While I’ve been using Windows 11 for almost a year on my ROG Ally, my main PC is still on Windows 10, and I don’t plan on switching to Windows 11 anytime soon. Here’s why.
I Like the Windows 10 Design More Than Windows 11
I’m not too fond of the Windows 11 design language. The Start menu button in the center of the taskbar looks off, and the Start menu itself resembles one of the home screens on my ancient OG Nexus 7 when in landscape mode, but that’s not all.
While I can move the Start Menu back on the left side, I cannot change the look of the Start menu, at least not for free, and have to click the “All Apps” button to show all my apps. On Windows 10, though, my pinned apps neatly reside on the right, my app list is on the left, and I don’t have to move between the two.
Better yet, on Windows 10, I can pin an app to the Start Menu just by clicking and dragging its icon to the right-hand side, instead of clicking the “All Apps” button, finding an app I want to pin, then right-clicking it, and finally clicking the “Pin to Start” option.
That’s one step versus four, which doesn’t make any sense. Oh, and on Windows 10, I can place certain widgets on the Start menu’s right-hand side—like the Weather widget—but on Windows 11, I’ve got to use the widgets dashboard instead.
Then there’s the action menu, which looks way better on Windows 10, at least to me. Not only that, but I also like that the action menu and the notification panel are merged in Windows 10. On the other hand, they’re separate on Windows 11, which means you’ve got to perform multiple actions to tweak a setting and check notifications.
Finally, there’s the Windows 11 right-click menu, which makes no sense to me. Worse still, you can access the good old right-click menu, but you need to go through an additional action to access it. It looks like many Windows 11 changes are there just for change’s sake, since they don’t reduce the number of steps to perform an action nor make a specific action easier to accomplish.
I’m also not a huge fan of Windows 11 dark mode. To me, Windows 10 dark mode looks way better. The settings menu, for example, is pitch black on Windows 10, with only the sidebar being gray, the only part of the menu showing that neat transparency effect; it’s got a nice contrast that really suits my taste. On Windows 11, everything is gray or colored in the current accent color, and everything is transparent. It just doesn’t jive with me.
Lastly, I like the sharp-angled Windows 10 design better than all those rounded corners of Windows 11, which make the UI look too similar to my Samsung’s phone One UI.
There Isn’t Any Gaming-Centric Feature Exclusive to Windows 11 That Would Make Me Switch
Now, if there were a gaming-centric feature exclusive to Windows 11 that would be genuinely useful to me, I’d have a long think about switching. But as it stands, there isn’t one.
For starters, DirectX 12 Ultimate is fully supported on Windows 10. Next, while in theory, DirectStorage should work better on Windows 11, there’s hardly any difference in practice.
Auto Super Resolution is one Windows 11-exclusive feature I find pretty handy, but Auto SR only works on CoPilot+ PCs, and my CPU doesn’t feature an NPU, so I can’t use it. Also, since I’ll most likely upgrade to one of the Ryzen 9000 CPUs next (which lack NPUs), I won’t be able to use Auto SR even if I were to switch to Windows 11.
I Don’t Need Copilot and Other AI Features
While Copilot AI features exclusive to Windows 11, aside from Auto SR, which would be neat to have, I don’t need them. For me, Copilot is just a nuisance that doesn’t help me at all.
When I want to use an LLM chatbot, I open ChatGPT in my browser and use it. I don’t need one integrated into my OS, always trying to help me despite me not needing its help, ever.
The generative Copilot Plus features look cool, but again, I can use some of those features in my browser. Microsoft Designer is just two clicks away, so I really don’t need the Copilot button trying to squeeze itself into every single window I open.
Microsoft Paint Cocreator does look pretty cool, I’ve got to say. But until Microsoft makes Copilot Plus features compatible with NVIDIA GPUs, I won’t even start thinking about switching to Windows 11 because, at this moment, there’s no way to get access to Copilot Plus features if you own a desktop PC.
I guess that some other features, such as Live Captions, could prove handy in certain situations, but most of the media I consume is in English. When I consume media in a language I don’t understand, that content virtually always comes with English subs.
Other Copilot Plus features, such as Windows Studio Effects, don’t interest me at all.
All My Hardware Works Perfectly On Windows 10
If I owned a true HDR monitor, I might have already switched to Windows 11 solely for Auto HDR, considering that HDR support on Windows 10 is busted. But I don’t own one and don’t plan on getting one anytime soon, so I think I’ll stay on Windows 10 for the time being.
I’m happy to report that every single piece of my PC hardware works great on Windows 10, so again, I don’t have a reason to migrate to Windows 11.
In General, Windows 11 Doesn’t Offer Me Anything I Need
At the end of the day, Windows 11 doesn’t offer me a single feature I might genuinely need. Auto HDR and the Windows HDR Calibration app are great if you own an HDR monitor. Windows Snap is yet another neat feature, but FancyZones in PowerToys does the job perfectly.
Lastly, the fact that Intel’s Thread Director isn’t optimized for Windows 10 Task Scheduler has zero value to me because I’m using a Ryzen CPU, and my next CPU will almost certainly be Ryzen as well.
Windows 11 is a fine operating system, but the fact of the matter is that I simply like Windows 10 better. From the design to functionality to hardware support and available features, Windows 11 offers no reason for me to switch.
I plan to stay on Windows 10 at least until October 14th, 2025, the date on which Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. After that, I wouldn’t mind paying for extended security updates, if the price for individual users doesn’t end up being too steep—Microsoft hasn’t yet disclosed how much they will charge individual users for ESUs. But if Microsoft decides to fleece everyone who wants to stay on Windows 10, or I end up buying an HDR monitor in the meantime, I’ll most likely have to upgrade to Windows 11. Or perhaps, I’ll finally make the switch to Linux, something I’ve been considering ever since I first tried a Steam Deck.
