Windows 8 Upgrade

£24.99 to upgrade my Windows Vista Home to Windows 8 Pro. Now that's what I call a bargain!

Nah, better off going to windows 7.

That would be a lot more expensive. But a Windows 8 Pro licence also gives you the right to install Windows 7 Pro. So I'd be a fool to buy Windows 7 Pro for 100 and whatever quid.

Just trying Windows 8 Pro (£14.99 as an upgrade to W7!) on an Acer tablet. OK on a tablet but when switched back to 'normal' Windows - YEUIKKKK!!!!
Windows 7 remains on all other laptops and desktops in my my house.

Seems MS may have followed the usual pattern of one great OS followed by an iffy one (XP-Vista, W7-W8)

We'll see...........

I'm running Vista still since buying my PC. Didn't upgrade to Win 7 because I never had any issues with Vista and couldn't justify the price. Window 8 pro can be downloaded for £24.98 from Microsoft. For that price why not? The new interface I hear people say. I liken the metro UI on Windows 8 to the media centre on Vista. Seemed like a good idea, looked pretty in the shops, but what a fiddley waste of time to use. Addmitted by microsoft as a dud because in the end the average user just didn't use it. My gut feeling is the metro UI will take the same road to oblivion on most peoples desktops. That said, many report that the underlying OS is good and perhaps better than Win 7. There are already third party programs begining to work around the metro UI and perhaps if the majority of desktop users reject it Microsoft itself may develop/issue its own.

Windows 8 can be downloaded for £14.99 on a recent PC with W7 - just done it, The fact is that W8 is great on tablets, but absolutely horrible on a normal screen. Try it..........

Vista was hopeeless when it first came out but was improved over time. No doubt W8 will also improve over time and when MS put out SP1 it will become servicable on laptops and PC's. W7 is a great operating system (Google reviews by professionals).

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Windows 8 can be downloaded for £14.99 on a recent PC with W7 - just done it, The fact is that W8 is great on tablets, but absolutely horrible on a normal screen. Try it..........

Been trying it for 2 months on my main machine (a desktop) and if I had a problem with it I promise you I would have told you all on here. I haven't. It's perfectly fine, even on my 5 year old Core2Quad machine which was never designed for Windows 8!

In reply to a post by AEP:

That would be a lot more expensive. But a Windows 8 Pro licence also gives you the right to install Windows 7 Pro. So I'd be a fool to buy Windows 7 Pro for 100 and whatever quid.

i thought that was only if you buy a computer with windows 8 and want to change to windows 7, not if you buy windows 8 and decided you don't like it.

Ah - true. Still, Windows 8 Pro is a far better deal than Vista Home. I'm happy. (I never really intended to downgrade; it would be too difficult without a volume licence.)

very cheap if you want to upgrade.

Hope it's about the same price when Win9 comes out.
I expect Win9 will be more build for a PC than a tablet (or have different versions).

In reply to a post by AEP:

Ah - true. Still, Windows 8 Pro is a far better deal than Vista Home. I'm happy. (I never really intended to downgrade; it would be too difficult without a volume licence.)

Windows 8 is a better deal price wise than Windows 7 when it was launched as well. I paid £90 for windows 7 pro in 2009, i just checked on Amazon where I got it from. But for that £90 it was the retail version, with both 32bit and 64 bit version and allows me to transfer it to another computer, which i have done 3 times.

Ok, once was a complete rebuild and the other was just a new motherboard.


i used windows 7 more or less from when it became available to the public in beta and almost from the start I knew i would buy it.

I tried windows 8 a few times , i installed it on my laptop, I also installed it on my desktop a few times, but i just could not get into it like I did with windows 7.

As you said the price is ok, i think it is the lowest price MS have sold windows and yes I would be lying if I said I did nto think about getting it, this morning for instance, I thought at that price, and I could also stick something like classic start on it.
A new Os for £24 is good.

I even went through the motions of downloading the compatibility check, which failed on quark and a few other bits. The other bits I could live without, not a problem, but quark is a different thign.


