Lenovo Ideacentre 150A-15AAR upgrade questions

[Donut417]

My mom has the PC listed in the title. The issue is it's not Windows 11 capable as the CPU (R3 2200G) is not supported. I have a R5 2700X that I took out of my gaming PC when I upgraded to a better CPU last year. I wanted to know if anyone has tried to upgrade one of these to see if it works? I do know that the 2600X doesnt have a GPU integrated, so I would also need a graphics solution. 

 

OR she will need a new PC when the time comes. I figure buying a GPU would probably just be cheaper as the current machine does what it needs to do. 

[Kid.Lazer]

I would be concerned about the BIOS being heavily locked down, thus making any upgraded CPU non-functional. Though if you have the extra hardware, wouldn't hurt to try anyway.

 

Does she need a new CPU for more performance, or is this simply to make it "Windows 11 compatible?" If it's the latter, just use one of the many workarounds (Rufus, TPM bypass) to install Windows 11 anyways. That system should work fine. (And this is coming from a guy that has updated a dozen AMD A8-7600 systems which are now a decade old).

[Donut417]

3 minutes ago, Kid.Lazer said:

or is this simply to make it "Windows 11 compatible?" If it's the latter, just use one of the many workarounds (Rufus, TPM bypass) to install Windows 11 anyways. That system should work fine. (And this is coming from a guy that has updated a dozen AMD A8-7600 systems which are now a decade old).

The issue with the work arounds is that Microsoft could push and update that break stuff. Im not looking to rig something to work. I want something that is designed to work. PLUS Im not sure you can perform an in place upgrade to convert her key to Windows 11. Because she's not going to want to pay $120 for a new Windows key on a machine that isnt officially supported. 

[Kid.Lazer]

46 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

The issue with the work arounds is that Microsoft could push and update that break stuff.

Have you ever used Windows? It doesn't have to be "incompatible" for them to break things.

47 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

PLUS Im not sure you can perform an in place upgrade to convert her key to Windows 11. Because she's not going to want to pay $120 for a new Windows key on a machine that isnt officially supported. 

In all seriousness though, I assume the system is currently on Windows 10 Home (correct me if I'm wrong). If so, there should be no issues with the key carrying over. I just upgraded my mothers laptop last week (Lenovo laptop with R5 2500u), and it didn't care. Getting more life out of a system for free instead of spending money is always a win for everybody (except the manufacturers).

52 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Im not looking to rig something to work.

And it's really not complicated. You simply:

- Download the official ISO from Microsoft.

- Download this tool from github.

- Run the batch file to "install" it. (it just adds a right-click context send-to entry).

- Right-click your new ISO, then under "send-to" click "Quick_11_iso_esd_win_TPM_toggle" to patch the ISO.

 

You now a have a permanently bypassed copy of Windows 11 you can install anywhere! (Just run the batch file again to remove the send-to entry, then it can be deleted.)