Buying new laptop - what to install - Windows 8 or 10?

[BORRISGOODENUF]

If your old laptop has windows 7, use it in the replacement PC. you can the set it up the way you wish, then do the free upgrade to w,10. If you are not happy you can then revert back to w.7.

good luck!

[h90]

If your old laptop has windows 7, use it in the replacement PC. you can the set it up the way you wish, then do the free upgrade to w,10. If you are not happy you can then revert back to w.7.

good luck!

I don't know how the system looks like if you do update to win 10 and than downgrade again. I wouldn't be surprised if Win 7 is very slow afterwards.

Clean install would be better

[seancbk]

Try Ubuntu first, there is a fair chance you'll like it and you can stop paying for licenses ever again.

I'm glad someone else has the sense to suggest a superior OS.

I've got 4 computers (2 desktops, a Sony laptop and an Apple Mac Air)

All of them are running on Linux Mint (latest version 17.2).

I hate the Mac OS and ditched Windows in favour of Linux before Win 8 came out.

[Pib]

Win 7

Win 8 is crap

Win 10 is is not finish till the 1st servicepack

Win 10 will not use the service pack approach as used in it's earlier OS's. Instead, incremental updates will be released....and such updates have continued to be released since day one of Win 10 public release on 29 Jul 15. Yeap, Win 10 will take the approach of baby steps for its upgrades/updates; not the Service Pack approach. Now I expect after so many updates, or maybe one update that makes a significant update in Microsoft's view, then they may change the version number...but I know on my Win 10 Home installed on 29 Jul that it's version number was Ver 10.0.10240....quite a few cumulative updates/etc., have occurred since then and it's still reflects as Ver 10.0.10240 as of today, approx 6 weeks after initial release.

https://www.infopackets.com/news/9638/no-service-packs-windows-10-support-ends-2025

No Service Packs For Windows 10

Windows 10 is different as there will be no service packs. Instead, Microsoft plans to issue updates as and when they are ready, rather than batching them together in one huge update. The primary reason for this is that Windows Updates will be automatically downloaded for most users without choice as to which updates they want installed. This applies to Windows 10 Home editions, whereas Pro editions and higher allow more flexibility.

[Roman51]

The reason they went from Win8 to Win10 (skipping Win9) was to get as far away from Win8 as possible I thought? That surely says Win8 sucks big time. I'm a Win7 and Win10 user and prefer Win10 by far.

No no no .. Microsoft missed 9 creating the next version of Windows is not some whim or play on the principle that the next Windows will be so good that instead of the number 9, we'll give him a mark of 10. This is a completely different reason:

Many desktop applications use functions that detect the operating system version, which check only the first character after the word "Windows" (eg. "Windows 9" for 95 and 98). As a result, Windows 9 would be classified as an equal with Windows 95 and 98 and it is in compliance with them would run programs.

That's why Microsoft introduced 10 OS. In order not to cause developers to compatibility issues.

[lostinisaan]

Neither.

Windows 7 is the best and most reliable. Install that. Skip windows 8...it is crap.

Windows 10 users are just beginning to report driver and security issues. There is really nothing great about windows 10.

Stick to windows 7, until Microsoft removes their head from their burger buns.

I have two PC's at school, my PC at home and my notebook backed up with Acronis and if something will happen, it takes only 40 minutes to have my W 7 Ultimate back as it was before.

The driver issue(s) and certain programs that do not work on W 10 are really annoying, but I'm trying to be up to date and I might have more experience in the near future if W 7 won't be supported anymore. .

I'm really happy with 10 on my PC at home. All the nice features, it shuts down in 10 seconds, starts up faster and I start to like it more and more. The weather, news, plus plenty of other stuff looks good and works well.

But of course could it end up like a love story. The good and the bad......

Yin and Yang.

Edited September 11, 2015 by lostinisaan

[lostinisaan]

If you like to download the service pack for Windows 8.1, please click here...

[mikiea]

If you need a new laptop quickly I doubt you will find anyone with Win 10 preinstalled at the moment. Maybe October they will start to come with plenty available in December.

you doubt ? , they all have win 10 , are you talking outta your keester ? ,i think yes .

[nithisa78]

We have both. I liked 10, but some of my other do dads didn't concur.

[lvr181]

You don't buy either.

Buy a Mac and do yourself a favour.

Once you've had a Mac you never go back.

As expected from an overpriced Mac, fan?

[lostinisaan]

If you need a new laptop quickly I doubt you will find anyone with Win 10 preinstalled at the moment. Maybe October they will start to come with plenty available in December.