So i changed my mind, one because of quark, but the second is why the hell do I need to change the Os anyway, windows 7 have worked perfect for over 3 years, so spending £24 on something I don't really need is a waste of money and giving MS more money.


That £24 can stay in the bank in my Apple Mac account.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Windows 8 can be downloaded for £14.99 on a recent PC with W7 - just done it, The fact is that W8 is great on tablets, but absolutely horrible on a normal screen. Try it..........

Been trying it for 2 months on my main machine (a desktop) and if I had a problem with it I promise you I would have told you all on here. I haven't. It's perfectly fine, even on my 5 year old Core2Quad machine which was never designed for Windows 8!

I downloaded the beat a while back and stuck it on my laptop and yes it runs ok on there and that is only a dual core, but then windows 7 works fine on it as well.

windows 8 is suppose to have been produced to run on lower spec CPUs since the core will be running on tablets as well as mobile phones.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

windows 8 is suppose to have been produced to run on lower spec CPUs since the core will be running on tablets as well as mobile phones.

The RT edition, yes, the "normal" edition (as I call it), no, it asks for slightly more things than Windows 7. Windows Phone 8 is not Windows 8, but similar.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

The RT edition, yes, the "normal" edition (as I call it), no, it asks for slightly more things than Windows 7. Windows Phone 8 is not Windows 8, but similar.

i know the RT one is light because it needs to run on Arm chips, but I thought the normal version have to be light as well since it will be running on touch tablets with lower powered chips in.

I must admit I did think the windows phone 8 was going to use the core from windows 8 or at least the RT version.

i got a chance to have a look at a windows 8 phone in a weeks, a mate of mine have got a pre-sale one, as he knows people. It will be interesting to look at, but I will still stick with Android.


Still not sure what to do about windows 8, it is a good price for a update to a new OS, but I hate the metro screen and if I put a normal start menu, then is there any point in updating? Still not sure if i like the desktop, I know the lost of Aero is not a big problems and to be honest that is where windows 8 may have got the extra speed from, but the ribbon i detest.

I also have afeeling that win8 will also be used to run the next Xbox when it comes out.

The Xbox 360 GUI is very similar now to win8 anyways and will probably only need icons changing to fit in there.

I was reading though that MS is pushing for only allowing programs that are digitally signed to be only allowed in the near future.

That will drive up he price of software as well as kill any open source development.

Of course it has all been done in the name of "protecting the user"

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

..... I was reading though that MS is pushing for only allowing programs that are digitally signed to be only allowed in the near future....

The TwCi has been touted for a decade or more under various guises. I have no doubt that it will hit us soon. When it happens, I suspect that software will be server based and usage "rental" will be the name of the game.

Snap about the ribbon.

For me there is no point in upgrading, I would be going to a OS that I like less then my current one.
The time will come when I do update but it's a few years away.

just upgraded to win 8 from win7 for £14.99
kept the win 7 settings and all the programs i had installed are still working.
but some of the Samsung programs are not working and there is no update for them on there site.
then came across this http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/win8upgrade/

Windows 8 Installation Precautions

After upgrading to Windows 8, the computer cannot be exchanged or refunded. If a repair is requested, a service fee may be charged.

When upgrading the operating system to Windows 8, there may be insufficient disk space due to the size of the operating system files.
It is recommended removing unnecessary applications and backing up your important data before upgrading the operating system.

After upgrading to Windows 8, Office Starter 2010 may not work properly.
To prevent problems, update Office Starter 2010 to the latest version first and then upgrade the operating system to Windows 8. Note

After upgrading to Windows 8, some of the functions you have been using may not work properly.

Samsung are just being foolish - if a hardware problem occurs with your PC and you have Windows 8 on it then just use the factory recovery partition or CD and put Windows 7 back on - they are none the wiser.

When upgrading the operating system to Windows 8, there may be insufficient disk space due to the size of the operating system files.

Very useful - not! Why don't they simply tell you "WIndows 8 needs xxGB of disk space, ensure you have this before you install".

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I also have afeeling that win8 will also be used to run the next Xbox when it comes out.

