Potential Hardware System Requirements for Windows 12 Unveiled

Microsoft's "Next Valley" operating system, which is internally referred to as Windows 12, is currently in development and is expected to be released to the public in the second half of 2024. Deskmodder, a German publication, has provided some details on the specifications and minimum requirements for the upcoming operating system.

One of the significant changes for Windows 12 is the support for Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake-S desktop processors. While there are no confirmed details about Meteor Lake-S, it is speculated that devices equipped with these CPUs might be the first to run Next Valley. Additionally, Windows 12 may support the Pluton coprocessor, which was first introduced on the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs in January 2022.

Windows 12 is expected to use the same TPM 2.0 Trusted Platform Module for its security crypto-processor as Windows 11, despite Microsoft testing out SHA-3 (Secure Hash Algorithm 3) support in a recent Insider Build. The new operating system is also predicted to have an upgrade in RAM capacity to 8GB, twice the capacity of Windows 11.

There is no information about whether there would be an increase in minimum storage requirements. Currently, Windows 11 requires a minimum of 64GB of storage to install. However, it is speculated that Microsoft may remove hard disk drives (HDD) in favor of solid-state hard drives (SSD) for software installation, which was a rumor for Windows 11 that did not materialize.

Microsoft's chief product officer Panos Panay has stated that Windows 12 will be "cloud-powered and AI-driven." The company is still updating Windows 11, which has been available to the public since October 2021. Some of the features expected for Windows 12 will also be added to Windows 11. Additionally, Windows 12 will retire legacy features such as MSDT and VBScript that have been vulnerable to exploitation.