Current CPU doesn't meet minimum requirements for Windows 11

M18x R2

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3740QM @ 2.70GHz. I have this running @ 3.7GHz and have been happy with that. As the CPU is not on the list of tested CPU's, and i may want to go to Win 11, now would be a good time to look at a CPU upgrade and squeeze another OS out of this old bone shaking laptop that we all love. It may mean the best i can get into this is not on the list either, but hey. Its not the speed or core requirement, its just not supported....maybe that will change.

Anyway, what is the best CPU that I could get into this Laptop with or without fuss?

EDIT: I have believed that absolute max is the Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3940XM CPU @ 3.70GHz and will require a different heatsink ?
Also, is it really worth going to 3940 from a 3740 ? 3.9GHz from 3.7GHz and 8MB from 6MB, doubt i would even notice, but interested on what you think.

 

personally im sticking with windows 10. as for the cpu, not sure if you were aware but the 3740qm can also be slighly overclocked providing you have the right heatsink. I was able to achieve 40,39,38,38 on the cores by following these settings that another forum member posted several years back. since i only have a single pipe heatsink on my machine the temps were around the 90c range so i decided to scale it back to default turbo, im sure theres a performance boost to some degree but i personally didnt notice it

 

It's not just the CPU that doesn't meet the requirements, it's also TPM 2.0.

There are workarounds that you can use to upgrade older machines to Win11 but they may get closed by Microsoft at some stage. There really isn't much point going to 11 and 10 still has a few good years left.

You really won't notice a lot of difference going from the 3740 to the 3940 for general use. If you put a 10 series or RTX card in there then the extra overclocking on the XM processors will come in handy. The 3-pipe heatsink is a must if you plan on overclocking. My idle temps are in the mid 40's with my 3920XM and 3-pipe heatsink.

 

Just use rufus with a Win 11 Iso and select the option to remove TPM and Secure Boot restrictions before burning the image to the USB. (It applies to the CPU aswell, since i was able to install it to 3 gen older cpu than supported.)

You will need version 3.16 or higher from here: https://rufus.ie/en/

Copy from changelog:
Version 3.16 (2021.10.13)

• Add Windows 11 "Extended" installation support (Disables TPM/Secure Boot)

 

did microsoft follow through with preventing windows updates on win11 if installed on "unsupported" hardware? or can it still be updated like normal

 

No body can really answer for future, but I run windows 11 since release on my AW18 without issues of driver and I got updates.
The TPM will more important for things, like Android app support, which I’m not interested in and also it’s not completely added till yet.
So give it a try and if your not satisfied, you can still roll back.