Microsoft is reportedly encouraging vendors to abandon hard-disk drives (HDDs) as the primary storage device in PCs running Windows 11 and replace them with solid-state drives (SSDs). This transition process will reportedly begin in 2023.
This news comes from a report by analytics firm Trendfocus. But the report doesn't explain why Microsoft took the decision, and they haven't directly confirmed it either.
Even though Microsoft does not set SSD as a minimum requirement for Windows 11. PC devices that want to run Windows 11 are only required to have a minimum of 64GB of storage space. But once the transition period begins, the requirements may be changed, as quoted from TechSpot, Friday (10/6/2022).
Maybe Microsoft just wants to move to an SSD boot drive so that PCs can experience the best performance that Windows 11 has to offer. Moreover, SSD performance is indeed much faster than HDD, so it can provide a more responsive experience for users.
Many laptops and desktop PCs already use SSDs for boot drives, in combination with conventional HDDs to store large files.
In addition, Windows 11 also has several optional features that require an SSD, such as the DirectStorage API and Windows Subsystem for Android. But this is an optional feature that is not mandatory for Windows 11 users.
Even though they offer a faster boot process, making SSDs the primary storage method in PCs has one big bottleneck: cost. Installing an SSD on a PC can certainly increase production costs and make the selling price of the device more expensive.
Vice President Trendfocus John Chen said that to replace a 1TB HDD to an SSD, PC vendors had to reduce the capacity to 256GB. If you want to increase the SSD capacity to 512GB, the PC price will be unaffordable for the lower-end market.
Chen said vendors are currently persuading Microsoft to push the deadline to 2024, at least for desktop and emerging markets.