soundman Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Is it much better than Windows 7, ie. I am going to buy a new laptop and there is an offer to upgrade from Win7 (included) to Win8 for a few thousand Baht extra - worth it or not? Thanks for any input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Personally I would say yes, definitely go for Win 8. But you shouldn't have to pay that much for it as Microsoft is offering cheap upgrades from 7. If the PC has Win 7 Pro (& above) and you bought it from June onwards, it only costs USD15. If you are upgrading from Win 7 Home then I think the price is USD40. http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Oh, and one more unsolicited suggestion. Make sure whatever you buy has an SSD then Win 8 really flies. I have been amazed at the performance boost from an SSD. The only downside is you have to compromise a bit on the drive size - compared to a HDD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHJ Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 If you don't mind using an interface similar in design to windows 3.11, then go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I would suggest to go to YouTube and look at some videos on Win8 to see its operation. It is a completely different paradigm and one that so far, operationally, has not impressed me except the eye candy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrain Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Oh, and one more unsolicited suggestion. Make sure whatever you buy has an SSD then Win 8 really flies. I have been amazed at the performance boost from an SSD. The only downside is you have to compromise a bit on the drive size - compared to a HDD. With an SSD every operating system flies 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 (edited) I think it looks pretty good, I will defintely be upgrading my system once it comes out. You might want to take a look at the preview shown on youtube Edited October 8, 2012 by Falcon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhizBang Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Windows 8 is mainly designed for touchscreens (think Tablet PCs). Althought you can (I think still) use a standard Win7 style interface, I really see littlle point in upgrading if what you are buying is not touchscreen. Personally, I would also wait for the reviews of Win8 to come out and at least for the first set of bug fixes to be released by MS. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Like most I Initially found the new interface frustrating especially the missing start menu. However on the basis that, like it or not, I will almost certainly end up with it anyway I might as well bite the bullet and start using it now. It will be several years before 9 comes along and I will bet that will follow on from the 8 interface and not revert back. Historically it never has. Just think of the start screen as an extension of the old start menu which utilises the whole screen instead of part of it. Personally I don't find the Metro apps terribly useful but they don't bother me either and at this stage it seems to me that both tablets and conventional notebooks are here to stay for a while so some convergence is inevitable The touchpad on all newish notebooks can be used in place of a touchscreen for many functions too. I know plenty of people that are still happy with XP and see no reason to upgrade from that. But if you aren't in that group then my advice would be, go for it. The operating system itself runs better than ever and in my 6 weeks experience has been completely stable. If there is one valid reason to hold off upgrading, I would say it is hardware driver support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dork Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Oh, and one more unsolicited suggestion. Make sure whatever you buy has an SSD then Win 8 really flies. I have been amazed at the performance boost from an SSD. The only downside is you have to compromise a bit on the drive size - compared to a HDD. With an SSD every operating system flies True but for example, boot & wake times are significantly faster on 8 than 7. My notebook goes from power on to logon screen in 6 seconds and wakes in less than 2. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicog Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Use ViStart and put the Start button back. By the way, if you're using Win 8 do a Windows Update - there's a patch for Flash in IE10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHJ Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 I think it looks pretty good, I will defintely be upgrading my system once it comes out. You might want to take a look at the preview shown on youtube unfortunately, the interface in the video is now long gone, this is what you get now : http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2000.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundman Posted October 9, 2012 Author Share Posted October 9, 2012 Thanx for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 For me the jury is still out on W8, it's not significantly faster than W7 but I'll persevere. I have W8 Enterprise installed as a dual boot on a virtual drive, once you get used to the rather odd Metro interface it really is very similar to previous versions. The desktop is there, just Metro replaces the Start button. I'm not sure about the look, it's gone back to square corners on windows, no Aero and I've failed to get any desktop gadgets to work (I like CPU and clock gadgets on screen). We shall see. EDIT http://8gadgetpack.bplaced.net/ puts the gadgets back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary A Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 At this point, I'm quite happy with Win 7 Pro. If Win 8 has any kinks, I'll let them work them out first and also give applications and drivers time to catch up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h90 Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I would anyway wait a bit, till the first bugs get repaired. Never good to be one of the first with MS OS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I would anyway