I was a little surprised to learn that my four-year-old processor (i7-7700) was locked out of running windows 11. It's certainly not processor speed issue, it's still plenty fast for games today. It's not TPM either, which it supports. The best I can tell, Microsoft drew a line and said "too bad," for everything before a certain generation.
I really only play games on my computer--I have no idea when I'll upgrade the CPU. The last one lasted nearly a decade before I replaced it. I guess it'll be a while before I see Windows 11. I'm not too mad though--Windows 10 is a fine Operating System.
You can still install windows 11 straight from an image and it’ll ignore the processor and TPM requirements - they’re considered ‘soft’ requirements even if Microsoft doesn’t say so outright. I currently have it running on my desktop with an i7-6700k and my laptop as well with an even older i7 and TPM 1.2.
You’re absolutely correct in that they ‘drew a line’. They have a specific set of guidelines[0,1] they want CPUs to meet going forward, and it’s more of a matter of ceremony and certification rather than anything concrete nor technical.
You also can install it by putting the win11 payload onto a win10 install USB stick. Just don't let it have access to the net while it installs or it'll "download install updates" that stop it from continuing. This is how I installed it on my machine that doesn't support TPM.
I really only play games on my computer--I have no idea when I'll upgrade the CPU. The last one lasted nearly a decade before I replaced it. I guess it'll be a while before I see Windows 11. I'm not too mad though--Windows 10 is a fine Operating System.