And then you'll have to be very careful when considering the quality of the so called technicians.

I know a few shops where they're using W 7 and 8 installation CD's with plenty of Trojans on it.

I've seen a lot of them doing their jobs and sometimes I wanted to cry. They can't read English, whenever something pops up and tells them not to do it, they do it and vice versa.

I'm more than happy that I can make my own set ups and they're clean.

[lvr181]

I recently updated my HP G62 laptop (with Win 7) to Win10 but I lost a number of keyboard functions! No help on the HP website to deal with the problem - it was the only problem I had with the upgrade. Bloody annoying to say the least.

I liked what I had with Win10 for a couple of weeks use BUT even with all the following updates to Win10 no solutions to the problem. Win 10 allows a recovery to previous o/s within a short period of time and I reverted to Win 7 again. DO NOT delete win.old!

So I would support the installation of Win 7 (or if you want, Win 8.1) and then try the upgrade and see what happens. At least you will have a "fallback" position. I also have a Win 8.1 netbook yet to be updated and a Win 7 desktop (my prime computer) which will not be tried for a Win 10 upgrade anytime soon.

Just my cautious 2BHT worth.

[misterphil]

You don't buy either.

Buy a Mac and do yourself a favour.

Once you've had a Mac you never go back.

As expected from an overpriced Mac, fan?

You pay for what you get.

[gigman]

None of them specially win 10 which is a perfect spy OS.

Win 7 will do all your needs

[connda]

Dual boot Win 7 with Linux, then ween yourself off that crap Microsoft operating system.

Edited September 11, 2015 by connda

[Jaggg88]

Windows 10 is great, but turn off all the hidden surveillance. Fast reliable10 Pro is better.

I've installed windows 10 on 3 different devices and they all work better than win 7. Tech News by Thaivisa had an article on how to turn off all the invasive sh*t. You get the upgrade that matches the win 7 or 8 version you already have installed. eg win 7 pro upgrades to win 10 pro etc.

[fred Kubasa]

I agree with " slippery" as I was very happy with W7 for years, bought a new laptop last year

with W8 and now will pay a bundle to remove 8 and go back to 7 ! I will never consider W 10 !

[lvr181]

I agree with " slippery" as I was very happy with W7 for years, bought a new laptop last year

with W8 and now will pay a bundle to remove 8 and go back to 7 ! I will never consider W 10 !

Oh ye of little faith?

You can turn off the "spyware" (at installation or afterward) as has been mentioned earlier in other posts on this forum topic.

Unfortunately for all of us who did or do enjoy using Win 7, support will stop and then we will be between a rock and a hard place.

[Pib]

The XP forever crowd is being replaced by the Win 7 forever crowd. That's OK "for now."

[Pib]

The XP forever crowd is being replaced by the Win 7 forever crowd. That's OK "for now."

And just to add, I'll be part of that Win 7 forever crowd as long as I have two eight year Toshiba laptops that are not compatible with Win 10 due to their video cards...they'll go to their graves sometime in the future with Win 7 on them. But my newer Lenovo laptop is happily working with Win 10 after upgrade from Win 8.1. I also may buy another laptop very soon and Win 10 will be put on it from the get-go. So I guess I'll be running with both the Win 7 and 10 crowds.

[SheungWan]

For what most of us want Windows 10 is absolutely fine. For the nerds and obsessive hobbyists the alternatives beckon.

[humqdpf]

Like you I used to worry like hell over which version of Windows to get, what kind of antivirus software would work with what kind of other software on the computer, whether that or anything else would clash with some other aspect of software etc. I went through quite a few laptops over the years, at least one every 2 to 3 years. I had kept using Windows because I was concerned that certain MS products would not work well on a Mac.

And then I got sense and made the change to a Mac - I have two, one extremely light one for travel and one large screen laptop for home use. Never a problem. Blue screen? Nada. Software clash? never! Worrying about updating my antivirus software? nope. Well worth the extra money and in my opinion they last longer and you save money and stress in the longer term.

Only one concern is that the Mac keyboard is not sealed in - if you spill something onto the keyboard, it will go through. I was able to have that fixed locally the one and only time it occurred. Since then I use a transparent keyboard cover - you cannot tell that it is there but it stops any liquid going through.

[NeverSure]

I agree with " slippery" as I was very happy with W7 for years, bought a new laptop last year

with W8 and now will pay a bundle to remove 8 and go back to 7 ! I will never consider W 10 !