The Xbox 360 GUI is very similar now to win8 anyways and will probably only need icons changing to fit in there.

Makes no odds to me, I will never buy a Xbox. i got my Ps3 and my Wii and they do what I want. i doubt I will buy another PS either.


I was reading though that MS is pushing for only allowing programs that are digitally signed to be only allowed in the near future.

That will drive up he price of software as well as kill any open source development.

Of course it has all been done in the name of "protecting the user"



They been doing something like that for years or trying to anyway. i think it will be a while before MS forces it. they may do so with apps for windows 8, but not desktop, it could push publishers to other platforms, not that it is a bad thing, I would love Sony to produce a linux version of Vegas.

In reply to a post by DavidFinbarr:

Snap about the ribbon.

For me there is no point in upgrading, I would be going to a OS that I like less then my current one.
The time will come when I do update but it's a few years away.

When i tried the beat, it did run slightly faster than windows 7 and i never denied that, I still don't think it starts up any quicker mind you.

But is that enough to fork out money?

i like windows 7 which is what I use now and yes maybe I could get used to windows 8, but i feel like it is a rushed job and Ms just wants to get into the tablet market as quick as they can. I really don't think MS will make it in the tablet or phone market.

Just by going by the people I know, they either want a Ipad or Iphone or they want a Android based phone or Tablet. Not one of them seems to be interested in a windows based Tablet or phone.

No doubt MS products will sell, but will they sell enough?

Can you pay the £25, download the file and not upgrade straight away? Burning it to a DVD for use later?

TIA.

Yes, I believe you can. In fact, that's the sensible way to do it IMO.

I just installed the preview version on my laptop (just wanted to make sure it works OK before spending out) and I am amazed at how fast it boots. Much faster off a normal hard disk than Vista was on an SSD. Providing everything works, that's me sold on it.

In reply to a post by AEP:

Yes, I believe you can. In fact, that's the sensible way to do it IMO.

I just installed the preview version on my laptop (just wanted to make sure it works OK before spending out) and I am amazed at how fast it boots. Much faster off a normal hard disk than Vista was on an SSD. Providing everything works, that's me sold on it.

My Amiga can boot up faster than Vista . I got a vista update for my laptop a few years back and it booted up slower than XP, so putting Windows 8 against vista is not a fair comparison. I have no idea how people can still use computers with vista.

Windows 8 on my underpowered laptop boots 3-4 times as fast as Windows 7 on my quad-core desktop with an SSD. I don't know how they have done it but the boot time is just unbelievably fast.

This is a no-brainer; I've just tested the software that I need to run and it all runs fine on 8 so this is a definite yes.

The more I use it the more I like it; especially the Start Screen with the live tiles. This makes iOS or Android look like something out of the ark with their grids of dead icons. I would just love a Windows 8 tablet - Surface if I can afford one with that cool keyboard. This is the future of mobile computing. I wonder if Microsoft have patents on that interface?

In reply to a post by AEP:

Windows 8 on my underpowered laptop boots 3-4 times as fast as Windows 7 on my quad-core desktop with an SSD. I don't know how they have done it but the boot time is just unbelievably fast.

Depends on what you mean by underpowered. i got a Acer aspire 5630 laptop, which got a 1.66 intel dual core CPU in and 2GB of ram. I stuck windows 8 beta on that and while it ran sort of ok, it did not seem to run as well as windows 7 did when I tried that on there.

The machine is now back to running Linux.
Maybe you think the boot time is fast because the machine is sleeping and not booting from a cold start. also do you count to when you get to the metro or when you get to the desktop?

i know someone who done that, windows 8 boot really fast, but you still got to get to the desktop to do something, ah yes, I forgot about that he said.

This is a no-brainer; I've just tested the software that I need to run and it all runs fine on 8 so this is a definite yes.

The more I use it the more I like it; especially the Start Screen with the live tiles

Good, i am sure some people will like it. I hate the idea of live tiles to be honest, someone booting up my computer and every thing is displayed to them in tiles.

Not that it happens since I live alone and how many people password their computers? just imagine if there is a facebook app and it displays a private message you did not want anyone to see on the live tile.

