Microsoft has not yet announced Windows 12, but the name continues to sound strong and appears as the Redmond giant’s next operating system. We know it can be triggered at the end of next year, likely after the end of Windows 10’s lifecycle, which will occur in October 2025.

We also know other things about Windows 12, e.g will strengthen Microsoft’s commitment to artificial intelligence, which could open the third phase of AI to the mainstream consumer market and will clearly have higher requirements than Windows 11 had at its launch. This increase in requirements will be a direct result of this increasing pressure on AI and will force millions of computers around the world to be updated, or failing that, reset.

We still don’t know the definitive Windows 12 requirements, but we have a very clear reference that serves as a starting point to get an idea of ​​what to expect, and that is in the official PC IA requirements that Microsoft gave with the Copilot+ presentation. These requirements are clear, 16 GB of memory and specialized AI hardware with 40 TOP performance.

More RAM and specialized AI hardware to move Windows 12

Microsoft recommends NPU because it is the most efficient way to move the basic AI that requires only 40 TOP and because for laptops it is the best choice in relation to price, power and battery consumption. For desktops, Microsoft shouldn’t care how this TOP 40 is achieved, at least in theory, so any current GPU with dedicated AI hardware would more than meet this requirement.

The most logical thing would be that the minimum requirements of Windows 12 start from a configuration of 16 GB of RAM and an NPU with a performance of 40 TOP or an equivalent hardware solution specialized in AI. These requirements would be requires AI features which the mentioned operating system will bring.

However, we have to reckon with that the TOP level requirement may increase, especially if new advanced AI-powered features are integrated, or if Windows 12 is used to launch the next phase of said technology, which honestly seems very likely to me.

There are many PCs today that still do not fully meet Windows 11 requirements, so it stands to reason that the number of PCs that would not meet these possible Windows 12 requirements is even greater. Separately They can be updated without too much trouble to meet these requirements, but others won’t run it, either because they don’t support specific hardware or because it’s not cost-effective to update them.

Microsoft may decide to relax the requirements issue in Windows 12 and introduce Two levelsone for him A basic operating system without advanced AI, where it would be enough to have 8 GB of RAM and we would not need hardware specialized for artificial intelligence, and another that would allow us to enjoy AI functions where we would need at least 16 GB of RAM and at least one NPU. This last option seems the most reasonable to me, right?

AI generated images.