It would seem, understandably, that most objections to Win 8 are interface based. I loved 7 but moved to 8 and do enjoy the accelerated start-up/shut-down times.

That's true, but my workhorse Win7 PC usually only gets restarted once or twice a week so I would never really notice the difference.

The combination of Win8 and an SSD on my laptop is quite impressive though, but I only use it when travelling or when I need to check some function of Win8 for someone.

"being from the land of sheep <deleted>,faggots and peas and thick rugby boyo's i need to get my [wifes] lap top set up legally with say windows 8 pro.so how does a dumb welshman go about it please".

When I read your OP my first thought was ..."Crikey, not another one from back home"...... but i was wrong.....Thank God.

no not from oz.but there are quite a few from there mind.

so thanks guys for all your wisdom and wit.

its goner be windows 7 home basic eng.64.

whats all that about microsoft pulling the plug on windows 7 pro.?

Forget Windows 8 and buy a MAC is the best advice I can give

There's always one...

sent from my slimkat 1+ using tapatalk

Forget Windows 8 and buy a MAC is the best advice I can give

i dont go out in the rain,i got a brolly.

Bought genuine win8 from Banana IT (recommended to me by Microsoft as an authorised dealer). No problems installing it. Then downloaded a very useful start button and desktop from Iobit. It gives the option to open on desktop on boot up which I selected. Never see the apps page now unless I want to (which I don't on my PC). Banana IT said they would install for me if I had problems. Cost of disc 4900THB and can be used over again if windows crashes on PC. I really liked win7 but mine was a copy and kept crashing. I would have downloaded win7 but I expect it will go the same way as Vista and Microsoft withdraw support for it, thus forcing a purchase of a newer version. With Iobit, win8 operates just like win7. That's been my experience.

There is a comment about ongoing support there. Mainstream support for Win 7 ends in January. Mainstream support for Win 8 ends in 2018.

Mainstream support is functionality updates, etc

Extended support for Win 7 will theoretically run until 2020. Win 8 2023.

Extended support is security updates (i.e. the more important stuff).

None of this looks too worrying and you are not likely to be using the same laptop in 5 years time so no worries about Win 7 extended support.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/lifecycle

MAC support? Certainly, if you have more money than sense. MAC users jump into EVERY thread on the subject of Windows and try to "wee" all over it. I have MUCH more respect for LINUX users as their ecosystem is safe from commercial pressures. Windows users can be assured that Microsoft will have to make some devastatingly poor choices to disappear completely.

MAC OS ecosystem. Oooh, the fragility of proprietary software. Couple of shady iPhone releases (hardware related - bendy phones, poor wifi signal etc) and iOS releases (iMessaging update issues for iOS8, wifi signals (what is the deal with that?)) have caused some concern. Everything should carry on tickity-boo for now. A couple more of those "shots across the bows"? Everything you've pitched you money into will be gone. All your OS operation knowledge will mean nothing and you'll be stuck with aging tech that won't be updated or will be sold to a random buyer with a 50/50 chance of getting it right. This is the pain of having your hardware and software totally integrated. The "PC architecture" market is such that there will always be a necessity for Windows so long as it doesn't release Vista 3 times in a row! The hardware suppliers can (and have) come and go as they please.

The only good reasons to run Windows 8 rather than 7 are if you have a touch screen, or you're hitting the memory limit on Windows 7 (i.e.16GB on Windows 7 Home Premium - compared to 128Gb on Windows 8.1)

I highly doubt you will get a legit copy of ANY software in Thailand. I went to Pan Tip (sp?) one time to try and get several legal copies of software (XP and Win 7), no such animals exist. As earlier posted, download the software, burn it to DVD and purchase a license online. BEST way to do it legally and properly.

I highly doubt you will get a legit copy of ANY software in Thailand.

See the link I provided in post #6

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/778845-doing-it-legal/#entry8712388

I highly doubt you will get a legit copy of ANY software in Thailand.

See the link I provided in post #6

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/778845-doing-it-legal/#entry8712388

it's not a problem at all, at least nowadays.

In the XP days (which must be some 10 years ago) , I could imagine that Panthip had nothing but copies but there were certainly legitimate dealers around.