10/07/2022
Wondering what's new in Windows 11 and whether it's worth upgrading? We've been using it for months and have everything you need to know.
Drastic redesigns of Windows have proven disastrous for Microsoft in the past, with Windows 8 the worst case in point. But after testing Windows 11 for myself, I’ve found that, though the interface looks quite different, it doesn't take long to figure out how things work. At its introduction event, Microsoft chief product officer Panos Panay expressed a desire not to alienate longtime Windows aficionados, and that's a good thing (though almost impossible, given the way many people react to change). Despite that goal of keeping it familiar, there’s plenty of innovation in Windows 11.
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The new operating system started rolling out as an upgrade to PCs on October 4, 2021. Before taking the plunge to upgrade, you should first determine whether your PC can run Windows 11. The rollout will last through mid-2022, according to Microsoft, as the myriad PC hardware and software configurations are validated for compatibility. Keep an eye on PCMag's Windows 11 page for related tips and news. Now, let's get started with our look at the biggest new changes and features.
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Windows 11 Has a New Look
The Taskbar icons are now centered and smaller like in Chrome OS, but the Start button is still to the left of the other app icons. Windows get tightly rounded corners, similar to macOS. I’m still not a fan of the always-narrow Taskbar buttons. In Windows 10 you get wide taskbar buttons for running apps that contrast with narrow icons for pinned apps. The centered look may win me over, however, since it doesn't require you to move the mouse cursor across a full screen to launch an app from the Start Menu.
More subtle are the transparency, animations, and clean icon design that represent an evolution of the Fluent Design System(Opens in a new window), which, though promised, never fully took over in Windows 10. A couple of new materials join the translucent one called Acrylic: the opaque Mica, which is slightly tinted based on the background color; and Smoke, which darkens other areas to make you focus on an important input region. Dark mode, too, looks more consistent, and these materials change to reflect that mode.
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Windows 11 Widgets
Widgets are making a comeback! Apple bolstered widgets in iOS 14 and iPadOS 15, and Microsoft dabbled in bringing back desktop widgets with the News and Interests panel in Windows 10. But Windows 11 widgets further the idea. The new widgets deliver a personalized feed of news, weather, traffic, sports, and stock market data, powered by AI for customization and Edge for rendering. Later updates will let you expand the Widgets panel to fill the whole screen, and third-party content providers will be able to take advantage of this new feature.
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Windows 11 Snap Layouts
For me, Windows has long been unmatched in its ability to position, size, open, and close windows on the screen to your taste. (I’m still a fan of for showing the desktop.) Apple's macOS only recently added the ability to set windows to take up exactly half the screen, something Windows users have had for years.
Now comes the latest windowing convenience: Snap Layouts let you choose from a selection of window layouts (see above), easily populating them with app windows of your choice. Maybe even more important than the extra layout choices is that these layouts are saved and accessible from the app taskbar icons so you don’t have to re-create them after doing something else on the PC.
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Updated Default Apps in Windows 11
Many of the old Windows standbys—Paint, Photos, Notepad, Media Player, Mail, and so on—have or will be updated for the new look and in some cases get new features. A great case in point is the humble Clock app, which Windows 11 endows with a super productivity feature: With Focus Sessions, you set boundaries for when you want undistracted time for getting stuff done.
The is a sleeper in that it's remarkably capable not only for organizing and editing photos, but also for video editing with titles, transitions, effects, and more. The Photos app includes face recognition, auto-generated albums, and integrated maps for photos with location data—features that even some paid photo applications lack. New for Photos is an edge-to-edge photo view, multi-image view, and an improved cropping interface, along with the Fluent Design updates.
