Which computer should be better

You are wrong.
I was one of the people caught by the change in requirements at Version 1803.
There were several other people caught by it as well.
e.g.
What Happens To Those Of Us Who Can't Update Beyond 1709 - TenForums


Denis

1809 struggled with next gen support because it edge cased CPU that were coming out after it. 8th gen and just 1809 in general was a case where it had bad support. There was nothing stopping older computers.

One way clear cut way to know for an older computer is if your computer does not have windows 10 drivers available then its edge case, at that point it may work or it may not. The drivers don't matter per se because windows has its own basic drivers but the drivers help determine the age of the computer and its potential support.

Regardless it does not detract from the fact that computers now are being put to early retirement. a 12 year old computer is old sure but its still viable until its not. Microsoft is making that decision for us.

core 2 duo can do 1809, haswell on the other hand outside of trusted computing is still plenty of computer for many tasks.

get the key from your windows install you have now on the laptop there is various ways to do that.
windows 10 key grabber at DuckDuckGo

reinstall windows by getting the windows 10 iso and reinstall using these methods
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

you can mount that windows 10 image from windows and run it or make a flash drive to boot from. Then once you have reinstalled you can upgrade to win 11

You don't need a key to install Win 10 on a computer that once had Win 10 or Win 11 activated on it (as long as you install same version (home or pro)).
Once Win 10 is activate on a computer it gets a Digital License (stored on MS servers). You can reinstall win 10 or even Win 11 on the computer, skip entering a license and as soon it is online it will connect to MS servers and activate.
Clean Install Windows 10 See #9

GerryPeters said:

Yes except that won't solve my problem. I need Remote Desktop, only available using Pro. If I do a clean install of Win 10 Home can I use my other key from Win 8 Pro to update it to Pro?

You don't need pro to remote connect

TeamViewer – The Remote Connectivity Software

The Fast Remote Desktop Application – AnyDesk

No- MS ceased the free upgrade from Win 7 and Win 8 to Win 10

I use Teamviwer.
I know you can install as unattended (I personally never used) so you can access the remote computer.
How to Set Up Teamviewer Unattended Access

Anydesk Unattended Access