Newegg
over the weekend accidentally published a number of previously undisclosed details about the forthcoming Windows 10 rollout, just ahead of Microsoft’s official announcement of the new software’s release date. Beyond launch timing, we now know quite a bit more about what to expect from the next major Windows OS upgrade from Microsoft.
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First up, we have the release date. As Microsoft announced in the middle of the night on its Windows blog, Windows 10 will be made available to the public on July 29th. The release date applies to computers and tablets only; the phone version will launch sometime later.
And now, for the leaks…
Though Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for users currently on Windows 7 or higher, there will inevitably be some folks, such as do-it-yourselfers, who will be buying retail copies of Windows 10. According to information revealed by Newegg, Windows 10 Home will sell for $109 at retail while Windows 10 Professional will retail for $149. Notably, this makes Windows 10 about $10 more expensive than its predecessor, Windows 8.1.
The next note regards the minimum tech requirements for Windows 10 will be. Per the leaked screenshot above, those requirements read as follows:
Processor: 1GHz or faster
RAM: 1GB (32-bit) or 2GB (64-bit)
Free hard disk space: 16GB
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
A Microsoft account and Internet access
When reached for comment, Microsoft not surprisingly refused to confirm or deny the information posted on Newegg’s website. Instead, the folks at Redmond opted to issue a generic statement to PC World noting that the Windows 10 launch is slated to kick off this summer and that they’re planning to share more details about the upgrade later on.
Speaking of Windows 10, Microsoft on Friday posted a blog update regarding its latest build of Windows 10, Build 10130 to be exact. While there are a few new enhancements to speak of, it’s worth highlighting that the icon set in Windows 10 has been updated to reflect a more consistent look across desktop and mobile.
“Feedback played a huge role in the current icon design refresh,” Microsoft explains. “In earlier preview builds, we heard our design was too flat and lacked richness. We’ve since iterated to deliver a balance between mono line style icons on mobile, and the three dimensional depth of desktop icons. The new icon set is familiar, yet fresh and usable.”
As a reference point, the top row of icons are Windows 8.1 icons, the middle row represents the previous build of Windows 10 icons, while the bottom row is what the current icon set looks like. All in all, it’s a definite improvement.
Some other enhancements to the latest Windows 10 build include improvements to Microsoft Edge, a new Cortana keyboard shortcut, and a customizable Start menu.
