Windows 8: First Impressions

[Adam]

So, has anyone tried out Windows 8 yet? Lots of new features, tweaks and extras. I will admit, it takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of things, it's not completely terrible.

Honestly though, I think it belongs in the touchscreen/tablet market, because that's what it was designed for. It has some perks for the desktop user but there's not a ton.

The copy/move dialog has changed, and it looks fantastic. They've also tweaked the task manager. And of course.. the Start Menu.



You will find yourself using the windows key on your keyboard a lot more than the charm gestures on the corners of the screen, which is not good but it's not bad either, just a little inconvienent. You can however change it back to the Windows 7 look, which a regular start menu and all that jazz, I have the links in the page posted about below.

I've got a lot more expressed on my little blog project, which you can read here if you're interested: click me! Be aware that some of the language is a bit risque on some of the posts, but I have linked the posts relevatent to Windows 8. I've been trying to post the stuff I've found as I find them, so check it for updates.

So, anyone else exploring Windows 8? What are your thoughts? First Impressions? Opinions? Looking for people who've actually used it, not those who are influenced by the media and who just want to post that it's Vista 2.0, that's not making for good discussion. Thanks!

 

[Yolobot]

Hmm. Imma buy it and see what it's all about. Nice thread.

 

[Adam]

Check this out: https://windowsupgradeoffer.com/

$15 for the upgrade is everything works out. I know the Microsoft store in the mall near me had Pro for $80 and the shop I work at it for $130, so prices vary I guess.

 

[Dr3am]

I will definitely check it out soon and see how it is.

 

[Narh]

From the Demo I've seen, Its (more or less) the 360 Dashboard with touchscreen capabilities.

 

[Adam]

From the Demo I've seen, Its (more or less) the 360 Dashboard with touchscreen capabilities.

It does resemble the dashboard, and honest opinion; its niche is going to be in the touch screen market, but i think where it's going to hit big is with people who have desktops and laptops, as well as a table and a windows phone for being cross sync with everything they have, that's a huge selling point for me.

 

[pillar]

Ya my dad recently bought the Microsoft Surface. For once, he actually had to teach me how to use the OS (usually its the other way round). Just as I thought, I do agree with some of you in that its best selling point is being used more as a tablet & possible touchscreen based laptop than a desktop OS. I think cause of how simple the OS is, I think it was indeed a good idea to lower the price. Now itll be good to see Win 7 start going down in price.

Heres the thing that bugs me. If you want to make the Surface into more like a laptop, you can buy an add-on keyboard that doubles as a screen protector for $110. Now mind you that this is a completely flat keyboard in that the keys dont touch down @ all. However, Microsoft did add an option to where you can pay $20 more for a keyboard that slightly presses in, giving is more of a realistic keyboard feel.

My dad really only had 1 complaint, which was the hard drive. Installed was only a 32gb drive. My only thought is that theres an ssd in the darn tablet. Therefore, it would cost more to add in a bigger drive. However, there is a positive note. He says that the Surface does come with 10gb of cloud storage, which for his material, is plenty (his business specializes in teaching about flight safety). Majority of his previous work is already backed up on this external hard drive he bought quite a while ago. Therefore im thinking hes set.

Anyways, wanted to give you guys a heads up bout that. Also my first impression of the OS is that its mostly built for those who likes to use a touch screen version of a regular laptop/tablet. Yes, its not gonna be for everyone, but there will be some people who will really get sold on it & unfortunately for us techies, we will HAVE to learn the ins & outs in order to deal with problems in the future.

 

[Darth]

I've been using the release preview for the past few months now, obviously I'm not on the final OS but it won't be much different.

IMO, the desktop is exactly the same apart from the start button and obviously a few UI changes. I do like the charms bar as I can access settings quick access but other than that, I've hardly used the start menu, I did use it at first as it was quite cool but now I don't bother. It would definitely be much better on a tablet but from Win7-Win8, unless you need the apps or w/e there isn't that much of a difference.

