So how bad does Windows 8 suck?

halo71
halo71 Posts: 4,602
edited May 2013 in The Clubhouse
Bought my 14 year old a laptop for her birthday. So far I am really hating windows 8. Wondering if I can send it back and exchange it for an Apple! lol

Anyone care to comment or give some advice?
--Gary--
Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out.
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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    edited May 2013
    Everything I have read or heard is that it's horrible without a touchscreen but pretty awesome with one. Just get her a copy of windows 7 if it's not touch. I am very happy with 7 personally.
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  • Jhayman
    Jhayman Posts: 1,548
    edited May 2013
    Windows 8 is a Great OS, just give it a little time..
    IOS is severely overrated IMO, the networking ease alone is worth it.
    I run a dual boot Win7 and 8..
    Just put the fix for the start button on and it will help you become better adjusted quicker..
    ATC SCM40's,VTL TL 2.5 Preamp,PSB Stratus Goldi's,McCormack DNA 500,McCormack MAP-1 Preamp,Pro-Ject Xtension 10 TT,Ortofon Cadenza Red/Nordost RedDawn LS Speaker cables, Bryston BDP-2, Bryston BDA-2,PS Audio AC-3 power cables
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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,279
    edited May 2013
    It has its glitches, download a windows 7 shell

    There is a $5 one I downloaded to help me with transition

    Still carry 2 laptops due to conflicts
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
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    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,726
    edited May 2013
    Windows 8 with a touchscreen is tolerable, without one it's terrible. I still prefer OSX by a very large margin, but do run Windows on my gaming rig obviously. For me it's Windows for gaming, OSX for everything else.
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  • Habanero Monk
    Habanero Monk Posts: 715
    edited May 2013
    Install Classic Shell and get Steve Balmer fired. The biggest thing is they keep re-arranging the furniture. Like where the hell did system restore get moved to... Want to actually shut down the computer, that's changed too.

    Want to run something with elevated priv? They changed how that is handled. The removed Media Center which I though was one thing they did right.

    Then there is local and Microsoft Account and stuff just doesn't work on the Microsoft account. I now have a Mac Mini with Parallels and Win 7 for day to day IT work.
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  • jephdood
    jephdood Posts: 1,671
    edited May 2013
    Fast and stable, but NOT user friendly without touch. MS is releasing 8.1 "blue" later in the year which of course doesn't abandon 'Metro', but addresses some complaints. Still quite content with 7 myself, and it'll be on my desktop probably forever. Who the hell wants to move and swipe with their whole arm on a large display when I can perform the same functions quicker and easier with the flick of a wrist on a mouse. And don't tell me that scrolling around in all directions with a mouse wheel in Win8 is natural, cause it ain't.

    I'm sure more than a couple people have been fired already with the consumer sales and feedback ratings of 8.
    "I did not slap you. I high-fived your face."
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,726
    edited May 2013
    jephdood wrote: »
    Fast and stable, but NOT user friendly without touch. MS is releasing 8.1 "blue" later in the year which of course doesn't abandon 'Metro', but addresses some complaints. Still quite content with 7 myself, and it'll be on my desktop probably forever. Who the hell wants to move and swipe with their whole arm on a large display when I can perform the same functions quicker and easier with the flick of a wrist on a mouse. And don't tell me that scrolling around in all directions with a mouse wheel in Win8 is natural, cause it ain't.

    I'm sure more than a couple people have been fired already with the consumer sales and feedback ratings of 8.
    Yeah, I've seen people complain that Apple hasn't released an iMac with Touch display yet, and while I get the novelty of the idea it just isn't a practical feature most people will use...actually seems kinda silly when you think about it. I could see it being nice for small children though I suppose.

    IMO Windows 7 is a fantastic OS, it's probably the best piece of software MS has ever produced.
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  • halo71
    halo71 Posts: 4,602
    edited May 2013
    Finding the control panel took some time. Shutting the damn thing down took a few hoops to jump through. Tried to download FF and still have not figured that out. Shows it downloaded but I can not find it. Took 3 different times to download Adobe updates before it took. At least I think it has now. Opening IE initially there was all kinds of BS ads, toolbars etc to wade through. Initial setup I declined the free Norton's set up. BUT....seems it set itself up anyways.

