Microsoft updates Windows 11 minimum processor requirements guidance for AI PC support

Microsoft, sometime in March earlier this year, quietly updated the Windows 11 minimum system requirements page. With the update, the company has tried to clarify the processor requirements that users need to look out for if they are eyeing a Copilot+ PC. After all, Microsoft does officially recommend buying a new system, and especially its Copilot+ AI PCs for the best Windows experience, and

For those who may not be in the loop with some of the recent developments, Microsoft has a new range of Windows PCs dubbed "Copilot+ PCs" that are more geared towards processing AI tasks. Windows 11 24H2 is packed with several AI features which were initially limited to only Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips but now Intel and AMD systems have them too; and the list of features keeps growing with new additions at regular intervals.

While the baseline Windows 11 requirements have not changed from what they were originally, Microsoft has published a new set of requirements specifically for Copilot+ PCs. Last year, the company made it clear that for a system to qualify as a Copilot+ AI PC, it needed to deliver more than 40 NPU TOPS (trillion operations per second).

The NPU is essentially a dedicated AI neural processor meant to hardware-accelerate AI and ML tasks and Microsoft feels Windows 11 24H2 is too hard for a system without this kind of power.

Aside from the NPU TOPS requirement, Microsoft has also raised the RAM requirement for its AI PCs to a minimum of 16 GB and has made 256 GB of fast storage like SSD or UFS mandatory. In the recently updated minimum requirements page for Windows 11, Microsoft also added helpful links to the processors from AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm, respectively, that are Copilot+ PC-ready.

The previous version of the page read:

"Copilot+ PCs are a class of Windows 11 devices that are powered by a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of performing 40+ trillion operations per second (TOPS). An NPU is a specialised computer chip for AI-intensive processes like real-time translations and image generation.

For most scenarios, customers will need to acquire new hardware to run Copilot+ PCs experiences. In addition to the above minimum system requirements for Windows 11, hardware for Copilot+ PCs must include the following:

• Processor: A compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC). This currently includes the Snapdragon® X Plus and the Snapdragon® X Elite. We will update this list periodically as more options become available.
• RAM: 16 GB DDR5/LPDDR5
• Storage: 256 GB SSD/UFS"

The updated page now says:

"Copilot+ PCs are a new class of Windows 11 AI PCs that are powered by a turbocharged neural processing unit (NPU)—a specialised computer chip for AI-intensive processes like real-time translations and image generation— that can perform more than 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS).

To run unique Copilot+ PC experiences, customers will need to acquire new hardware. In addition to the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, Copilot+ PCs must include the following:

• Processor: A compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC) with an NPU capable of performing 40+ TOPS. This currently includes:
  • AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 series
  • Intel® Core™ Ultra 200V series
  • Snapdragon® X series
• RAM: 16 GB DDR5/LPDDR5
• Storage: 256 GB SSD/UFS

The change should be a helpful one though it would have been even better had Microsoft begun maintaining separate support pages for the list of compatible Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm chips, similar to what it does for the general OS CPU requirements. The last meaningful update for that was made in February this year.

The new addition of CPUs and links is not the only helpful requirement-related change Microsoft has made lately. The company also made a big update regarding USB-C in order to improve and boost Windows 11 support for the protocol.