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Windows 8 - yes or no? (Read 871 times)

    I am in need of a laptop and right now I can buy one with 7 or 8. I have an iPad but it has its drawbacks. I will be replacing my desktop. Has anyone been using Windows 8 and do you have any feedback?

    Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.


    an amazing likeness

      If you want to just get your new laptop, move over your files and just use it...then go Win7. Win8 takes some time for readjusting, and the mix of apps which use and don't use the new UI add to the "where am I now?" aspect.

       

      Personally, I'd go Win7 and look for a purchase that included some low cost Win8 upgrade option.

      Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

        I am hesitant that Microsoft will force feed me MS products. I use 7 at work. The salesman said that there is also a button/swipe/whatever that switches you back to Windows 7 mode. Thought that was cool. I was also thinking of getting the HP envy which has touch screen.

        Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.


        an amazing likeness

          The salesman said that there is also a button/swipe/whatever that switches you back to Windows 7 mode.

           

          Yes, there is a "tile" in the Win8 UI (aka "Metro") that will get you to the normal Start+icons desktop screen. This is for the many (today) apps that don't have a Win8 interface.

           

          Even if you go Win7, you could still get a touch screen system to be ready for Win8. Win8 absolutely, definitely, certainly, needs a touch screen to make sense.

          Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.

            Thanks. That's good advice!

            Suffering Benefiting from mature onset exercise addiction and low aerobic endorphin release threshold. Hoping there is no cure.

              I tried out Windows 8 several months ago on my desktop computer.  The UI is completely different.  It took me 5 minutes to find the shut down button.  As MilkTruck said, there will be a steep learning curve if you're planning to use it on a non-touch screen computer.  I'm telling my friends to go with Windows 7 for now.  It does everything I need with all the nice visual effects.  There might be a slight chance that MS will put back the Start menu.

              LedLincoln


              not bad for mile 25

                In a nutshell:  If you will have a touchscreen, Windows 8.  If not, Windows 7, because 8 will just impede you.

                  If you use the desktop live tile, your experience won't be that much different than Windows 7.  If you use keyboard shortcuts a lot, they're all the same and there are even some more.  For example, alt-tab still works, and can even toggle you from the tile screen to the desktop screen.

                   

                  The main difference is that there is no start button.  It's been replaced by that whacky screen.

                   

                  The learning curve is not that hard.  I figured it out in just a few hours (it might have helped that I was at a Microsoft Developers' Conference at the time).

                   

                  Have I switched?  In some sense, yes.  In some sense, no.  I have one computer now with Win 8 on it for writing Win 8 apps (which I haven't done yet).  My main computer, however, is still running XP, if you can believe that.  Mainly because the hardware won't support Win 7 or Win 8.  But if it did, I would switch.

                   

                  Having said that, if you feel like you'd be uncomfortable with Win 8, by all means, stick w/Win 7.  And look into a cheap upgrade to Win 8, just don't install it right now.  At the moment I think it's $60.  You can probably buy the software and hold on to it (but check on that)

                   

                  But, really, the hub-ub over Win 8, on both sides, is really just hype.

                  Jeff

                    In short, yes!

                     

                    At its core, it's just Windows 7 with evolutionary enhancements, including good perfomance and capability improvements. Even if you don't want to bother with the tile interface, just jump into the Desktop environment.

                     

                    Change seems to freak a lot of folks out, and they get hung up on an outdated, missing Start button. But really, I think the tile environment is easy to navigate with a standard mouse. I find myself in there 90% of the time on my home PC without a problem. Maybe it's a little learning curve, but nothing that experimenting and reading up on will fix.

                      Well...

                       

                      Even after using it for several months now (yes, we developers got it earlier), I still have to think about how to do some things.

                       

                      That would change if I didn't keep on switching from one OS to another.

                       

                      There is a learning curve.  But I wouldn't call it "steep".

                       

                      The problem is, if you get Win 8 out of the box, and don't like it, you can go to Win 7, but you'd have to wipe your machine.

                       

                      Not a big deal for a guy like me.  But, it could be insanely difficult for a non computer person.

                      Jeff

                          I'd call the Win8 learning curve steep, took me 10 minutes to figure out out to get to the power management options. Now that I figured that out I know how to get the old control panel and do things the old fashioned way but still don't know how to perform the same task in the new interface.

                          Hoban-Jay


                            If you have to ask, it doesn't really matter...  

                             

                            My suggestion would be go with a Mac.  However, if you have a bit of technical savvy about you, then either Linux or the even more reliable and secure BSD, additionally both being faster using less resources.

                              I'd call the Win8 learning curve steep, took me 10 minutes to figure out out to get to the power management options. Now that I figured that out I know how to get the old control panel and do things the old fashioned way but still don't know how to perform the same task in the new interface.

                               

                              You call 10 minutes of hunting, once, steep?

                               

                              It's something new.  It takes a while.  I'm a computer guy and it took me days to figure out my android phone.  Steep?  No. 

                               

                              As for the control panel, it's a regular Windows program.  So, there's no real analog of it in the new interface.  That's why you can't find it there.

                               

                              One of the very neat things about Windows 8 is ctrl-f (or find).  ctrl-f, then start typing "control panel", and it will find it, and you can start it right up.  This will work with any program on the computer.

                               

                              You have to think two ways.  Metro (or Modern) interface, or Desktop Interface.

                               

                              If that's too hard, then, don't do Windows 8.

                              Jeff

                              xor


                                a 3 year old walks us through Windows 8

                                 

                                Wink

                                 

                                This does not help someone who is worried.

                                 

                                I worked at the borg for 8+ years. I'm waiting until I get a machine that is up to the task and/or the applications I use work better with that interface.  As it stands, 7 does what I want, it is stable, and it plays nice with the applications.

                                 

                                I'm not too freaked out that 8 will be a super steep curve, but I do expect it will take some time.  Just like the damn ribbon interface in office did when it first showed up.  And, honestly, several years later I STILL can't easily find some things in word.  And I'm a writer.

                                 

                                Oh BTW, the gal who masterminded the ribbon interface (love it or hate it) now runs windows and windows live after the last dude abruptly left.

                                 

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