disabled microcodes and meltdown/spectre patch for performance
disabled driver auto update

So:
GUI is bad, default apps bad, menus/start/taskbar is bad, sometimes updates are bad...
So i voted for it is ok.
without tweaks it is one of the worst MS OS ever

 

[Sithaer]

Yet to try personally since I'm such a light/casual user that for now Win 10 is still perfectly fine for my use case in general. 'no tweaks done to my OS either, it runs the way it was installed'
Tho those constant reminders about updating to W11 is a bit annoying so I might do it earlier than I was planning.

 

[lexluthermiester]

It is ok, but with:

open shell windows 7 start menu (installed)
old Right-click Context menu (registry hack)
disabled memory integrity and a few tweaks (setting)
old calculator and notepad installed back
disabled all widgets
no default viewers i use 7zip, VLC, AIMP (with winamp skin), irfanview with plugins, chrome
disabled onedrive
disabled microcodes and meltdown/spectre patch for performance
disabled driver auto update

I do all of this except that I completely delete onedrive and WinDefender(it's replaced by something much better). Open Shell is a must. I have been using it since it took over for Classic Shell which itself got used from the very first day Windows 7 was released. I haven't used the default Start Menu since Windows XP.

 

[Vayra86]

11...
Liking is a big word. I would have been fine staying on 10. Or 7. Or 8.x

Its palatable, as in, no need to uninstall or roll back from, and I don't need a single of the things that are new in it... since 7. Windows for me is a launcher for applications, as long as it does that and doesn't annoy the living crap out of me, I'm good.

 

[Ruru]

This! Yes!

Still have a 8.1 tablet and that's surprisingly usable in a tablet.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Still have a 8.1 tablet and that's surprisingly usable in a tablet.

Fair enough.

 

[pf100]

Windows 11 24H2 is crap. I recently tried a clean install of Windows 11 24H2 and two games wouldn't run (assassin's creed valhalla and hogwarts legacy) and if I left something full screen (SignalRGB) when the pc went to sleep I had problems minimizing the app when the pc woke. I restored my Windows 11 23H2 boot drive image and set 23H2 as the target release for updates so I can wait until the last minute to move to 24H2 and since I run the Enterprise version I can stay on 23H2 for two years which is what I'll do. I'm guessing that 24H2 should be fixed within a year.

 

[AusWolf]

I would love to have same or better gaming performance on Linux but since I can't I will stick to W10. But I will also not pay $30 a year for security updates so I'll probably be forced to jump on W11 at some point next year.

Is performance on Linux lower? I haven't tested it, but I don't seem to notice any difference so far.

Still have a 8.1 tablet and that's surprisingly usable in a tablet.

Because it's basically a tablet OS. Releasing it on PC was only a side project (and a big mistake if you ask me).

It is ok, but with:

open shell windows 7 start menu (installed)
old Right-click Context menu (registry hack)
disabled memory integrity and a few tweaks (setting)
old calculator and notepad installed back
disabled all widgets
no default viewers i use 7zip, VLC, AIMP (with winamp skin), irfanview with plugins, chrome
disabled onedrive
disabled microcodes and meltdown/spectre patch for performance
disabled driver auto update

So:
GUI is bad, default apps bad, menus/start/taskbar is bad, sometimes updates are bad...
So i voted for it is ok.
without tweaks it is one of the worst MS OS ever

In fewer words: it's shit, but if you change literally everything about it, it'll do.

 

[GerKNG]

the OS itself is acceptable but the fact that you get treated like in Klaus Schwabs wet dreams makes it unuseable without tons of tweaks, removing gigabytes of bloatware and 100+ privacy changes.

 

[kilo]

Share your thoughts and remember, there is no wrong answer, what you like is what you like, but also remember this is about Windows 11, not Linux.

Poll option said:
"I prefer something else (discuss in the comments)"

I will not mention Switching to L****.

At work, I am heading up our w11 migration and it's not a bad OS in isolation of copilot. Most of the w10 tools work out of the box or with few tweaks to work with w11. Looking at you, MDT.

 

[Chomiq]

Is performance on Linux lower? I haven't tested it, but I don't seem to notice any difference so far.

Based on some testing from a guy rocking 4090 I would say there is performance drop on Linux, even Wendell from Level1Techs confirmed that in his last 9800X3D review. And then there's the issue with various anticheats.

 

[AusWolf]

Based on some testing from a guy rocking 4090 I would say there is performance drop on Linux, even Wendell from Level1Techs confirmed that in his last 9800X3D review.

Can you send some links (either here or in PM)? I'm curious, but to be honest, unless the drop is something massive, I'd rather swallow it than go back to Windows with all its nagging.

Edit: Is it dependent on hardware, though? Linux is generally really good with AMD, but can be a bit of a pain with Nvidia.

And then there's the issue with various anticheats.

That I know. I've just experienced it with Space Marine 2 which won't join the server since the last update. I hope they'll fix it in the next one. Quite ironic that it's the only game that I'm interested in playing online.

 

[Chomiq]

Can you send some links (either here or in PM)? I'm curious, but to be honest, unless the drop is something massive, I'd rather swallow it than go back to Windows with all its nagging.

Edit: Is it dependent on hardware, though? Linux is generally really good with AMD, but can be a bit of a pain with Nvidia.


That I know. I've just experienced it with Space Marine 2 which won't join the server since the last update. I hope they'll fix it in the next one. Quite ironic that it's the only game that I'm interested in playing online.