    Can I load XP on this damn thing?? lol I am really having buyers remorse right now. I should have upped the budget and gone with a Mac. I feel sorta bad buying my daughter this piece of $hit but she has assured me that "change is good but not always welcomed". I laughed and told her she is too young to know Microsoft's ways yet!
    --Gary--
    Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out.
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  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,773
    edited May 2013
    halo71 wrote: »
    Finding the control panel took some time. Shutting the damn thing down took a few hoops to jump through. Tried to download FF and still have not figured that out. Shows it downloaded but I can not find it. Took 3 different times to download Adobe updates before it took. At least I think it has now. Opening IE initially there was all kinds of BS ads, toolbars etc to wade through. Initial setup I declined the free Norton's set up. BUT....seems it set itself up anyways.

    That sounds like crap the manufacturer installed, not Microsoft or Win 8 issues.

    But I have stuck with 7 Ultimate, even though I got 8 Pro for free. I may give it another shot when 8.1 is released. It's a free update, so worth at least a try.
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  • kuntasensei
    kuntasensei Posts: 3,263
    edited May 2013
    Windows 8, at its core, is great. The metro interface, however, is only good on touchscreens. For desktop use, install Classic Shell and you can basically make it just like Win7, but with all the back-end improvements that Win8 brings.
    Equipment list:
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,726
    edited May 2013
    What backend improvements are in Windows 8?
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  • pretorios
    pretorios Posts: 39
    edited May 2013
    When at work on a PC, I still yearn for MAC OS X, but I think Windows has come a long way in terms of usability. Windows makes a fine server OS, in my opinion, though it still lags behind MAC OS X as a client OS, not only because of the interface but because of the quality of the applications and their consistency.
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited May 2013
    Windows 8 is fine. As far as stability, it's not a brand new OS, it's built on Windows 7 roots, so it's very stable. I've not had any issues at all with it, once I updated all my drivers after the initial installation. And it runs Windows 7 drivers so don't try and tell me that there's no hardware support for it. I don't know where people come up with that one. If it worked on Windows 7 it works on 8.

    The UI is the biggest change and the biggest gripe that people have. And it is true that the UI makes more sense if you have a touch screen, but I am finding some of the hate towards Windows 8 to be ridiculously overblown. I launch Windows, click the icon on the Metro UI intereface to launch the desktop, and that's pretty much it for me. I have all the icons I need either on my desktop or in the quick launch area. Problem solved, no need to install a third-party Start button replacement, no need to throw a hissy about Metro. Honestly if you cared at all about efficiency this is the way you would have set up Windows 7 anyway--with the icons in the quick-launch area--so the Start button shouldn't have been utilized that much to begin with.

    Oh, here's a tip if you want to get to the control panel or one of the other system tools quickly: Windows key + X.

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
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  • rooftop59
    rooftop59 Posts: 8,121
    edited May 2013
    Good info Syndil. So do you think that it is worth it to upgrade to 8 from 7 if you don't have a touchscreen? I can get 8 pro through work for very cheap...
    Living Room 2.2: Usher BE-718 "tiny dancers"; Dual DIY Dayton audio RSS210HF-4 Subs with Dayton SPA-250 amps; Arcam SA30; Musical Fidelity A308; Sony UBP-x1000es
    Game Room 5.1.4:     Denon AVR-X4200w; Sony UBP-x700; Definitive Technology Power Monitor 900 mains, CLR-3000 center, StudioMonitor 350 surrounds, ProMonitor 800 atmos x4; Sub - Monoprice Monolith 15in THX Ultra
    Bedroom 2.1     Harmon Kardon HK3490; Bluesounds Node N130; Polk RT25i; ACI Titan Subwoofer
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  • gce
    gce Posts: 2,158
    edited May 2013
    I got a new Laptop non-touch With Windows8 and have to say I didn't like it at first but the more I use it the more I like it. It really can be used just like Windows7. I think what's hard for some is change but once you get to know where everything is, it great. Here a little help to get started. http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_640813&feature=iv&src_vid=wi8NpwiEuzc&v=5BSmmSU-UZU
    Anaheim Hills CA,
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,622
    edited May 2013
    I have been using Windows 8 since beta and I love it. I never used the start menu and the way they designed the search in the charms menu is absolutely incredible. Love it. I do not do much with the metro UI simply because I do not like the 70/30 screen split, would like half and half or four quadrants. I also don't like how programs like office which I use all the time open in the desk top. Other than that metro is awesome and everything on metro is extremely fast.
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • cnh
    cnh Posts: 13,284
    edited May 2013
    Been using W8 on a Lenovo laptop (non-touch screen) for a few months. What I did first was DISABLE ALL THE CRAZY AUTO trackpad features so that the Charms bar, etc. did not appear every few seconds.