Careful. I already posted that I bought a new Toshiba Satellite with 8, didn't like it, formatted and installed 7. To my dismay there were no drivers for 7 for my mobo and I had to revert to 8 using a Toshiba rescue image. It was a pain because I hadn't considered that before I went all in.

My vote is for 10 after upgrading from 8.1.

[lvr181]

Like you I used to worry like hell over which version of Windows to get, what kind of antivirus software would work with what kind of other software on the computer, whether that or anything else would clash with some other aspect of software etc. I went through quite a few laptops over the years, at least one every 2 to 3 years. I had kept using Windows because I was concerned that certain MS products would not work well on a Mac.

And then I got sense and made the change to a Mac - I have two, one extremely light one for travel and one large screen laptop for home use. Never a problem. Blue screen? Nada. Software clash? never! Worrying about updating my antivirus software? nope. Well worth the extra money and in my opinion they last longer and you save money and stress in the longer term.

Only one concern is that the Mac keyboard is not sealed in - if you spill something onto the keyboard, it will go through. I was able to have that fixed locally the one and only time it occurred. Since then I use a transparent keyboard cover - you cannot tell that it is there but it stops any liquid going through.

Wow, you paid a huge amount of money for a Mac and not even a water resistant keyboard? Guess it is another "feature" that Apple don't want people to know along with how little it costs to have their equipment manufactured before being offered for sale at an over the top retail price!

Similar to the women's cosmetic market, sell the dream at the highest possible price that the market will bear, without regard to quality or cost of manufacture. Generally, consumer products are all about marketing, nothing else.

[Pib]

If it wasn't for women's cosmetics and clothes worldwide GDP would be halved, 50% fewer stores in malls, and unemployment at 50%.

[lvr181]

If it wasn't for women's cosmetics and clothes worldwide GDP would be halved, 50% fewer stores in malls, and unemployment at 50%.

I know and agree. Was involved in the cosmetics and toiletries industry for many years. 99% of consumerism is about marketing. It creates jobs and choices which is good monetarily for all. Nowadays, being retired, my choices are about value for money, no longer feel the need to be an early adopter of anything new or priced for the belief if it costs more it must be better - thank goodness.

Although, I was an early adopter of Win 10 but it was a cost free exercise (the ultimate "value for money") which subsequently did not fit well with my older HP laptop system (reverted back to Win 7). But I liked what I saw and will update a Win 7 desktop system some time soon.

[meltingpot2015]

The need to update anti-virus (both the application and virus definitions) is another reason to go for a Mac or Linux. Even if you set this to update automatically, it can take up valuable download time.

Also, the anti-virus programs can hog resources on your laptop. On one occasion, when using windows (a long time ago) the whole widows file system became unusable due to a virus. I had a popular anti-virus program running, it just did not have the most uptodate virus definitions.

I am still somewhat suspicious if the anti-virus provider did not have anything to do with the virus.

Always backup your files, that goes for any Operating system.

Edited September 13, 2015 by meltingpot2015

[fitnesspm]

Windows 7

Windows 8 & 10 suck!

[lvr181]

Windows 7

Windows 8 & 10 suck!

Oh ye of little faith!

I agree about Win 8 (I am using on this netbook and will update to Win 10 sometime soon) but I remember many people slow to change from XP to 7. Now much reluctance to change to Win 10. Sounds same same to me. I think once the bugs are ironed out Win 10 will be the new Win 7.

Briefly, I flirted with Win 10 on my 5 or 6 year old HP laptop (from Win 7) liked what I saw, but lost some keyboard functions and HP support had nothing for this "problem" with Win 10. Reverted to Win 7 (you have 28 days to do) and this is where it probably stay. The risk of an early adopter!

My desktop remains on Windows 7 in the meantime, will be fitting a SSD asap, image Win 7 across and then try Win 10 update.

That is my two bobs worth of experience to date

[greenbottle555]

I agree with " slippery" as I was very happy with W7 for years, bought a new laptop last year

with W8 and now will pay a bundle to remove 8 and go back to 7 ! I will never consider W 10 !

Careful. I already posted that I bought a new Toshiba Satellite with 8, didn't like it, formatted and installed 7. To my dismay there were no drivers for 7 for my mobo and I had to revert to 8 using a Toshiba rescue image. It was a pain because I hadn't considered that before I went all in.

My vote is for 10 after upgrading from 8.1.

Motherboards don't need drivers. Just google it if you don't believe me, or see other forums: http://superuser.com/questions/333526/why-should-i-install-hardware-drivers-if-my-computer-is-working-fine

Edited October 5, 2015 by greenbottle555