Yeah, depends on hardware and since I'm using Nvidia it is completely different ballpark than AMD.

A1RM4X

Gaming on Linux is the future and I am here to prove it. What you will find on this channel: live streams, reviews, tutorials and gaming highlights. Thanks for reading this little description, now grab a membership on YouTube and / or Patreon to support the channel. Patreon -...

www.youtube.com

This is the guy that I watch every now and then, my knowledge is simply anecdotal and based on the most recent videos I watched on YT. Never really dipped into Linux, just can't be bothered for now.

You misunderstand. Home(literally Home version users) only get one year of extended support. All others have the option of an extra 3 years at $61 for year 1, $122 for year 2 and $244 for year 3.

Great, so it's even worse than I imagined.

 

[AusWolf]

Yeah, depends on hardware and since I'm using Nvidia it is completely different ballpark than AMD.

A1RM4X

Gaming on Linux is the future and I am here to prove it. What you will find on this channel: live streams, reviews, tutorials and gaming highlights. Thanks for reading this little description, now grab a membership on YouTube and / or Patreon to support the channel. Patreon -...

www.youtube.com

This is the guy that I watch every now and then, my knowledge is simply anecdotal and based on the most recent videos I watched on YT. Never really dipped into Linux, just can't be bothered for now.

Thanks for the link.

Now I'm tempted to sacrifice one of my HTPCs with an Nvidia GPU for science, and install Linux on it just to see how different the experience is from my AMD main rig.

 

[AUTOEXEC.BAT]

Which desktop are you using? I find Cinnamon quite easy to get used to, but with KDE, the learning curve coming from Windows is pretty much nonexistent.

Debian 12 KDE Plasma x11

 

[AusWolf]

Debian 12 KDE Plasma x11

KDE is probably the best choice for someone coming from Windows, imo. I used to be a Cinnamon guy back in my Ubuntu/Mint days, but having spent the last 10-15 years on Windows, KDE seems perfect to me now (not that I have anything against Cinnamon).

 

[MCJAxolotl7]

I voted "something else" and here is my explanation.

There are multiple systems under my roof: macOS (two systems), Windows (both 10 & 11, multiple systems), and Linux.

I generally upgrade the OS about 9 months after launch. My daily driver Mac (Mac mini M2 Pro in my System Specs) is running macOS Sonoma 17.7. There's an older Mac mini 2018 running Ventura (16.7 I think).

There are several Windows PCs in the building, running W11 23H2 mostly but one W10 23H2. I will probably upgrade one test system to W11 24H2 in June 2025.

I don't have an upgrade roadmap for my Linux system (it's a Raspberry Pi 4).

Unsurprisingly and like the past 20 years, the Mac has an ongoing system administration load about 90-95% less than the Windows boxes. The Raspberry Pi although the Raspberry Pi people consistently advise to do clean install (preferably on a blank drive) after a major OS release. Plus the initial setup of the Raspberry Pi is a complete pain, marginally better than Linux boxes 25 years ago.

Anyone who says that "Linux just works" has never tried getting decent battery performance from a notebook PC nor has tried to plug in a typical peripheral (like an MFP from HP) and get all functions working in three minutes.

As a former UNIX/Linux system administrator, I still laugh at anyone's claims that Linux is just as easy to use as Windows or macOS. Yeah, basic OS installation might be better than it was in 1997 but it's still a PITA from a long-term sysadmin administration load basis.

I will emphasize that I did not say that macOS was perfect. Far from it. But 9-month-old macOS still blows doors on 9-month-old Windows from a sysadmin load perspective. I am decades beyond the threshold of enjoying installing OSes just for fun. As far as I'm concerned, the less system administration I do, the better.

One thing for sure: the Microsoft Store (Windows app store) sucks massively compared to the Mac App Store. Why is this? I don't know why. You'd think they would have been able to figure this out by now.

And I'm not even going to delve into the weird hexadecimal error codes from Windows Update failures. That's like a Saturday Night Live skit.

No offense, but I'm pretty sure that MacOS Ventura is 13, MacOS Sonoma is 14, and MacOS 15 is Sequoia.

 

[GerKNG]

Is performance on Linux lower? I haven't tested it, but I don't seem to notice any difference so far.

linux is significantly slower if you ignore the 10 cherry picked game benchmarks where it beats Windows.
Here is Black Myth Wukong which i tested:

 

[MCJAxolotl7]

As a daily Ubuntu 24.10 user, I will use Win11 on any Windows device that can run it. It feels more modern than 10. But, if given the choice, that drive's getting wiped and linuxed.

 

[AusWolf]

linux is significantly slower if you ignore the 10 cherry picked game benchmarks where it beats Windows.
Here is Black Myth Wukong which i tested:

View attachment 370641
View attachment 370642

Wow! But you're on Nvidia, too. I wonder if the difference is that significant with AMD as well.

Has anyone got a 6750 XT with Windows installed? I forgot what my system scored in BM:W.

 

[GerKNG]

Wow! But you're on Nvidia, too. I wonder if the difference is that significant with AMD as well.

Has anyone got a 6750 XT with Windows installed? I forgot what my system scored in BM:W.

both tests were on a 7900XT.

 

[Apocalypsee]

I have yet to try 11, I'm usually very slow to migrate to new Windows. I waited a couple of years before moving from XP to 7, and skip 8/8.1. Main reason why I upgraded at all because of newer DirectX version. I didn't find any reason to upgrade, or even try 11 yet.