I have a perfectly functioning PC (that will very likely be still perfectly usable by 2025) that cannot be upgraded to Win 11 because MS has for some strange reason put quite harsh but completely artificial hardware requirements on W11 that only CPUs manufactured in the last 3-4 years meet. And before you say “You can switch to Linux”, no I can’t. Not with the software I use for work. And then there’s gaming of course…
(Now, I bought a new PC recently, so I’m fine for the foreseeable future but not everyone can either afford it or simply feels the need to upgrade their computer)
All the limitations can be bypassed easily, if you use Rufus (the program) and a windows 11 iso to make the usb installer it asks to disable telemetry and tpm requirements when you make the usb.
Source: running windows 11 on my old overclocked intel x5690 since the betas came out
The problem with that is the same I’ve had trying to update an old MacBook my mother uses.
The patching tools work most of the time, but especially with Windows what happens when there is an update forced on you that breaks everything and you have to wait a few days and reinstall the whole OS again.
Most people don’t want that insecurity. And don’t tell me if it catches on in the slightest that Microsoft won’t do everything they can to break the patches.
Just look what John Deere did when people made 3rd party GPS devices for their farm equipment.
As much as I hate to say it for people who won’t use Linux isn’t there that version of chrome OS you can run on a normal x86 laptop. That’s a lot better then making a ton of landfill ( and it pains me to say that because I really hate Chromebooks, but that’s better then wasting tons of perfectly good computers).
there is virtualization so you can run windows on it and work with those pesky proprietary softwares, but yeah performance will never be better than running things directly (except games with shitty directx implementation that run better with dxvk, ie sekiro, elden ring), albeit it can get really close. If you’re into tinkering, this will not be a problem.
on that topic, I was considering giving cassowary a try since my partner uses some windows only software too, looked promising.
then there is the game problem, but really, unless you play something that uses anticheat that doesn’t support proton, you’re good to go.
I’ve been gaming on it for over three years now.
Quite a lot of games run the same or better on Linux, converting Windows system calls to Linux ones isn’t much of a performance hit, and often the lean-ness of Linux overcomes it. It’s not like emulation where it’s always going to be worse.
The issue is more to do with some anti-cheat implementations (namely ones that rely on installing a kernel-level windows rootkit), and GPU makers not contributing many “game ready” drivers, I.e. patching game issues in-driver.
That second one is why Linux framerates are on average higher, but the .1% lows tend to be lower.
