Win 7 or 8

raglafart

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
227
I was on line the other night when we had a power cut.
On re booting I'm noticing some glitches when the 4 balls come up and it's taking much more time to boot.

So, I'm not really that worried as I have a 512 gig Samsung 840 Pro SSD on the way and was going to do a clean instal rather than work from a current image.

Seems like a good time to consider looking at Win 8 not that I'm unhappy with the 7 pro 64 bit that I'm running. If there are worthwhile advantages though I'd like to get the benefit if they are considered worthwhile.

Any thoughts?
Cheers John
 
I would get it if its still cheap and try it out.
If you dont like it, use one of the 3rd party software solutions to make it behave a bit more like the previous windows OS's.
If still you dont like it, use win 8 on a backup comp or something, and put 7 back on your main.

It has some improvements to the engine, but nothing groundbreaking.
It has the touch GUI stuff, if you happen to have a touch screen on your main. :D
 
What exactly are you not happy with on Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit?

I tried Windows 8 pro 64-Bit twice and still came crawling back to Windows 7. I hate the Metro UI, it has no place on a serious desktop...
 
Personally, I would stick with 7. I hate the UI as well. Which is sad because the back end of Windows 8 isn't bad at all. It's easy enough to get rid of Metro, but I see no reason to spend money to go from Windows 7 to 8.
 
I'd go with 8 if you aren't strapped for cash.
Most of the UI changes you can revert to a W7 style anyway.
I enjoy the OS.
 
Hard to say. I updated to Windows 8 because when I installed it on a friends laptop and started to fiddle around with it I really liked it. I assume it's going to be better supported than Windows 7 so I decided to go with 8, plus for my laptop I wanted a faster bootup time. I've heard/read that 8 is faster overall so I went for it. Windows 7 is still a great OS. I might use that license for a future desktop installation.

Also got 2 copies of Windows 8 for $15 back when they were cheap so I wanted to use at least 1 license.
 
Decision made, I'll stick with 7 at least for now.
It was just that I am going to go with a clean install, the only reason I was considering it.
Thanks everyone for the input.
Cheers John
 
I was on line the other night when we had a power cut.
On re booting I'm noticing some glitches when the 4 balls come up and it's taking much more time to boot.

So, I'm not really that worried as I have a 512 gig Samsung 840 Pro SSD on the way and was going to do a clean instal rather than work from a current image.

Seems like a good time to consider looking at Win 8 not that I'm unhappy with the 7 pro 64 bit that I'm running. If there are worthwhile advantages though I'd like to get the benefit if they are considered worthwhile.

Any thoughts?
Cheers John

I dual boot 7 Pro and 8 Pro and there's not much difference between them if you are using something like Start 8 from StarDock. (I bought it...it was only $5)
 
I dual boot 7 Pro and 8 Pro and there's not much difference between them if you are using something like Start 8 from StarDock. (I bought it...it was only $5)

I could live with that, but is there any real benefit that you can see in running 8?
Cheers John
 
If you have to pay for 8, I would stick with 7. If the costs are the same, download a trial edition of Windows 8 and see how you feel.
 
I recently built a new HTPC for the wife with windows 8 and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I'm not even aware of the "metro" ui, because we spend most of our time in the administrative screen.
 
Third system no installed Windows 8 Pro on and no regrets and everyone I work with really doesn't have anything negative to say about Windows 8. My Shuttle SZ77R5 has Windows 8 Pro on and I installed Windows 7 Pro on my friends system with almost the exact same specs (except he has 32GB RAM and his Titan already), no issues on either build, both boot fast and run great. I actually prefer the flat theme of Windows 8 over Windows 7 aero theme, it doesn't have that annoying switching to basic theme that 7 has with certain games. Even Modern UI has its place, I actually pin programs I use frequently and don't have to worry about cluttering my desktop.
 
If you like windows xp start menu or the classic start menu then use classic shell. I use it on windows 7 but it can work on 8 i think also. Its free ;). Can make the menus slide out and all that like the old days.
 
Last edited:
My new computer came with Windows 8 installed, but if I had a choice, I'd go with Windows 7.
 
I could live with that, but is there any real benefit that you can see in running 8?
Cheers John
One of the nicest things about Windows 8 is if you ever feel like you want to do a clean install again you can simply reboot the computer and tell Windows 8 to refresh itself and it'll save a snapshot of your current install and reset a new install to zero day status. The entire process takes around 15 minutes or less.

Little things like the taskmanager is much more informative, the context menu in place of the classic start menu is useful and intuitive, and the modern UI can be used like the old widgets bar without cluttering the desktop and the apps are actually useful (I just have weather, stocks, news, and recipe apps on mine).

Other than those minor differences it'd be hard to notice you were using Windows 8 instead of 7 given enough time.
 
If you don't like Metro, just install classic shell. Congrats -- it's completely bypassed and you'll never see it again unless you want to.
 
Windows 8 is alright. I like to think of it as Windows 7 with a different start menu. It's basically Windows 7, and the start menu is accessible by clicking the corner of the screen or pressing the windows button on your keyboard. The menu is accessible from everywhere. It sort of makes the operating system into a hybrid cross between smartphone, and Windows OS. It has the windows desktop that we all know and love (and pretty much all of the features of Windows 7), but with a nice friendly start menu that is always there when you need it. You can still switch between everything with alt-tab flawlessly, and quick. Some people don't prefer the new full-screen start menu to the traditional start-button start menu.. but there are also ways to bring back the Windows 7 start menu inside Windows 8, by using thirds party utilities. I really don't find it (cosmetically) much different from Windows 7 at all. I'm sure a lot of people could tell you a little more about the "guts" of the operating system.. but GUI wise, it's Windows 7 with a little more stuff. The start menu in Windows 8 also adds the ability for Windows 8 apps (which can be downloaded from the windows store)... which is also why I kind of consider it a cross between a desktop and smartphone. Some people like it, some don't. I received a student edition from dreamspark when I signed up for my classes... and it came with Windows 8 (32 bit and 64 bit - keys for both, which was nice). It's not bad... but I would try it first in a virtualbox before you install it as your main operating system, just in case you don't like it. Hope this helps...

Also, I'd like to add, that performance wise, Windows 8 performs pretty much like Windows 7 does, but perhaps a TINY bit slower. Also, you must sign in using a Windowslive ID, which personally, is the thing I hate the most about Windows 8.
 
If you don't like Metro, just install classic shell. Congrats -- it's completely bypassed and you'll never see it again unless you want to.

same here, get used to windows 8 after a while. now when i am windows 7, its feels old.
 
I could live with that, but is there any real benefit that you can see in running 8?
Cheers John

Faster boot up and shutdown times in 8
Task Manager in 8 needs a frikkin Wiki page it's so extensive...(I Like!)
Fewer reboots after patches
Security Essentials is built into MS Defender (meh...)
10% slower in games on average...not as noticeable as you'd think
 
Back
Top