Coming from a Apple/Linux background, I recently got a budget Windows 10 laptop as my work machine (for my work as a field tech, I need something cheap that can flash IoT images and which I don't care about should it break, get dropped, etc). After scouring eBay for half an hour, I bought an $80 budget laptop, a HP Stream 11 with a whopping Celeron N4020, 4 whole GB of RAM, and 64GB of advanced eMMC.
Two months later, I have found performance to be predictably mediocre. Today I noticed that the option to upgrade to Windows 11 finally had been made available to me, and two hours later I was blown away. It feels like a totally different machine. While the performance gains probably won't be as noticeable on machines with better hardware, this budget-laptop definitely got a big boost from the update -- something I can only conclude is due to specific attention on this sector by Microsoft.
With Windows 11, lag is no longer an issue and I'm surprised to find myself discovering how nice of a machine it actually is. The keyboard has a good amount of travel (in fact I'm typing this on it right now since I have momentarily fallen in love with the keyboard), the case is well built and is not as apt to flexing as other budget laptops, and the battery life is decent since I treat it fairly well. It's hard to explain but there's something oddly satisfying about a slim, budget laptop that actually is mostly okay. It just feels oddly delightful.
I imagine ChromeOS is going to be taking a hit once more budget laptops with Windows 11 hit the market. And while I'm usually hesitant to give Microsoft credit, it appears they've gotten this one right.
Two months later, I have found performance to be predictably mediocre. Today I noticed that the option to upgrade to Windows 11 finally had been made available to me, and two hours later I was blown away. It feels like a totally different machine. While the performance gains probably won't be as noticeable on machines with better hardware, this budget-laptop definitely got a big boost from the update -- something I can only conclude is due to specific attention on this sector by Microsoft.
With Windows 11, lag is no longer an issue and I'm surprised to find myself discovering how nice of a machine it actually is. The keyboard has a good amount of travel (in fact I'm typing this on it right now since I have momentarily fallen in love with the keyboard), the case is well built and is not as apt to flexing as other budget laptops, and the battery life is decent since I treat it fairly well. It's hard to explain but there's something oddly satisfying about a slim, budget laptop that actually is mostly okay. It just feels oddly delightful.
I imagine ChromeOS is going to be taking a hit once more budget laptops with Windows 11 hit the market. And while I'm usually hesitant to give Microsoft credit, it appears they've gotten this one right.