To upgrade or not (Windows 11)

My gaming laptop has had some issues recently, in part because I’ve not done the standard fix for any more serious Windows performance or reliability issues – I’ve not reinstalled Windows on this laptop since I last replaced the hard disk (with a faster SSD model).That was in 2016 to be precise (thank you blog-as-memory). That may fill some readers with horror at the thought of all the file-detritous that will have built up, but I’ve only started having performance issues in the last couple of months.

A rebuild may help the laptop’s, or at least the operating system’s, performance a bit; realistically though it’s a big chunk of effort for maybe a rather small amount of gain. Buying a new gaming computer isn’t at the top of my financial priorities at the moment but I could consider it later this year.

I’m now using two different work laptops (I’ve ended up with two jobs, a long story for another time), both running Windows 11. One I’ve upgraded to 11 from 10, the other came with 11 pre-installed. Both perform well for their respective hardware spec and I’ve not encountered any major bugs or problems adapting to the new Windows. Neither is appropriate or specced for gaming though, so I haven’t experienced gaming in Windows 11 yet.

For my work computer the upgrade was a no-brainer, it saved the organisation money and I only use a limited set of software on that. My gaming laptop has dozens of games installed, productivity software, Fantasy Grounds (two versions) and a host of tech tools. That quite a lot of software that might be obsoleted or broken by the upgrade. I wonder whether upgrading, during this limited time window, is worth a shot to eek a few more months or years out of the old laptop?