What Windows 11 SKUs are there? Are they the same as Windows 10?

Windows 11 is inching ever closer, and there’s quite a bit we already know about it. That’s because the OS has been in testing for a while as Windows 10, and also thanks to a leaked build. Among the improvements, we might be seeing better performance, which might be a big boon for gaming. But of course, some questions still remain. One that might pop up in your mind is what Windows 11 SKUs exist and what you’ll be able to find on laptops. For the most part, the answer should be same as it is for Windows 10, but there are some changes based on what we know so far.

What are Windows SKUs?

SKU, short for stock keeping unit, is a term used to designate a specific configuration of a product. For example, when you buy a laptop with a certain brand or name, you can still configure it with different components, which makes it a different SKU. It’s a similar story with Windows. You might have Windows 10, but Windows 10 Home is different from Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise. Of course, in this case, the difference is more apparent in the product name. Microsoft usually refers to different Windows SKUs as editions.

Each edition of Windows has tweaked features and capabilities, making them more adequate for specific users. The average consumer will probably be fine with Home editions. Business users might make better use of the Pro edition, with features like Remote Desktop, Hyper-V virtualization, and BitLocker encryption. Then there are even more advanced editions like Pro for Workstations, Enterprise, Education, each with different features and restrictions.

Many of these are also only available through volume licensing for organizations. As a consumer, you can only buy Home, Pro, and Pro for Workstation editions. There are also regional variants of some SKUs, such as the N editions released in Europe without built-in multimedia apps.

Will anything change?

Despite the big name change, Windows 11 is just a new feature update on top of Windows 10. It looks very different in some ways, but at its core, it’s pretty much the same operating system. That means most Windows 11 SKUs will be the same too. As such, you can expect Windows 11 Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, Enterprise, Education, and Pro Education. There should also be IoT, Holographic, and Team editions, which are meant for IoT devices, HoloLens, and the Surface Hub, respectively.

However, there could be some changes in tow, or at least one new edition. Thanks to a leaked build, we’ve already seen mentions of Windows 11 SE. Based on our research, it looks like Windows 11 SE is an enterprise-oriented SKU with many restrictions. The Microsoft Store doesn’t seem to work and many settings are hidden. The goal could be to make device management easier for large enterprises, preventing users from making changes that could break or affect functionality. This is also referred to as Cloud Edition, and it looks like there could be different variants of it as well, since we’ve spotted references to CloudEditionL.

Microsoft has yet to announce Windows 11 officially, but it’s pretty much confirmed that’s what it’ll be called in a DMCA takedown request. We’ll hear all the details directly from the company in just a few days.

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