wait a bit, till the first bugs get repaired. Never good to be one of the first with MS OS Seems they are already starting. Microsoft rolls out massive Windows 8 update Microsoft's notorious Patch Tuesday has been replaced by Update Tuesday, at least for today, as the company makes sweeping alterations to Windows 8 and its core apps. The update to Windows 8 Release to Manufacturing (read the review) aims to improve what was already solid performance in Windows 8. In the blog post announcing the update, Windows president Steve Sinofsky explained that the update would be seamlessly available for all Windows 8 machines when they boot up on October 26 and thereafter. "By developing better test automation and test coverage tools we are happy to say that Windows 8 will be totally up to date for all customers starting at General Availability," he wrote. Basically, this is a strong indication that Microsoft has learned the valuable lesson of releasing unobtrusive but important updates when they're ready, instead of saving them for larger, less frequently issued "service packs". That's not to say that a Service Pack update couldn't be in the works for Windows 8 in the future, but this is definitely a shift in how Microsoft gets things done. Cnet.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Drucker Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I tried a couple of the various Windows 8 preview editions. I found the new windows version . . . frustrating. My first dilemna after poking around was trying to figure out how to shut it down. I searched and searched. Couldn't find how to do it. Finally got it. Next it was Internet Explorer 10 (in the favored Metro interface.) No Favorites. Huh? Yep, that's right. You have to pin websites you visit frequently to your desktop. Don't really have anything to hide, but I don't really want all of my favorite websites out there for display to the rest of the world either. There is also a "desktop" (traditional) version of Internet Explorer 10 included that functions more in the manner we are used to. Damned if I remember how to get there. I'm 52 years old. I had a TI-59 programmable calculator in the late 70's, a Commodore 64 in the early 80's, I used DOS in the mid and late 80's and got into Windows 3.0 in 1990. I've mostly built my own systems for the last 20 years. Yet, I'm struggling to make sense out of Windows 8. To me, Windows 8 is not intuitive. At least, not in the sense of how I've used desktop computers up intil now. Sure, I'll probably end up watching some videos or some other kind of training, and eventually get more comfortable with it. And probably will eventually get pushed into adopting Windows 8 for some reason or another. But I have no desire to do so now. I see no benefits to going from Windows 7 to Windows 8. In fact, I just see drawbacks. I have to believe this is going to be more of a challenge for businesses that want to adopt Windows 8 than ever before, trying to get their employees up to speed on this new system. And I think (because of this new "Metro" interface, there are going to be a lot of businesses holding onto Windows XP, Vista, and 7 just as long as they possibly can. And, there'll be an opportunity for software developers to ündo" much about Windows 8 and make the user interface more like people have been used to up through Windows 7. Just my opinions . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h90 Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 And what advantage should it bring? I don't see much advantage for office work from Win2000 to Win7 (beside Eye candies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raro Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 I skipped every second windows edition...a good decision in hindsight as I missed out on gems like Vista, winME and win 3.0. Had win 2.0, 3.11, XP and now win7. Heard good things about the latest Linux developments, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Conners Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 I'm 52 years old. I had a TI-59 programmable calculator in the late 70's, a Commodore 64 in the early 80's, I used DOS in the mid and late 80's and got into Windows 3.0 in 1990. I've mostly built my own systems for the last 20 years. Yet, I'm struggling to make sense out of Windows 8. To me, Windows 8 is not intuitive. At least, not in the sense of how I've used desktop computers up intil now. Your age and background almost 100% matches me ... but I think I read there's a way to override the Metro UI and get something resembling the W7 UI ? I skipped every second windows edition...a good decision in hindsight as I missed out on gems like Vista, winME and win 3.0. Had win 2.0, 3.11, XP and now win7. Heard good things about the latest Linux developments, too. Agree with the "every second window edition suck" idea. Not so much with the Linux idea. Linux with command line is the best thing since sliced bread for servers, but the better they make the GUI the more the resource usage and sluggishness sucks, and there are still many problems getting simple things like printers to work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 The Metro UI has a nice big 'desktop' button. I got used to it fairly quickly once you realise how to swipe to the corners with a mouse. That said, I've now binned it in favour of keeping W7 simply because W7 looks nicer, bring back Aero and I'll use W8. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpcoe Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I noticed after the recent Windows Update that when you move the cursor on the start ("Metro") screen that a small dash " - " character appears in the lower right corner of the screen, which will alert unsuspecting folks that that is where you click to get the "Charms" "menu" to appear on the right. It also gives a larger area for the mouse pointer to target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Drucker Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Here's an article that expands on the Windows 8 user interface: http://www.usatoday....sumers/1646077/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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