Windows 11 and Copilot+ PC Hardware Requirements and Recommendations (24H2)

Windows 11 has stricter hardware compatibility requirements than its predecessor that artificially limit which PCs can be upgraded from Windows 10.

That said, Microsoft's minimum requirements for the PC's microprocessor, RAM, and storage remain unrealistically low. Interestingly, a new class of PC called Copilot+ PC introduces more realistic hardware requirements that more closely map to our recommendations for any Windows 11 PC. You can't upgrade to a Copilot+ PC, you have to buy a new PC. But if your existing PC doesn't match the processor, RAM, and storage requirements for Copilot+ PC, it might be time for a new machine. Or at least some component upgrades.
Copilot+ PC is Microsoft marketing at its finest, and it's understandable if you're confused by the term. All Windows 11 PCs offer the Copilot app, which works its AI magic using cloud-hosted services. Copilot+ PC indicates that the PC has powerful hardware accelerated AI capabilities that work on-device (not via the cloud). Other than the branding and the AI association, Copilot and Copilot+ PC are unrelated.
Additionally, certain Windows 11 features require additional hardware capabilities. This, at least, is reasonable.
Understand the Windows 11 hardware requirements
To upgrade to or use Windows 11, your PC must include:

A compatible microprocessor. Windows 11 requires a 64-bit 1 GHz or faster microprocessor or a System on a Chip (SOC) with two processor cores or more. But not any processor will do: Instead, Windows 11 only supports very specific, newer generation microprocessors. Generally speaking, this means an 8th Gen Intel Core processor (or its AMD equivalent) or newer, which dates back to late 2017. Regardless, we recommend the newest and fastest microprocessor you can afford.

RAM. 4 GB or more. We recommend at least 16 GB of RAM, but 32 GB is even better.

Storage. 64 GB or more, and it can be hard disk (HDD), eMMC, or SSD storage. We recommend 512 GB or more of fast SSD (solid-state drive) storage or more.

Firmware. UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) with Secure Boot enabled.

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0. This is a hardware-based security solution and it was the subject of much consternation for enthusiasts when Windows 11 first debuted in 2021. That said, TPM 2.0 chips have been broadly available in PCs for many years, so this bar is easily met.

Graphics. DirectX 12 or newer compatibility with a WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 2.0 driver. This compatibility is common today and will pose no issues for almost any PC.

Display. HD (720p) or higher with a physical size of at least 9-inches (diagonally), with 8-bits per color channel. We recommend a Full HD+ (1920 x 1200) or higher resolution display with a 14-inch or larger screen size for a laptop (27-inches or more for a desktop PC) and a 16:10 aspect ratio as a more reasonable baseline. A 4K+ display (3840 x 2400) or better is a noticeable improvement.
Understand the...