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Forward-looking: Do you continue to use an HDD as the first boot drive on your PC? While there are some exceptions, most individuals right this moment choose a a lot speedier SSD for booting into the OS, which might be a superb factor as Microsoft reportedly needs to kill off HDD boot drives solely.
According to a report from analytics firm Trendfocus (by way of Tom’s Hardware), Microsoft is pushing these OEMs who use HDDs as the first storage gadget in pre-built Windows 11 PCs to modify to SSDs. It’s even set a deadline for when it needs the transition to happen: 2023.
Exactly why Microsoft is doing this is not clear. As Tom’s notes, there isn’t any minimal requirement for an SSD in Windows 11, solely that the PC working the working system has a 64 GB or bigger storage gadget. However, this might change subsequent yr when the switchover deadline arrives.
It is perhaps that Microsoft merely needs to maneuver to SSD boot drives so PCs get the very best efficiency from Windows 11. There are additionally these elective Windows 11 options that do require solid-state drives, such because the DirectStorage API. This creates a extra environment friendly hyperlink between NVMe SSDs (each PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0) and the GPU, permitting video games direct entry to sources on the storage drive.
While we are able to all admire a a lot sooner boot drive, making an SSD the first storage gadget in a PC will impression the price range and growing markets. Although typically minor, the related value of including an SSD might push the worth too excessive for some producers and shoppers.
There are just a few cheaper gaming desktops on Newegg, akin to this one, that provide solely an HDD for storage, although it is troublesome to search out one which comes with Windows 11 as commonplace.
Trendfocus Vice President John Chen says that OEMs are attempting to push Microsoft’s deadline again to 2024, at the very least relating to desktops and rising markets. But plainly we’re heading for a future the place the one time you may see an HDD in a pre-built Windows 11 PC is when it sits alongside an SSD.
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