Windows 8 User thread

Whos running this on old hardware??

If you are can you please post your specs and what performance is like. How it compares to 7, Vista, or XP... I'm going to update my Win 8 thread with this because for me and others Win 8 is running better than Win 7 on old hardware. I've tried it with a old P4 laptop with just 512MB - runs much better than Win7. It might actually match XP on old hardware.

You can also test this in Virtualization if you're using that, just set the RAM amount for the virtual machine really low (1GB or under), and only use one CPU core. Then compare it to any previous Windows version with the same settings. Win 8 should feel snappier...

MS made many optimizations to the core of the OS to get it running good on less powerful devices like tablets and that, so i'm not that surprised, but it's still impressive!
 
groen said:
Forgive me for not wanting to sit through MS sales man selling the metro UI to a bunch windows fans.

After disabling the metro UI, it looks exactly like windows 7. I could not find any difference. It even restores the old explorer with no ribbon.
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You seem very confused. .....

*snip* I actually went through trying to help you questions but you're just not listening to what people are telling you so I gave up.

You don't like it, we get it, but you're just not making sense with half the things you say...

groen said:
So far i have to say that i don't like the green colour or the font used during the installation process.
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Ahh.. depth analysis there... /sigh
 
Mr-White said:
How olds is old hardware ?

I'm running a Q9550 that's over 2 years old ?

MW
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I mean way older, like a low-end dual core, or even a single core CPU. With 1GB RAM or under... or a netbook would good, they all have crap specs. Win 8 seems much faster on old or slow hardware. But on anything new-ish it's hard to tell any difference because Win 7 will then already run snappy.
 
I'm running Win 8 32bit in VirtualBox, under OS X 10.5.8 on a 2Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, integrated 9400M with 256MB shared RAM, 160GB 2.5" 5400rpm HDD. VirtualBox is set to use 1 core and 1GB RAM. Its sluggish. OK for just having a look around, but definitely too much to use properly. However judging by how it performs virtualised I am sure it would be very quick natively.

Edit: comparing Win7 native to my guestimate of how Win8 would run natively (I haven't run Win8 native, or Win7 virtualised, so this is as good a comparison as I can get) Win8 would be noticeably faster. Hell some things (opening explorer windows and browsing around, using control panel, possibly other things I havent had time to test in Win8) are just as fast on virtualised Win8 as native Win7.

Edit2: regarding metro, it's much better with a keyboard/mouse than i had imagined, but still nowhere near as good as the explorer interface. That said the metro start screen is a good substitute for the start menu, except for the lack inbuilt search (ie in win7 you could press the super key and start typing straight away, cant do that in win8.)
 
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ng93 said:
That said the metro start screen is a good substitute for the start menu, except for the lack inbuilt search (ie in win7 you could press the super key and start typing straight away, cant do that in win8.)
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So you want to click an icon before you start your search ?

Try typing in 'calc' whilst in metro and look at your search results ;)
 
After watching the keynote. Any improvements in hardware support or security is good for an os. There is still a lot of usability problems and a lack of support for corporate environments.

windows 8 improvements

-when switching to the normal desktop have the normal start menu.

windows 8 problems

-not grainy enough, html5 is too smooth looking and looks ****. I am not ready for moving blocks around for a few years. I am used to context menus and similar. This is a big ui change without what i think is real "apps" behind it.
 
I agree with groen-

Things on the metro UI fall into two categories.
- Shortcuts
- Apps/Widgets/etc

Tablet apps will work on PC, but PC programs won't work on a tablet because of their UI - and you can't just dumb them down. I can see how metro UI helps tablet users, infact it's pretty much essential for them - but it's plain useless to a desktop user.

The first thing a desktop user will do is disable it, or ragequit, or not upgrade to Windows 8.

ME anyone?
 
Well the only thing that you need metro for is the start menu. IMO its no worse than the win7 start menu, but if you dont like it then theyll probably put the old one back in for the full release as an option (remember this is a pre-beta developer preview designed specifically to show off metro, theyll be loads of changes in the full release). If they dont then chances are someone will make a third party start menu (hell if no one else does it I might do it :p).
 
billysielu said:
Things on the metro UI fall into two categories.
- Shortcuts
- Apps/Widgets/etc
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Again, have you actually understood what you've downloaded? It's to show developers what they can do with the next version and to get people to develop for it.

How much more facepalm does this thread need :o
 
Mr-White said:
How olds is old hardware ?

I'm running a Q9550 that's over 2 years old ?

MW
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That's not remotely old...:p

I'm currently running it on a 4 year old original core 2 duo laptop with 2GB of RAM and Intel GMA x3100 integrated graphics and it flies no problem, but then so did Vista and windows 7 so...

I'm tempted to try it on my 6 year old desktop with AMD X2 4400 and 2GB of ram but tbh they both run similarly in most things non graphically intensive so it doesn't really matter.

I'm also tempted to really mush it an see if I have all the parts for the AMD 1.2GHz thunderbird machine in the loft... 512GB of ram and a GeForce card... Now that would see how good it is...:D
 
yes, i think the glorified gadget/widget platform aka metro would be better integrated by allowing the normal windows desktop with all the new features included and running along side the new gadget platform. Hopefully by the final release they implement this. This way long time desktop users will not be disrupted by the new gadget platform.
 
R34P3R said:
Again, have you actually understood what you've downloaded? It's to show developers what they can do with the next version and to get people to develop for it.

How much more facepalm does this thread need :o
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Hahaha!, you gotta lol sometimes. Always read the small print or just read for crying out loud haha.

The Windows Developer Preview is a pre-beta version of Windows 8 for developers. These downloads include prerelease software that may change without notice. The software is provided as is, and you bear the risk of using it. It may not be stable, operate correctly or work the way the final version of the software will. It should not be used in a production environment. The features and functionality in the prerelease software may not appear in the final version. Some product features and functionality may require advanced or additional hardware, or installation of other software.

Live Connect provides developers a set of controls and APIs that enable applications to integrate Single Sign On (SSO) with Windows Live ID and enable users to access information from SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Messenger.


Windows Developer Preview works great on the same hardware that powers Windows Vista and Windows 7:

  • 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
  • 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
  • DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
  • Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch
  • To run Metro style Apps, you need a screen resolution of 1024 X 768 or greater


You can't uninstall the Windows Developer Preview. To reinstall your previous operating system, you must have restore or installation media.

Windows Metro Style Apps Developer Downloads


Metro reminds me of XBOX Kinect/dashboard

Windows Kinect :D

I'm looking forward to the full beta or RC test/review
 
I wouldn't consider it that old, but I have it running on a Pentium dual core laptop, 1GB of RAM and GMA 4500 graphics. Startup/shutdown are very quick. Start screen is slick, however loading Metro apps is a little bit sluggish. It can take a good 3-4 seconds for the weather app to open and give me some information for example and even returning from their suspended state I don't find particularly rapid. The wait can also appear longer than it actually is when you're staring at a luminous blue loading screen. I've found myself Windows-keying out (which is always responsive) to the Start screen a few times while an app has been getting its act together. Once things are loaded though, flipping through apps is impressively smooth and I don't find the desktop experience any more or less slow than Windows 7.
 
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