Microsoft this week revealed plenty of new details about its upcoming Windows 10 desktop and mobile operating system, talking at WinHEC in China about a release timeframe, new security features, new gestures and hardware requirements for the upcoming Windows 10 upgrade.
In one presentation, the company shared everything there is to know about the upcoming desktop and smartphone updates, including actual upgrade paths.
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In order to be able to run Windows 10, desktops, laptops and tablets will need a minimum display resolution of 800 x 600, DirectX 9 support and 1GB/2GB of RAM with 16GB/20GB of storage (the numbers vary for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10).
Additionally, tablets and smartphones will require physical buttons including power and volume keys, while the Start and Rotation lock are optional for tablets. Start, back and search buttons are required for smartphones with WVGA resolution. UEFI secure boot is also supposed to be enabled on both desktop and mobile.
For smartphones, hardware requirements are a bit different. Microsoft requires at least 512MB of RAM for 32-bit version and at least 4GB of storage. MicroSD card support is required for devices with just 4GB of built-in storage, in order to be eligible for future updates.
Microsoft has also updated the actual update matrix for Windows 10, revealing that Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 S14 devices can be upgraded directly via Windows Update, while any device running at least Windows 7 RTM – and going all the way up to Windows 8.1 S14 – can be updated using an ISO file (disk) instead.
Finally, Microsoft also unveiled “Project Milkyway,” an initiative with the aim of bringing the latest Windows release to mobile devices in as little as six weeks or less.
Slides from Microsoft’s presentation showing these Windows 10 upgrade details follow below, with the full PowerPoint files available by following the source links.
