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Thread: Windows 7 or Windows 8

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    mush-mushroom b0redom's Avatar
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    Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Hi folks,
    My brand spanking new iMac just arrived and I'm going to install Windows for a gaming fix. I am a MAPS subscriber, so I can install Windows 7 Ultimate, or Windows 8 Professional. What's the verdict? What should I install? To be clear this will ONLY be used for gaming. I've used, and quite like Windows 7. I've not used Win8 at all.

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    Pork & Beans Powerup Phage's Avatar
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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Used W8 on a Surface. Found it horrible.
    It's Mac'ish in that you can't see where stuff is, or what it's doing. You just have to go on trust that everything is where it should be. For a dinosaur like me....very uncomfortable.
    Society's to blame,
    Or possibly Atari.

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    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    I forced myself to use Windows 8 for a week in its default state as it came with my new Dell laptop.

    Now I don't want this to sound over dramatic. Really, I don't. But it's unusable.

    I honestly mean that. Utterly unusable. 'Metro' or whatever-UI they decided to call it in the end is an utter mess. The switching between desktop and the interface is so disjointed it killed my productivity several times.

    I have never, ever been so infuriated with a user interface in all my computing days.

    After installing Start8 all is well again though

    Windows 8 as an OS is great. The ribbon interface in explorer is spot on. It is faster than Windows 7 in several areas (startup / standby / shutdown being the big one). And that's not just the usual "It's faster" that people harp with every Windows release - it's really noticeable.

    Probably hasn't helped you much really

    If you're happy enough with Windows 7, I'd say stick with it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Not used W8 but firmly of the opinion if it ain't broke don't fix it.

    I don't see the point of having to relearn how to use a PC for not obvious benefit.

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    mush-mushroom b0redom's Avatar
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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Hmmm. Sounds like Win 7 might be the way to go for Bootcamp, and a Win 8 vm to test things out. I don't want to spend time faffing about in the very little leisure time I have to play!

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Have win8 on my work laptop and avoided using it for a few weeks until I came across this video, makes win8 feel usable/not half bad (I never touch the metro ui).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acVtWAPq3Y0

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Hmm, on a gaming PC, surely it's largely just about device driver compatibility (which may be an issue on a new OS) and performance?

    I mean, how hard can it be to install new drivers / games and launch the games?

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    No-one's Fanboi Thorsson's Avatar
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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Quote Originally Posted by TooNice View Post
    Hmm, on a gaming PC, surely it's largely just about device driver compatibility (which may be an issue on a new OS) and performance?

    I mean, how hard can it be to install new drivers / games and launch the games?
    Depends on your games. Even if you use it mostly for games you probably need to use it for other things to enjoy the games, such as web browsing, skype, iTunes, utilities(!), (dare I say it) backup, including such services as Cloud and Skydrive. Some of my games I get fan created spreadsheets and documents too. Then you may store Pictures, which means some photo editing, watch DVDs and catchup TV, remove spyware, scan/print things. It's never just about games.

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    Evil Monkey! MrJim's Avatar
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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    One consideration in favour of Windows 8 when playing games, is that Microsoft have stated that future versions of DirectX will be only available on the most recent versions of Windows. It's not really an issue at the moment (DirectX 11 games are only just becoming more common), but it might be an issue further down the line.

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Nothing wrong with Win8 imo.

    Takes a short while to get used to, but claiming it is 'unusable' is ridiculous.

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    Pork & Beans Powerup Phage's Avatar
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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    More than a short while for us old-uns. Had it for a week
    Society's to blame,
    Or possibly Atari.

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    And I thought us old ones had patience

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Its not the patience with windows 8,its trying to get use to a totally different gui thar bares very little in common with the way windows 7 gui behaves .If they had given you the choice of either the horrible metro interface (only good with tablets and touchscreens in my opinion) or a tradition interface windows 8 would be a far better OS

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Another vote for Windows 8 with Start8.

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    So aside from the fact that the start menu is full screen what's the problem with Win8? What is harder to do?

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    Re: Windows 7 or Windows 8

    Quote Originally Posted by Willzzz View Post
    So aside from the fact that the start menu is full screen what's the problem with Win8? What is harder to do?
    It's simply personal preference for me, I like to switch on my PC, log in and be on the desktop. Rather than having to log in, click on 'desktop' on metro interface to get to the desktop. I can completely understand how much better on a tablet/touch-screen the metro interface is but for me I just want a traditional desktop, installing Start8 fixes this minor issue and makes Windows 8 perfect for me.

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