Windows 11 has been announced, Microsoft boasts that they did it for PC gamers

Microsoft has now officially announced its new operating system - Windows 11. The version that appeared in circulation earlier this month has already revealed a part of what we can expect, so the following has been confirmed:

• the start menu and taskbar will be centered (although there will be an option to go back to the left corner)

• the new start menu will be simplified and in addition to the list of "pinned" applications, it will also have a list of recently used documents at the top (synchronized from all devices you access with your Microsoft account)

• a snap layout is introduced to quickly arrange windows according to predefined schemes (something that PowerToys needed so far)

• support for working with multiple monitors will be improved, so Windows will better remember which monitor each application was launched on, and the possibilities of virtual desktops will be expanded, so that everyone will be able to change the background image, etc.

• the visual refresh includes rounded window edges, new icons, etc.

In addition to these expected changes, it has been said that Windows 11 will be more efficient. For example, updates will be 40% smaller than those for Windows 10, and the update process will take place silently - in the background. It is not entirely clear whether this will mean that updates will no longer require a system restart.

Microsoft boasted that Windows 11 was made for gamers. Now, of course, they will say that, but don't expect some huge things here as a special edition of the OS with a minimum number of unnecessary applications, etc. The part concerning gamers is related to approximately three important news: 

• Auto HDR technology arrives from the Xbox Series console on a Windows 11 PC - older games will get artificial support for HDR display, which means better color gamut, better contrast, etc .; but it seems that the technology will be limited to games with DirectX 11 and 12 performance

• Direct Storage technology comes from the Xbox Series console on a Windows 11 PC - if you have an NVMe drive, supported games will be able to take advantage of its speed better than they used before, so PC gamers can expect even faster downloads

• The Xbox Game Pass will be integrated into Windows 11 through the Xbox app, which means it will come out of the beta version it has been in for three years

•  another important thing is the redesign of the Microsoft application store that will support classic Win32 applications, including those used for sales and distribution of content

• it is theoretically possible that Steam, Epic Games, and similar launchers will now be able to be part of the Microsoft Store which brings with it… the benefit of a simple update through the store? However, the decision to be present in the Store will still be up to the developers

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Windows 11 is that the system will allow the launch of applications made for Android. In other words, Instagram, Tik Tok, and similar things are now arriving on your PC as well! Now, that part has been done a bit in a roundabout way - with the help of the Amazon Appstore and Intel Bridge technology. In other words, don’t expect exactly all the Android apps you can find on Google’s app store, but a select lineup.

Finally - good news - Windows 11 will be free. That is, everyone who has Windows 10 will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 free of charge.

There are also known hardware requirements that are a bit "modern". At a minimum, you will need the following for Windows 11: 

• 64-bit processor

• 4 GB of RAM

• 64 GB of free disk space