This makes iOS or Android look like something out of the ark with their grids of dead icons.

But they do the job at the end of the day, what more do you want from Icons? It is a picture that tells me what is what, a envelope tells me I can get my email if I press on it, A large F in what I think is a blue background is for Facebook, what is that strange icon that looks like a phone handset, oh yes, I can get my contacts and use the phone as a phone. How quaint.

I don't want them to be moving around.

I would just love a Windows 8 tablet - Surface if I can afford one with that cool keyboard.

What is the point? you may as well get a normal laptop or netbook. As for tablets, I still don't see what reason I would have to buy one. i got a E-ink E-book, which is about the closest I am going to get to some sort of tablet type device and even that is not touch screen, horrid idea, greasy finger prints over the screen I am trying to read.

This is the future of mobile computing. I wonder if Microsoft have patents on that interface?

If that is the future of mobile computing, then I am glad I am not bothering with it and if it is the future for mobile phones, then I will go back to my old Nokia 3310.

Depends on what you mean by underpowered. i got a Acer aspire 5630 laptop, which got a 1.66 intel dual core CPU in and 2GB of ram. I stuck windows 8 beta on that and while it ran sort of ok, it did not seem to run as well as windows 7 did when I tried that on there.

A very similar machine, but with a low-powerd single-core AMD processor. I had previously tried the Beta on it and it was nothing special, but the release version is something else. It boots in about 10 seconds and everything runs much more smoothly than on Vista.

No, it's not sleeping. It's a cold boot from fully powered off in about 10 sec.

Edited by deleted (Tue 30-Oct-12 10:52:53)

What is the size of the £24.99 upgrade download, please.

I'm afraid that I don't know the answer to that one as I have only downloaded the free developer's trial so far. But if it's the same as that it's about 3GB - a little less for the 32-bit version, a little more for the 64-bit one. As the offer holds until the new year I'm going to stick with the trial version for a while; the servers won't be so busy later.

I downloaded the disk image version and it's 2,831,089,664 bytes

Ian

In reply to a post by AEP:

A very similar machine, but with a low-powerd single-core AMD processor. I had previously tried the Beta on it and it was nothing special, but the release version is something else. It boots in about 10 seconds and everything runs much more smoothly than on Vista.

No, it's not sleeping. It's a cold boot from fully powered off in about 10 sec.

But sleep is what windows 8 default is. I tried the enterprise edition as well which you can try for a few days and that is the realise version, still not that much better.


i did think about it for a while, but i think I will stay with windows 7. i gave more than enough money to Microsoft in the past, I don't really want to give them any more.

But sleep is what windows 8 default is.

Adrian, I can assure you that after more than 30 years working with computers I know how to turn one off.

Edit: Just to be absolutely sure, I did what the lady in the Microsoft demo video does. I took the battery out of the laptop. So, no sleep mode possible. Still boots just as quickly.

I know how it's done - it's all explained by Microsoft - but it's still mighty impressive. This is the fastest I have had any computer boot since the days of OS in ROM, and it's a cruddy old low-powered laptop!

Edited by deleted (Tue 30-Oct-12 20:44:41)

Had it for around 2 days now, i paid 14.99 with a little white lie of when i bought my laptop but they accepted it

Not keen on the tiles which are really for touch screens anyway, but i like the rest of it. I did miss the start button so installed Stardock start8 and boot to the desktop now so never really see the tiles.

Hyper V is what i really wanted from windows 8 and i find this it's best feature.

In reply to a post by AEP:

But sleep is what windows 8 default is.

Adrian, I can assure you that after more than 30 years working with computers I know how to turn one off.

Edit: Just to be absolutely sure, I did what the lady in the Microsoft demo video does. I took the battery out of the laptop. So, no sleep mode possible. Still boots just as quickly.

I know how it's done - it's all explained by Microsoft - but it's still mighty impressive. This is the fastest I have had any computer boot since the days of OS in ROM, and it's a cruddy old low-powered laptop!

