Windows 7 --> Windows 8 (Upgrade or Not)

[JimJohnson]

Short and simple.

Pro vs Cons on upgrading to Windows 8 from Windows 7.

 

[Fry]

Never used Windows 8, but people says it's worse than Vista. I wouldn't touch it if I could avoid it.

 

[William12]

Someone asks you for help with windows 8. Your response is yes format your PC and install windows 7.

 

[Nuclearweapon]

Blaaa

I installed Windows 8 on one PC so I could map 8 gigs of ram... I would describe the performance as wonky... All your cookies have been randomly deleted... All your saved passwords gone... Internet Explorer gives random script errors... But it is nice to be able to map the ram for this motherboard/OS combo.

In short, save your money...

ttfn

 

[cudacuf]

If you have the hardware to take advantage of Windows 8, it's not terrible. But, if you don't have the touchscreens, etc; don't bother.

 

[dewey2461]

Unless you have a really good reason to "upgrade" don't.

Used it for a while on a new laptop ( non touch screen ) and after about 4 hours of "I'll give it a chance" I was ready to go buy a fresh copy of win7.

 

[Yoda007]

I setup a friends laptop and found it really bizzare and had to install aftermarket mods just to make it what I would consider user friendly... i.e script to boot directly to desktop, then a mod to display a start button.

This is a panel shop guy's laptop, it's taken him years to get around actually using a laptop, straight out of the box would of been a disaster for him and Windows 8.

 

[SiegeTank]

Windows 8.1 is about to be released, if not already. For one thing Microsoft conceded defeat and restored the START button to the default desktop. An admission that removing this from Windows 8 was the first of many stupid decisions.

I don't like Windows 8, mainly on principle because if you're not addicted to touchscreens it offers nothing of consequence that you don't have in Windows 7. Windows 8 SHOULD have been SP2 for Windows 7 with the new touchscreen-friendly desktop being an OPTION not the default.

Windows 8 is part of Microsoft's continuing trend of releasing operating systems in a good-bad sequence. WinXP good, Vista BAD, Win7 good, Win8 BAD.

Wait for Windows 9 IMHO...

 

[htw]

I wouldn't downgrade from win7.

Just my 2c.

htw

 

[Xeniaz]

Windows 8.1 is about to be released, if not already. For one thing Microsoft conceded defeat and restored the START button to the default desktop. An admission that removing this from Windows 8 was the first of many stupid decisions.

Sure, they are bringing back the start button, but not the start menu. Still a very sad version of windows. Maybe with Windows 9 MS will realize that we want to use our computer as a computer, not as a mobile device.

 

[jamie75]

been using 8 for about 2 years counting beta. I hated it. but to be honest now that I am used to it....starting to like it. one thing I would change is a option to boot directly to desktop.
If I had a option to bring back the start button I would not use it. I find it much easier finding things using search instead of the start button. that is the easy thing to get over. after picking up a Surface tablet it is nice seeing the same OS on both devices. also once you learn the shortcuts like bottom left corner, right click, I really have no use for the start button anymore

 

[Golem]

I like Windows 8, personally. The only major difference is the start menu is gone.

It's suppose to be more gamer friendly, but I don't notice anything over 7 (though besides MMOs, majority of my games are on xbox).

Even if I had to reinstall an OS, i would reinstall 8. I see no reason to go back to 7.

But if I was still on 7, I wouldn't upgrade to 8 unless I got it cheap. Its basically the same OS with a few minor improvements (and the start menu).

The bitching on the internet of "omgz no start menuz, fuck microsoft" is beyond over-reacting.

 

[TAR2]

Windows 7 --> Windows 8 (Upgrade or Not)

I have it. But I installed start8 and don't notice much of a difference. It's not that bad, there have been things I don't like, but its new and interesting. Have not done to much testing for business use, but one of my users has a surface, and I can't stand the touchscreen, let alone the weight. I think on the right tablet it could be nice.

 

[anothergeneric]

People said there is a performance gain with Windows 8, but you have to weigh that with the negatives that come with it.

 

[SiegeTank]

It seems like the best most people can say about Win8 is that "it ain't so bad." That's faint praise for a product Microsoft is charging a substantial upgrade fee for.

I agree I wouldn't DOWNGRADE to Win7 if I bought a laptop or tablet that came with Win8. But I sure wouldn't spend $1 for the "privilege" of upgrading. I skipped right past Vista and went from XP to Win7 on most of my machines, using Vista only on a couple desktops that were super-discount deals coming with Vista installed. I'm very glad I saved all that upgrade money. I'd follow the same strat with Win8.

 

[cudacuf]

It seems like the best most people can say about Win8 is that "it ain't so bad." That's faint praise for a product Microsoft is charging a substantial upgrade fee for.

There was a definite cry for everyone to upgrade from Vista to Win 7 because Windows 7 was light years better than Vista. Windows 8 just doesn't have that much of an advantage over Windows 7. So, while Vista to Win7 was "OMG DO THE UPGRADE", the "it ain't so bad" for Win7 to Win8 is pretty fitting.

 

[burdsjm]

Windows 8 is better if you have SSD.

Windows 7 is better if you have SATA.

There is something about the auto-defragger in Windows 8 that is suppose to be fixed with 8.1.

If you still use the start button you should try the windows key on your keyboard.

Hit the window key and start typing the program you want. It autoloads on enter. Makes Windows 8 super fast.

 

[JimJohnson]

Frankly i do not really use the start button all that much.

If the computer I put together keeps rebooting now and again after I track down the bad hardware. On reinstall I might try win8. As I have changed to no longer using cracked software, I really just did not want to buy a small upgrade.

Guess ill say screw it and upgrade anyways.

 

[aCunningGnome]

I like the performance increase, and SSD is easier to use with Windows 8. I appreciate that.

I am not happy with the start menu--from a functional point of view. If there were pros to it, I'd have no problem, but there's no merit to the direction they're going with it. It's a small part of the OS, and they can EASILY support both.

I usually press the start button, type what I want, and press enter. That still works and that's good (except when it includes something on my data drive, which isn't currently spun up). But when I want to see my system tray from something covering the start menu, it's a convoluted process to do so. When I want to spend several seconds looking through a list of things I typed in, I don't want to use the whole screen to do so. Shutting down the computer is convoluted too, so I just use alt-F4 on the desktop.

You don't have to interact with anything else in windows 8 that's different from windows 7 aside from this. If you can put up with this (I do, without getting too upset, except when I have to talk about it), then do it. But bottom line is, they removed functionality.

 

[SiegeTank]

I use several desktops and I've been slowly upgrading some of them by replacing my HDD with SSD's. They FLY!

What reason would Win8 be superior for SSDs? I have absolutely no complaints about boot times, load times, running times for any and all of my programs under Win7 with SSDs.