    I then PINNED all apps and whatever I wished to use onto the OLD looking TASK BAR ON THE windows 7 (xp) screen in the lower Right hand corner--of the new TILE windows 8 screen--it is the corner right TILE (major APPS, and so on). Now I mostly DISREGARD the touch screen windows tiles unless I wish to access something there. Essentially, you can retool and refashion the old desktop for YOUR purposes and tell Windows 8 to take a hike. Once done you're fine!

    The tile system would be OK with a touch screen PHONE or a touch screen tablet. Windows 8 is obviously designed with THESE USERS IN MIND in order to achieve CONVERGENCE between PHONES, TABLETS, LAPTOPS and PCs! The idea sounds great except when you have to deal with it on a NON-touch screen device where your trackpad has a MIND OF ITS OWN! lol

    cnh
    Currently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!

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  • Strong Bad
    Strong Bad Posts: 4,277
    edited May 2013
    I went Mac and won't go back! Personally, I prefer to leave all the touch screen stuff to my iPad and iPhone. Leave my iMac alone! I haven't messed with Windows very much at all over the last 3 1/2 years. I have a Win7 VM on my iMac just in case I need something for Windows, but I power it up maybe a handfull of times a year, mainly to just run windows update.

    OSX is my preferred OS. If Windows is yours, then rock on. As long as you can accomplish your tasks.
    No excuses!
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  • Syndil
    Syndil Posts: 1,582
    edited May 2013
    rooftop59 wrote: »
    Good info Syndil. So do you think that it is worth it to upgrade to 8 from 7 if you don't have a touchscreen? I can get 8 pro through work for very cheap...

    Depends. You don't really gain anything with Windows 8, and depending on how you were using Windows 7, you might lose some things. For example the Windows 7 Ultimate I was using before I upgraded to 8 Pro included Windows Media Center and Windows XP mode, which were both things I used. I had to pay an extra $10 to get Windows Media Center added back into Windows 8, and Windows XP mode is just simply not available in 8. They have replaced Windows Virtual PC from Windows 7 with something called Hyper-V in Windows 8, so you can still run virtual machines, but the thing about XP Mode in 7 was that it included a virtual Windows machine running XP with its own license, and you could launch apps installed in XP mode from the Windows 7 desktop. Hyper-V does not include an XP license (although you can provide your own) and you cannot launch apps installed in Hyper-V outside of the Hyper-V environment.

    But, if those things don't affect you, then what you gain by going to Windows 8 is mostly future-proofing. I play a lot of games, and Windows 7 will stop receiving DirectX updates sooner or later, so in order to have the latest version of DirectX you'll need Windows 8.

    RT-12, CS350-LS, PSW-300, Infinity Overture 1, Monoprice RC-65i
    Adcom GFA-545II, GFA-6000, Outlaw Audio 990, Netgear NeoTV
    Denon DCM-460, DMD-1000, Sony BDP-360, Bravia KDL-40Z4100/S
    Monster AVL-300, HTS-2500 MKII
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  • halo71
    halo71 Posts: 4,602
    edited May 2013
    Well....after further "experience" with 8, and figuring out where $hit is. I am liking it a little more now. My daughter seems to have adapted to it much better than me however. lol So I feel better now. Still wishing I had went for a Mac though. So far so good......

    I was going to download the 7 shell but she says its okay the way it is.
    --Gary--
    Onkyo Integra M504, Bottlehead Foreplay III, Denon SACD, Thiel CS2.3, NHT VT-2, VT-3 and Evolution T6, Infinity RSIIIa, SDA1C and a few dozen other speakers around the house I change in and out.
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