Windows 8 Adoption Poor

decto · 10 Mar 2013 at 17:25

I upgraded Win 8 on the OH's 1.4Ghz Dual core ACER laptop. Previously I'd done a fresh install of Vista with all the updates and added an SSD but it was still terribly slow. Memory stuck at 2GB due to chipset.

Took a punt on Win 8 upgrade @£25 and the laptop boots in about 1/3 of the time and is far more responsive. OH happy with the performance now so she'll be keeping it for at least another year, if not more.

Also have a media center with a celeron G530 running the upgrade. Boots in about 8 seconds and powers of in about 6 with a push of the power button.

Once I added a link to the control panel on the taskbar of the classic desktop I've had no real trouble finding anything I needed to use though the tiles are largely pointless and the app store disappointing.

Overall I'd rather have this than vista or XP though my office PC and Gaming rig are still on Win 7 while I continue to acclimatise.

AD

Bacon? · 10 Mar 2013 at 17:53

Have to say I personally don't like W8, and im not a "hater" in fact it seems the opposite way round here with most of the "haters" being W8 users attacking W7 users.

I like the quick start up but thats about it. I don't like the Metro system, simple as that. I like to have a Start button where I can have access to everything while remaining on the desktop.

deuse · 10 Mar 2013 at 17:57

Glaucus said:
Rubbish, it's a great feature. Hibernation uses power, this doesn't.
Ad no I don't think modern windows even windows 7 suffered from slow down.
We know what it does and it's a nice feature.

For the love of god please stop using the royal WE.

theheyes said:
You claim Windows 8 is a dog when starting up compared to Windows 7. I don't have the means to test this. I'm asking you to please share your data.

I thought you had windows 8?

Fillado · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:00

theheyes said:
You claim Windows 8 is a dog when starting up compared to Windows 7. I don't have the means to test this. I'm asking you to please share your data.

You must have tested this yourself on a range of computers, or have access to somebody else's work. All I'm asking you to do is help us understand how you came to this conclusion.

If you can't back up your claim, then it's completely unsubstantiated.

On both my computer that had Windows 8 on previously and my parents it is noticeably slower.

If you wish to get out a stop watch and dual boot systems then that's your time to waste. Why do you seem to doubt this when Windows 8 is effectively Windows 7 + Metro stuff. Of course it'll boot slower - you have more stuff to boot :confused:

Elevon · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:09

Fillado said:
On both my computer that had Windows 8 on previously and my parents it is noticeably slower.

If you wish to get out a stop watch and dual boot systems then that's your time to waste. Why do you seem to doubt this when Windows 8 is effectively Windows 7 + Metro stuff. Of course it'll boot slower - you have more stuff to boot

I must have done something right then, did three Win7 upgrades to Win8 on different PCs including a laptop and all boot up quicker etc...its just snappier in general then Win7,so 3 for 3 then,glad I upgraded and I would not go back to Win7 since there is no reason why.

gareth170 · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:14

deuse said:
I thought you had windows 8?

I think he means he haven't got a range of systems to do a proper test. just testing on 1 or 2 systems is not doing a proper test

Fillado said:
On both my computer that had Windows 8 on previously and my parents it is noticeably slower.

If you wish to get out a stop watch and dual boot systems then that's your time to waste. Why do you seem to doubt this when Windows 8 is effectively Windows 7 + Metro stuff. Of course it'll boot slower - you have more stuff to boot

but win8 as the fast boot feature. there's no real reason to disable it. also I've tried disabling it and tbh it boots no slower than win7.

gareth170 · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:19

Elevon said:
I must have done something right then, did three Win7 upgrades to Win8 on different PCs including a laptop and all boot up quicker etc...its just snappier in general then Win7,so 3 for 3 then,glad I upgraded and I would not go back to Win7 since there is no reason why.

I think he means with fast boot disable in Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\System Settings...

tbh I can't see the point disabling it

Macro · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:30

Just tried it, doesn't feel any slower than W7 boot to me (and certainly not "dog slow"), but then in the months I've been running W8 I've not had any problems that made me think I needed a full power down either (so have switched fast start back on, can't see any reason not to). It's certainly not "noticably slower" than W7 in use for me on any of my machines either and feels roughly the same or a little sanppier than W7 day to day which seems to be reflected in pretty much all professional objective performance comparissons published so far, in particular now that drivers revs have matured. /shrug

I did have to chuckle at the "I've disbled one of the W8 features that makes it boot quicker, now I think it boots slow" logic though... Right up there with "I've disabled 2 of the cores on my quad core CPU now it's no faster than my old dual core cpu"

I don't mind much one way or another, for me an OS is just something to let me get into the apps I need to do whatever it is I'm trying to do. W8 seems to have no downside for me and has some nice additional touches over W7 that make it more than worth the £25 upgrade.

Caged · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:33

Glaucus said:
Hibernation uses power, this doesn't.

I think you mean sleep/standby. Hibernate purges the contents of RAM to disk and then powers off. Although there hasn't really been a distinction between them since the XP days, Windows 7 onwards (probably Vista too) will hybrid sleep, which is a low power mode followed by waking up and then going into what used to be called hibernate after a set amount of time.

theheyes · 10 Mar 2013 at 18:49

deuse said:
I thought you had windows 8?

