Over half of Windows users plan to upgrade to Windows 11, according to new poll

By Sean Endicott
published

People appear eager to try out Windows 11, but many won't be able to upgrade when it launches.

Windows 11 Update Windowsupdate Estimate New Light
Windows 11 Update Windowsupdate Estimate New Light (Image credit: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Thousands of people shared their thoughts on Windows 11 in a recent poll.
  • Of those polled, over half plan to upgrade to Windows 11 when it launches.
  • Almost a quarter of poll participants don't have PCs that meet the Windows 11 minimum requirements.

A new poll from Windows Report sheds light on people's attitudes towards Windows 11. According to the poll, over half of voters will upgrade to Windows 11 at its launch. Polled participants appear to be Windows enthusiasts, as 51% of those polled are already Windows Insiders. An additional 17% aren't Insiders now but plan to be in order to try out Windows 11 before its launch.

The poll runs through some of the new features of Windows 11 in an effort to determine people's favorites. Surprisingly, the centered Start menu came out on top with 35% of the vote. Native support for Android apps earned the second most votes with 26%. Xbox Game Pass and Auto HDR were grouped together and received 13% of the votes in the poll.

The new Start menu has polarized people since it was unveiled, so it's a surprise winner as a favorite new feature. Support for Android apps receiving so many votes isn't that surprising. We've covered the five Android apps we're most excited to see on Windows 11, and many around the web look forward to testing the new feature out.

While the poll shows an overall positive view of Windows 11, it isn't all good news for Microsoft's new operating system. The PCs of almost a quarter of polled participants don't pass the Windows 11 minimum requirements or can't pass the PC Health Check test. Over one-third of people polled do not know if their PC meets the minimum requirements. That final figure is likely related to the fact that 42% of people polled do not know what a TPM chip is.

Additionally, people are split on the look of Windows 11. Just over half of voters (53%) say that Windows 11 looks amazing and that they can't wait to install it. Around one in five (21%) of people polled say it's pretty similar to Windows 10. A smaller but sizeable portion of people (13%) said they don't like the look of Windows 11.

Windows 11 has a renewed focus on touch, and it appears that people are willing to try it out. A third of those polled are willing to switch to a touch-based device when the new operating system rolls out.

The survey had over 11,000 participants spanning 177 countries. Of those that participated, 89% are Windows 10 users.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

12 Comments
  • I'm also planning to upgrade, when my computer dies, or in 4 years if I can't get Ubuntu to work with my hardware :p
  • LOL. Well played.
  • "Polled participants appear to be Windows enthusiasts, as 51% of those polled are already Windows Insiders." So, these are not a representative sample of "Windows Users" as implied in the title. It's still good data, but we can't draw conclusions based on a survey of enthusiasts about Windows users in general. If you could, the Surface Duo would be the dominant smartphone today.
  • Correct. You got the statistics correct
  • Currently using 11 for testing at work. It's good but I'm not seeing a reason to immediately upgrade.
  • I'll upgrade..as long as there are no significant bugs.
  • No rush here. Nothing says 'go get it now'.
  • Fix the taskbar and sure.
  • Why not build security improvements, android apps and new taskbar options into 10…the last version of windows? Why not get everyone on 10 organically? And enable enhanced security on devices that have the hardware? When your entire business model is to leave people behind, remove UI features and options, fragment your user base, aggregate every last detail of their behavior and preferences, create mountains of waste by purposely making hardware obsolete, there’s no reason to support the company anymore.
  • IkeLeland, by that logic, there is no "reason to support" any company. MS provides longer support for hardware than any other tech company, so if those things are your drivers in tech purchasing decisions, then you should be a fan of MS for doing less forced obsolescence and providing longer product lives than other tech companies. Why does it matter if these features are part of Windows 10 or in a new Windows 11, if it's a free upgrade from Windows 10 and makes it easier for users when providing instructions by giving a clear naming change? Having a hardware break between them is a GOOD thing, not a bad one to avoid fragmentation by ensuring a more consistent hardware set of capabilities running the OS (though I would agree with criticisms that setting the cutoff at 8th gen is too recent and it should go further back).
  • Would upgrade my machines but 16gb ram, 8/4 cores and TPM 2.0 is not good enough with i7/i5 cpu's since they are 7/6 gen cpu's and this update requires 8 gen cpu. I do not like where this is going if u said security and I already have secure boot and TPM 2.0 why limit us, it runs fine on the same machine using VM.
  • Yeah....no. I hate the Win11 Start menu. Well, I pretty much can't stand any aspect of 11. I ditched the Insider membership within an hour of installing Win11, I was so disgusted.