It’s possible that Microsoft plans to require all Windows 11 PCs to have SSD storage by 2023. The Redmond-based tech giant, according to Tom’s Hardware, is lobbying PC makers to abandon hard disc drives (HDD) in favour of solid-state drives (SSD).
While many current PCs have SSD storage, hard drives will never go out of style. One of the reasons OEMs have been able to sell low-cost PCs is because HDDs are less expensive than SSDs. An SSD is used to speed up the system, whereas an HDD is used to store data. Some high-end PCs provide a hybrid storage solution that combines both SSDs and HDDs. Microsoft, on the other hand, appears to be against them.
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As stated in the study, SSDs were originally going to be mandated as a minimum requirement for Windows 11 last year, but Microsoft decided to delay adoption until the second half of 2023 instead. PC manufacturers such as Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and MSI will have to stop making laptops and desktop computers that use HDDs. Since SSDs are costly, this will certainly result in higher prices for PCs and laptops.
The only solution here is to use eMMC storage, which is commonly available on low-end PCs. However, eMMC is currently unable to improve Windows 11’s speed, therefore this must be used for storage. As a result, a PC with both an SSD and an eMMC is likely to be both fast and inexpensive. However, high-end PCs and laptops will continue to use SSDs, which means that costs will rise much more in the near future.
Using a single storage solution is one of the reasons why Apple’s Mac machines run so well on the operating system. Microsoft might be trying to catch up to Apple by mandating that OEMs solely use solid-state drives. Third-party manufacturers’ hardware choices restrict the potential of Windows 11, which Microsoft says is the most capable PC operating system to date. Customers will feel the effects of more restrictive hardware requirements for Windows 11 PCs compared to Macs.