I do, but I don't have Windows 7 on the same machine. But even if I did you can't just run a comparison on one box and draw a conclusion.

Fillado said:
On both my computer that had Windows 8 on previously and my parents it is noticeably slower.

If you wish to get out a stop watch and dual boot systems then that's your time to waste. Why do you seem to doubt this when Windows 8 is effectively Windows 7 + Metro stuff. Of course it'll boot slower - you have more stuff to boot

So it's just anecdotal? I doubt it simply on the grounds that every machine I've tried it on the restart cycle is roughly the same as Windows 7.

Also, the Windows 7 + Metro logic just isn't how it works. In fact, Windows 8 initialises less processes on boot than Windows 7 does (not that that gives you the full story either)

Perhaps other users who have noticed Windows 8 being significantly slower to cold boot than Windows 7 could give their input? (Just make sure you account for updates installing obviously)

Glaucus · 10 Mar 2013 at 19:03

deuse said:
For the love of god please stop using the royal WE.

No, I'm very content using we, as I know several people in this thread, know exactly how W8 ship it's down and probably almost people. Seeing as its been discussed in many threads.

But it is cute how you always have to reply to me, with these pointless tangents and never any actual comments or opinions.

Hawk Tuah · 10 Mar 2013 at 19:45

I tried it and hated it. They've designed an interface for touchscreens, that is running on computers without touchscreens.

The vast majority of people, if they want a tablet, will buy an ipad. If they wanted a laptop, would expect a more familiar windows interface on it.

OptimaLnrg · 10 Mar 2013 at 20:00

PapaLazaru said:
You have got to be kidding.

Nope.

Mr-White said:
Windows 8 is much better than Vista, it's a very good o/s, the only questionable content is the UI.

MW

That's like saying that the new BMW M5 is a lovely car, the only questionable thing was their decision to replace the steering wheel and dashboard with the handlebars of a jet ski.

gareth170 · 10 Mar 2013 at 20:21

Bug One said:
I tried it and hated it. They've designed an interface for touchscreens, that is running on computers without touchscreens.

The vast majority of people, if they want a tablet, will buy an ipad. If they wanted a laptop, would expect a more familiar windows interface on it.

so the windows interface must stay in the early 90's just because some people don't like big UI design change.

im glad they've done big UI design change, it was about time, tbh.

PapaLazaru · 10 Mar 2013 at 20:25

I must admit I was not a fan when I first tried it, but now I have been using it for a month it is without doubt better than Win7. It is quicker and leaner. The tiled start screen is also quicker to use than the old way as well.

However it is still causing me massive memory leaks on BF3, which is a massive pain in the derriere.

deuse · 10 Mar 2013 at 20:30

theheyes said:
I do, but I don't have Windows 7 on the same machine. But even if I did you can't just run a comparison on one box and draw a conclusion.

If you have an Z77 chipset then it has a fast boot ram option I use it on win 7

Glaucus said:
No, I'm very content using we, as I know several people in this thread, know exactly how W8 ship it's down and probably almost people. Seeing as its been discussed in many threads.

But it is cute how you always have to reply to me, with these pointless tangents and never any actual comments or opinions.

It's because as other members here have said you and the "several people" are like a little gang
Go in any win8 or win8 mobile thread and you lot jump on anyone that says a word against win8.

Get it now? WE as in My little gang.

Glaucus · 10 Mar 2013 at 20:35

No gang, and no jumping on all bad comments, only invalid or non based comments. I've pointed out a few issues myself, did I jump on myself then?. I actually have comments to say. What do you post? Rubbish, constantly.

Minstadave · 10 Mar 2013 at 20:46

Glaucus said:
No gang, and no jumping on all bad comments, only invalid or non based comments. I've pointed out a few issues myself, did I jump on myself then?. I actually have comments to say. What do you post? Rubbish, constantly.

I disagree, there is a little group of windows 8 lovers that badger everyone that criticises the OS and kills any discussion. From day 1 the changes have polarised opinion.

theheyes · 10 Mar 2013 at 21:06

deuse said:
If you have an Z77 chipset then it has a fast boot ram option I use it on win 7

Unfortunately my setup is a couple of generations old now. The only point I'm trying to make is that it's difficult to believe there is a significant difference between comparable (i.e. no fancy UEFI functions or hybrid resume) Windows 7 and Windows 8 boot times. In my experience they are roughly the same, and I don't think it's unfair to say that this is most people's experience as well.

There are people who hate Windows 8 with a passion, and that's fair enough, but out of all the complaints I don't seem to recall many, if any, that Windows 8 is slow to boot.

That's why I wanted to see if there was any actual evidence, because the claim just flies in the face of a lot of experience to the contrary.

Macro · 10 Mar 2013 at 21:40

deuse said:
It's because as other members here have said you and the "several people" are like a little gang.

As opposed to you and "other members" who by your definition are "your little gang"? If you don't like people disagreeing with you and putting forward a positive argument then perhaps better not to post ?