Upgrade your PC now, Microsoft says.
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It’s time to buy a new PC, Microsoft has just warned 200 million users facing cyber doomsday on October 14, when Windows 10’s end-of-life becomes a stark reality. The good news, it tells upgraders, is that “the introduction of Copilot+ PCs marks a significant moment for the PC industry, with AI at the center of this transformation.”
As Windows Latest points out, this latest campaign “kicks off by repeating that Windows 10 end-of-support is on Oct. 14, 2025, but then it quietly ties that to ‘device refresh cycles’ and ends up recommending ARM-based PCs.”
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has linked the end of Windows 10 to the beginning of its new generation of AI-fueled PCs — 2025 is its year of the PC refresh after all. But this will intensify concerns over the landfill nightmare that will result from the hundreds of millions of PCs ineligible to update to Windows 11 given its security hurdles.
“With Windows 10 EoS coming,” Windows Latest says, “Microsoft’s future campaigns will be aimed squarely at nudging Windows 10 users and IT to choose Arm Copilot+ PCs when they finally move.” This is a change from the more general campaigns of the past. “In this specific case, Microsoft is recommending ARM PCs to Windows 10 holdouts.”
“The introduction of Copilot+ PCs is driving a transformative shift in the world of personal and enterprise computing,” Microsoft says, “an expanding ecosystem of Arm-compatible apps allows them to take advantage of the superior performance and capabilities of these machines for their daily productivity and personal tasks.”
It’s unclear how many PCs can’t make the move to Windows 11. The assumption, per Consumer Reports, is that it’s between 200 and 400 million of the 1.4 billion PCs running Windows in all its various guises around the world.
All those ineligible PCs can extend security updates until October 2026 through Microsoft’s extended security update (ESU) program. This can be done for free if you use OneDrive and your Microsoft account. It just delays the inevitable, though.
“Now, Microsoft’s sales pitch says that you should get a new ARM-based PC and stop using an old operating system set to lose support on October 14,” Windows Latest says.
Microsoft’s upgrade warnings will continue to come thick and fast as October 14 comes and goes. We’re now just 3 weeks from that cyber doomsday and no one is quite sure what happens next. What is certain, though, is that 200 million users will not suddenly buy expensive new PCs after holding out for this long.
