In a nutshell: As Microsoft prepares to end free security updates for Windows 10 in October, a significant challenge looms for charities that refurbish and distribute older computers to those in need. With an estimated 240 million PCs unable to meet the stringent hardware requirements for Windows 11, these organizations face a difficult decision: provide potentially insecure Windows 10 systems, send them to e-waste recyclers, or explore alternative operating systems like Linux.
Microsoft’s requirements for Windows 11 include a 1GHz or faster CPU with at least two cores, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, Secure Boot capability, and TPM 2.0 compatibility. However, the supported Intel CPU list only goes back to 8th Gen chips, introduced in 2017, while the AMD list includes Ryzen 2000 series and above.
I’ve been planning on selling a couple older laptops (Latitude E6420 and ThinkPad X240) and this is a fantastic idea. The former laptop doesn’t even have Windows 10 drivers (that I know of)
The ThinkPads are great. I have an X220 that I have running Mint that I use in my garage. Its use cases are music streaming, displaying PDF Service Manuals/Technical Diagrams, and web queries for random questions/video instructions. I’m working on trying to see if I can get Wine to let me run some diagnostic software on it too.
It can certainly do more than that as I used it through school a number of years ago for note taking and small programming projects. But it’s retired to being the tank that it is and it’s amazing for that.