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Windows 11 is more responsive and will be supported longer than Windows 10

I have Windows 11 developer version working on a 2014 Dell laptop which is non-compliant for the TPM and CPU type. It is more responsive than Windows 10 dual booting on the same laptop. The ...

I had this problem recently with an SD card. I couldn't do anything including formatting the card. I then discovered writing to a SD card is disabled if the card has a fault so I binned it. This ...

I have 15 GB free as standard as everyone and another 15 GB free since I used to have a now defunct Windows phone. Google Drive is fine too but not as well integrated with Windows

You don't need to spend more than £700 / $950 to buy a capable laptop

I find OneDrive very useful for sharing non-sensitive files between PCs. I have a 30GB free allowance which is fine for my needs. I would never pay for it.

It will probably work fine since Windows is quite good at sorting out the drivers. If you have the paid for version of Macrium Reflect, then you could use its Redeploy to New Hardware feature ...

The last time I bought a laptop my spec was a reasonably fast CPU, 16 GB RAM, c. 500GB SSD, IPS display, removable battery and good support. I discovered the professional ranges (e.g. HP ProBook, ...

Have a look at Tom's Hardware and SSD benchmarks like https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/ Make a shortlist then check the number of poor 1* and 2* Amazon reviews to check for any issues. I prefer to buy ...

Yes, use a reliable well supported product like Macrium Reflect - there is a free version.

Exactly. The time required to install and configure many programs from scratch is grossly under estimated here. Recovery from an image only takes 15 minutes instead of many hours.

File History is only useful for backing up user files and cannot restore a working PC

I found the Reflect GUI so easy to use, I didn't need to use the documentation. You can manually run any backup job by right clicking on the job file definition and selecting run now (full / ...

+1 for imaging over cloning

Macrium have excellent on line information and are responsive in answering queries

As a minimum you need to backup all of the partitions including hidden partitions on your system drive. Reflect makes this easy by providing the option "Backup all partitions to recover Windows".

The problem with that approach is that it takes ages to reinstall and configure your programs

Don't use the built in Windows utility Backup & Restore which is unreliable and no longer supported. I recommend Macrium Reflect which is excellent. There is a free version which suits most people ...

I would do an archive image of the laptop as supplied and do incremental / differential images as you install programs and configure the laptop since it's possible to screw up the PC when ...

I would make a full system image and archive that e.g. using Macrium Reflect Free.