 

[Adam]

Ya my dad recently bought the Microsoft Surface. For once, he actually had to teach me how to use the OS (usually its the other way round). Just as I thought, I do agree with some of you in that its best selling point is being used more as a tablet & possible touchscreen based laptop than a desktop OS. I think cause of how simple the OS is, I think it was indeed a good idea to lower the price. Now itll be good to see Win 7 start going down in price.

Heres the thing that bugs me. If you want to make the Surface into more like a laptop, you can buy an add-on keyboard that doubles as a screen protector for $110. Now mind you that this is a completely flat keyboard in that the keys dont touch down @ all. However, Microsoft did add an option to where you can pay $20 more for a keyboard that slightly presses in, giving is more of a realistic keyboard feel.

My dad really only had 1 complaint, which was the hard drive. Installed was only a 32gb drive. My only thought is that theres an ssd in the darn tablet. Therefore, it would cost more to add in a bigger drive. However, there is a positive note. He says that the Surface does come with 10gb of cloud storage, which for his material, is plenty (his business specializes in teaching about flight safety). Majority of his previous work is already backed up on this external hard drive he bought quite a while ago. Therefore im thinking hes set.

Anyways, wanted to give you guys a heads up bout that. Also my first impression of the OS is that its mostly built for those who likes to use a touch screen version of a regular laptop/tablet. Yes, its not gonna be for everyone, but there will be some people who will really get sold on it & unfortunately for us techies, we will HAVE to learn the ins & outs in order to deal with problems in the future.

I agree, Windows 8 has a bit of a learning curve to it. From an IT/Comp. Tech standpoint, we hate it. Everything is different and techs hate change.

As for the Surface, I think it's great, all except for the amount of space Windows 8 takes up. And for the keyboard nonsense, if you want a full blown tablet, the Surface is good, but Lenovo has several options for tablet type laptops. The Yoga and the Twist are the two that come to mind. The Yoga's screen folds completely over, making it a tablet and it still has a keyboard in the end.

Completely agree on the touchscreen part though, that's where this OS belongs. Sadly, there are a lot of features that I'd kill to have in Windows 7. I mean, come on Microsoft, give us a Service Pack and change it up a bit! It's not dead and a lot of people are going to be using it.

I've been using the release preview for the past few months now, obviously I'm not on the final OS but it won't be much different.

IMO, the desktop is exactly the same apart from the start button and obviously a few UI changes. I do like the charms bar as I can access settings quick access but other than that, I've hardly used the start menu, I did use it at first as it was quite cool but now I don't bother. It would definitely be much better on a tablet but from Win7-Win8, unless you need the apps or w/e there isn't that much of a difference.

Release candidate isn't much different than the full blown product. And like pillar stated, its geared for the touch market.

 

[frost889]

I have 7 on my main computer and I saw no reason to upgrade.

However

I have Vista on my old Laptop. It's a Core 2 Duo running 32bit Vista. I'd been wanting to trash it and rebuild the OS and the $60 upgrade (*had to go with the DVDs because I wanted it at 64bit) was too good to pass up. I hit up NewEgg and bought a few new sticks for it to push the memory to the 4gb max.

Did a clean install, nuked everything on my hard drive which is good. Went fast too, at least as fast as 7 on a slow hard drive.

First impressions on a slow machine: MUCH better than Vista. Interface is meh. Games run slightly smoother.

Tip: disable all the fancy interface crap / active tabs. Takes a while to find the right settings, but set it to performance. Uninstall anything you will not use.

Worth upgrading from 7? No. From anything else for that cheap? Hellz yes.

 

[CrossCheck]

I have been using it since it came out. i love it.... yes there are somethings that could be changed...(original start menu....fixed by purchasing Start8 from stardock-$4.99) It is a lil faster than win7. start-up times are faster (from boot to sign-in screen) I have only tried a handful of games (sleeping dogs, BF3 and MOHW) and seem to run smoother. Music app needs some work but enjoy it. haven't tried the XBOX games app to much but seems like you might be able to play your xbox 360 games through your PC or start them up before switching your tv's source and instead of switching and starting them on your xbox

 

[Jason]

My new build will have Windows7
7 is broken in anyway =)