Windows 8 , my verdict

[Daryll]

Well after 8 years of virtually constant use , my trusted old XP desktop had reached the end of its life.
Hardware failures were getting more common , HD full with all those small programs you couldn't do without ( at the time).
Time for a new machine , well after a few wasted hours at PC world trying to find someone who actually new what a computer was...:p
I came across a Lenovo all one intel i3 , 6gig ram , 1tb drive , 23" scereen , 6 X USB ports , touch pad extension, and Windows 8 , all for the sum of £499.
Also brought a SATA HD enclosure, to USB 3 , to transfer data from the old hard drive.
Set up is a breeze , it found the SKY router , entered the password , on the net straight away , fired up the laptops and the net book , win 8 took a minute , and up they came on the screen , so the networking was seamless.
made a few folders in C:/users/daryll/ and transferred all my data from the old drive , songs took 2 hours , photos took a bit longer at 3 hours , I just dumped the entire "my documents" folder to the new hard drive , er........that took 4 hours :)
win 8 takes a bit of getting used to , however i downloaded a small app that puts the start button where it should be , and brings up the familiar start menu.
There are still a few things I cant get my head round , but it will come , or someone has a patch somewhere.
so all in all , I am pleased with win 8.


Daryll

[Totally Plucked]

I'm tempted but reluctant at the moment. The term 'People don't like change' springs to mind!
Unless you have a pocket full of it of course!! ;)

[deltic]

Well after 8 years of virtually constant use , my trusted old XP desktop had reached the end of its life.
Hardware failures were getting more common , HD full with all those small programs you couldn't do without ( at the time).
Time for a new machine , well after a few wasted hours at PC world trying to find someone who actually new what a computer was...:p
I came across a Lenovo all one intel i3 , 6gig ram , 1tb drive , 23" scereen , 6 X USB ports , touch pad extension, and Windows 8 , all for the sum of £499.
Also brought a SATA HD enclosure, to USB 3 , to transfer data from the old hard drive.
Set up is a breeze , it found the SKY router , entered the password , on the net straight away , fired up the laptops and the net book , win 8 took a minute , and up they came on the screen , so the networking was seamless.
made a few folders in C:/users/daryll/ and transferred all my data from the old drive , songs took 2 hours , photos took a bit longer at 3 hours , I just dumped the entire "my documents" folder to the new hard drive , er........that took 4 hours :)
win 8 takes a bit of getting used to , however i downloaded a small app that puts the start button where it should be , and brings up the familiar start menu.
There are still a few things I cant get my head round , but it will come , or someone has a patch somewhere.
so all in all , I am pleased with win 8.


Daryll

it's no secret that i am an avid anti windoze person, unfortunately day to day at work still have to encounter the blessed things……pleased you are enjoying your new machine and hopefully will provide you with as good a service as the old one.

i treat myself to a new quad core MacBook today, the old one although just over 5yrs old still performs without fault, just time for a change i guess …wow the new one is fast, facing the same problem tho didn't realise how much stuff had amassed on the old one….ironically the migration assistant offered to move it all over to the new one seamlessly, however i declined, opting for a fresh uncluttered start.

[Excalibur]

Lenovo here as well Daryll, but mine's just a desktop. It is however running Windows 7. Thanks Vectis, I owe you one. Story elsewhere.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Hate windows 8!

[Larry B Entertainment]

wasted hours at PC world trying to find someone who actually new what a computer was...:p

Good luck with that :)


As for the start button (or lack of it), thats what drove me mad the first time I used Win8. I kept going for it then realising it has moved. Also took me 30 minutes to find the shutdown screen.
I have also heard it doesnt work with optical drives, although MS may have patched that by now judging that you can still buy blank media.

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[TenB]

Good luck with that :)


As for the start button (or lack of it)
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You may already be aware, but there is a replacement front end for windows 8 which will give you the windows 7 look, it can be found here (http://www.classicshell.net/). It may be of use to some one.

[DazzyD]

You may already be aware, but there is a replacement front end for windows 8 which will give you the windows 7 look, it can be found here (http://www.classicshell.net/). It may be of use to some one.

Keep an eye out for the upgrade to Windows 8.1 (Codenamed Windows Blue) due for general release later this year. If you can't wait that long you can get a preview at:

linky (http://www.snipca.com/9331)

This was touted by Microsoft as being the Windows upgrade to please those users who missed the Start button. However, I'm led to believe that it's not quite the Start button that most of us are / were accustomed to! ;)

[Larry B Entertainment]

This was touted by Microsoft as being the Windows upgrade to please those users who missed the Start button. However, I'm led to believe that it's not quite the Start button that most of us are / were accustomed to! ;)

I understand MS trying to give win8 a fresh look but I dont know why they have to move something that has been in the same place right back to Win95. Its like BMW deciding to mount the steering wheel in the back seats or somewhere else inconvinient. But apart from that Win8 isnt too bad imo.

[DazzyD]

It's my understanding that Win 8.1 will not feature a Start button as such but, instead, it will offer a link to a Start menu. I haven't seen it myself yet but I read computer reviews all the time and the latest ComputerActive magazine had a review. That's where I got the link from.

[Daryll]

Start button , there is also the familiar start menu.

15993

15994

Daryll