Should I go on with Win 8/8.1 or go back to Win 7

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Hi, people.

It's been a couple of years since I last posted here. Was so busy with life requirement :(

I recently got a new laptop running Wind 8, and I'm thinking of installing all my music production software now (mostly FLs and Reaper). However, from the very beginning I didn't like how it looks and works (Win 8). Furthermore, some friends keep speaking negatively about it and how slow it is.

Based on the above, and being an old Win XP user, I'm thinking of using Win 7 as it looks similar to Win XP.

So what do you recommend guys?

I would appreciate your opinion highly on that.

Thanks.

Ahmed.
See you later.

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From Win 8.1 on you can boot directly into desktop and don't have to deal with that Metro/apps starting screen stuff anymore. So with a few tweaks (which I did immediately after upgrading to Win 8) imo it looks and feels pretty much like older Windows versions.

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AMD wrote:Based on the above, and being an old Win XP user, I'm thinking of using Win 7 as it looks similar to Win XP.
Mainstream Microsoft support for Win 7 ends in less than 6 months, so in the long run you are best covered by going for Win 8.1

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While some of the changes in Windows 8/8.1 are a PIA, they're easy to learn to live with, and my music software runs fine on it.

No problems here, and if you don't have to, I don't see the point in hanging on to an older version of an OS.

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From Win 8.1 on you can boot directly into desktop and don't have to deal with that Metro/apps starting screen stuff anymore
Sorry, but what does that mean?
See you later.

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AMD wrote:

From Win 8.1 on you can boot directly into desktop and don't have to deal with that Metro/apps starting screen stuff anymore
Sorry, but what does that mean?
It means that you automatically can skip the "Tiles Interface" (called Metro interface) and start right in the desktop environment, that you know from Windows 7 (and XP).

I've upgraded from W7 to W8 and on my system W8 boots faster and seems to run even smoother than W7. Had no technical issues either.
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Numanoid wrote:
AMD wrote:Based on the above, and being an old Win XP user, I'm thinking of using Win 7 as it looks similar to Win XP.
Mainstream Microsoft support for Win 7 ends in less than 6 months, so in the long run you are best covered by going for Win 8.1

Not necessarily true, Windows 7 extended support is up to 2020 :

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/lifecycle

BUT to downgrade a new laptop is not a good idea. You may not find device drivers for it and it wont be supported buy the maker when you change the OS.

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Stick to 8.1. If you really can't live with the start screen and miss the start menu, get Start8. But it's really easy to get used to the tiles. Just don't bother with the ModernUI Apps, they suck IMO. Other than that, Win 8.1 is the best Windows version I've ever used and I'd consider myself a "power user". It feels extremely snappy.

Be careful when you hear a lot of negativity about it. I've heard sooo much crap from some people who have no clue what they are talking about, haven't used Win 8(.1) at all, are just afraid of changes or simply repeat what they've heard on the web - or all combined.

Just my opinion.

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paterpeter wrote:Stick to 8.1. If you really can't live with the start screen and miss the start menu, get Start8. But it's really easy to get used to the tiles. Just don't bother with the ModernUI Apps, they suck IMO. Other than that, Win 8.1 is the best Windows version I've ever used and I'd consider myself a "power user". It feels extremely snappy.

Be careful when you hear a lot of negativity about it. I've heard sooo much crap from some people who have no clue what they are talking about, haven't used Win 8(.1) at all, are just afraid of changes or simply repeat what they've heard on the web - or all combined.

Just my opinion.
I'm in agreement here. There's kind of internet hive-mind groupthink that unquestioningly says Windows 8 is awful. While there are a few tweaks to how things are organised, I've found that everything can be accessed with the same number or fewer clicks once you know where everything is. It is indeed resource-light and lightning fast with it.

Most of the hate seems to revolve around the Start Menu disappearing, but I frankly think the Start Menu was a heap of crap anyway. On a well used computer, it becomes a bloated mess which leaves you navigating reams of tiny text to open another menu full of tiny text, being careful not to obscure the piece of tiny text you wanted by accidentally hovering over a different piece of tiny text which then pops open and covers the thing you were looking for. I know that familiarity breeds fondness, but I still don't understand the love for it. The Modern/Metro interface is IMO an excellent replacement for the Start Menu, and the one thing that makes it worth using.

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Win 8/8.1 is awful, generally speaking, from a UI point of view, but once you install classic shell it becomes a lot better both from a UI and a technological point of view.
There are a shit-ton of objective reasons other than familiarity with the desktop metaphor as to why the win8 metro interface is bad and I won't even begin to tackle it here.
Suffice to say if you have any understanding of UI design and objective research it's a complete clusterfuck and public response unsurprisingly reflects that exactly.

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Our household has 2 Win8 desktops I built, 2 Win8 Laptops, and 2 Win7 desktops I built. Both are fine for music production. I would stick with Win8 for multiple reasons. Downgrading a laptop to Win7 could be a real drag for many reasons. If you do it, make sure you do your homework on how the disk(s) is set up (be careful of Intel Rapid Resume, hybrid drives, GUID vs MBR disk partitions, UEFI disk protection, etc.).

Make sure you upgrade to Win8.1, and install Classic Start if you haven't already (it's free). Once you do this, you'll find Win8 has at least as many pluses as minuses. It boots quickly and has a few useful new features in Task Manager, File Explorer, etc.
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Gonga wrote: Make sure you upgrade to Win8.1, and install Classic Start ...
There's also Classic Shell which is free too and AFAIK most popular.

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cron wrote:I'm in agreement here. There's kind of internet hive-mind groupthink that unquestioningly says Windows 8 is awful.
It's far from awful. It's a pain in the ass to do things that were easier in previous versions, but overall there's nothing so bad about it that makes it anywhere near unusable.

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cron wrote:There's kind of internet hive-mind groupthink that unquestioningly says Windows 8 is awful.
There's also the "internet hive-mind groupthink" that unquestioningly says that the tiles UI is the best thing since sliced bread. And that you HAVE to get used to it, and then love it - and if you don't, then you're just afraid of change. :roll:

Anyway, apart from the Metro UI, that you can avoid in 8.1, there's not much wrong with Windows 8.1. I would still install classic shell, because I think the old start menu is better than its mini-tile replacement.

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-double post-

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