• US$ 69.99/ year

With Windows 11, Microsoft boldly changes up its market-leading desktop operating system, giving it a new look featuring a centered Taskbar, rounded window corners, and new translucent textures. Despite this fresh design, using Windows 11 doesn't feel drastically different from using Windows 10. Many of the updates amount to surface tweaks rather than deep codebase changes, and it still runs all your familiar applications. Coming after six years of ho-hum upgrades, this major overhaul to the look and feel of the world’s most popular desktop operating system gives Windows fans something to get excited about, and it's an Editors' Choice winner for operating systems, alongside Apple's polished macOS Ventura.

• US$ 139.99/ year

Reviewing an operating system is an odd endeavor, because people don’t really use operating systems; they use applications. The OS should be as transparent as possible, acting as a platform for applications. In today’s cloud-driven world, however, the notion that your application will run in a single OS is tenuous at best. Toss in the increasing use of smart devices, whether phones or tablets, and the idea of a single-platform operating system is less relevant now than it was just a few years ago. These days we have “ecosystems”—Microsoft, Apple, or Google, take your pick.

• US$ 99.99/ year

Windows 10 is still the world's most popular operating system for desktop computers, with more than a billion active PCs running it. Despite Microsoft's focus on the shiny new Windows 11, the company continues to support Windows 10 with service updates through at least 2025. The OS offers unique capabilities like touch input, face login, deep security, and mixed-reality tools. Important but more mundane features include an improved screenshot tool, better window arrangement, and unified notifications.