It must be like a hibernate thing then, i never got that speed even on this machine which is a AMd 3.5 quad core with a SSD unit. I normally keep windows 7 in sleep mode so it is super quick to boot up, so windows 8 would offer me no advantage.

i was thinking of getting the update and keeping it because it is a good price and maybe, just maybe MS may come out with their own version of something like classic start, but I can't see it myself. anyway spending £24 and not using it, is a waste of money.

Chatting to a mate at work today and i told him that windows 8 was a a good price if he wanted to update. His words was hell no, even if it was £10 he would not update. I suppose his computer is working fine and he don't want to upset it, but also he saw a few videos of the metro screen, including one I did and decided it is not for him.

The problem is what do we do in a few years time when support for windows 7 runs out? By that time i know my mate would have updated his computer again as he play games. I might have updated, but as long as my computer can still do HD video editing I am not too bothered about updating the hardware.

windows 8 is a pretty decent price and after January will go up to it normal price I think, so do we update now and hope MS fixes the silly problems or do we wait until the next windows update and hope that they offer that at a decent price?

Or in my case do I just drop windows and go and splash out on new hardware with a Os built in like the Apple Mac? i know my mate won't go for a MAC because he is into games.

if windows 8 was more like windows 7 and did not have the metro screen then I would not hesitate to update at that price, but windows 8 seems to be to different Os just snapped together and they just don't talk to each other.

In reply to a post by Kimi:

Had it for around 2 days now, i paid 14.99 with a little white lie of when i bought my laptop but they accepted it

Not keen on the tiles which are really for touch screens anyway, but i like the rest of it. I did miss the start button so installed Stardock start8 and boot to the desktop now so never really see the tiles.

Hyper V is what i really wanted from windows 8 and i find this it's best feature.

Hyper V is one of these features that most people will have no idea about or need.

I stuck Linux on a virtual machine, but found it was not that useful, so installed it onto another hard drive instead.

My sister in law is running windows XP as a VM on her windows 7 machine so she can run a old bit of software, but she would never have known it could be done if i did not tell her about it.

you may find Classic start is better than Stardock attempt.

If I was running Vista, I would certainly upgrade for the price.
As under 5 years of support left.
And vista isn't as good as Win7

But running Win7 it's almost certain that at least Win10 will be out during the life cycle.

Edited by deleted (Wed 31-Oct-12 00:12:20)

In reply to a post by AEP:

£24.99 to upgrade my Windows Vista Home to Windows 8 Pro. Now that's what I call a bargain!

is it an upgrade?

http://xpwasmyidea.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/features-r...



Windows 8 has quite a lot of features removed as well as useability, its a higher version but I am not sure I would call it an upgrade.

Pricewise remember you paying for an upgrade not full version. But considering its pro not the non pro the price is not bad.

also limited time free media centre key here.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature...

But knowing microsoft they may have region locked it so I am not sure will work on uk copy or not.

Vista - it's a no brainer. Windows 7 - possibly; the juriy's still out on that one.

I am amused that Adrian constantly refers to OS X as his saviour. I run it, and it's fine for my requirements, but it won't run the software that he uses, requires expensive new hardware, is heading the same way as Windows and is run by a control-freak organization that makes Microsoft look like the OSF.

It effectively hibernates - you can see a good report on the two systems here (there are many available of course):-

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/1...

To compare W7and W8 boot times, the simplest way is to use 'restart' in W8, that will provide a comparible boot time, although such comparisons seem pretty pointless to me.

Having tried both, there is no doubt that W8 is faster, even when restarting, although by how much seems to differ wildly betrween machines. Frankly I don't give a darn whether a system starts a few seconds faster, as whilst the machine is starting up I'm usually making a cuppa!

My choice has been to stick with W8 on a tablet that I have, but revert to W7 on both laptop and desktop, where I found that all I was doing was 'sevenising' W8 and I really missed the gadgets (sad - but my choice!). I also found that a number of the apps (esp weather. wiki etc) kept losing connectivity or reporting no network availability, even though the network was sound and connected........ No doubt things will improve with time (and Service Pack 1) and W8 will become more atractive, but I'll wait to see what W9 brings.