Windows 8

[Tyyr]

Your operating system might have some impact on your gaming performance but you'd have to be pretty marginal under 7 for 8 to have had either a positive or negative impact. And again, 2009 vintage MMO so it wasn't bleeding edge three years ago and today it's downright archaic.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Outside of a few select areas (especially startup and shut-down speed; YMMV as far as how much importance these carry) Windows 8 tends to show a measurable but not very significant performance improement on typical PC hardware. Since Windows 8 was optimized to run on low-spec systems (employing a few tricks to minimize memory impact and such) so as to be able to run effectively on tablets it may show proportionally larger gains on weak systems such as netbooks.

[Sonic Glitch]

I'm taking the plunge .. I'll see you on the other side.

[Tsukiyumi]

I'm taking the plunge .. I'll see you on the other side.

...and Sonic Glitch was never heard from again.

[Sonic Glitch]

I'm taking the plunge .. I'll see you on the other side.

...and Sonic Glitch was never heard from again.

Well, several hours later I made it and everything seems to be working properly. If I go dark suddenly this week, assume my computer blew up.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Now the Surface Pro has been unleashed; as an ultrabook in the chassis of a tablet it can run desktop apps. However, this Intel tablet also inherits the price of an ultrabook. There's 64 or 128 GB of storage and a full HD 1080p display, though it's thicker and heavier than the Surface RT to accommodate the greater heat output of the Intel chip.

Credit Microsoft with bold action, though controversial. Bold hasn't been their forte for much of the new millennium. I guess the market will decide now...

[Tyyr]

They're smart for making the Surface. And, in spite of things I've said before, they might be smart... ish, for the price.

Google uses the Nexus line as reference devices, examples of what an Android phone or tablet should be. They're extremely good devices as well. The lack of 4G connectivity is the only reason I didn't think long and hard about going with a Nexus 4 instead of my Galaxy III. The Nexus 7 is so good it's more or less cleaned out the competition in the 7" class of Android tablets. I'm hearing good things about the Nexus 10 but I haven't followed it that closely as I'm pretty much sold on the 7" form factor as being where tablets need to be looking. First as consumption devices 7" is just so much more portable and affordable secondly I can see things moving towards Surface like devices in the 10" arena. Still protable and usable as a tablet but capable of being a laptop replacement for many people.

Microsoft using the Surface to show what Windows 8 is supposed to be like is a smart move since they haven't been able to get distributors to trim out the bloatware. And, if you look at it as purely a reference device the price isn't as shocking. They shoot to make back development costs but don't price it so low that it can't be competed with so as not to alienate hardware manufacturers. Given that most of your W8 tablets have evaporated compared to where they were even a year ago I'm not so sure how the second part worked but as establishing a benchmark for the W8 experience it's not a bad idea.

And I'll be honest, when I replace my laptop a Surface Pro is going to be the front runner.

[McAvoy]

Windows 8 sucks for being so... different. I had to setup a new tower for my parents. This is the first time I have seen Windows 8.

I was steadily getting angry at the computer too. I am starting to become my Dad when it comes to computers.

So if anyone knows how to do a 'classic' mode like XP had for Windows 95/98 please let me know. I want 7 back.

[kostmayer]

I've been using Windows 8 for a few weeks on a new (non touch) Tablet.

Firstly, the underlying OS is pretty much Windows 7, I' would say a touch better. Secondly, the Metro Interface does a very good or letting you run a full operating system on a touch screen device. My only problem is that Metro is the default interface, and they tried to make it usable for both touch and non touch devices. If they'd only had Windows 8 boot to desktop, complete with start button, and had Metro as an option for peope who wanted it, Microsoft could have avoided all these problems.

I've seen plenty of bad reviews for the Microsoft Surface Pro device, mainly because reviewers were focusing on its shortfalls as a tablet when compared to other tablet only devices. People who have actually bought it for what it was intended for - a very portable, full power PC that can run everything Windows could and be used as a tablet when required - say its a brilliant machine. For something like Surface, Metro makes perfect sense. Use the desktop software as you've always done in PC mode, and then you're using it as a tablet, you've got the Metro versions geared around touch. I just cannot for the life of me figure out why they would make Metro the default, rather then an optional overlay.

As it is, I'm leaving Windows 8 installed. Its very speedy, and Metro isn't that hard to ignore. Its just annoying that the OS seems intent on getting in the way.

[Tyyr]

Funny, I've read plenty of reviews praising the Surface Pro to the heavens. Aside from a less than spectacular hard drive size and meh battery life they have no real complaints. Then again the reviews I've read were looking at it more like an ultrabook with an odd form factor than as just a tablet.

[kostmayer]

Yeah, nearly all the negative reviews I've read are comparing it to an iPad or an Android Tablet. As an Ultra Mobile PC its very good.

[Tyyr]

I'm still not wild about the cost, I think Microsoft should have been more aggressive, but I love the Surface Pro.

Personally I think even developing RT was a colossal fuck up to begin with. Second, Google isn't afraid to push the envelope with cost. Their android reference devices (Nexus 4, 7, 10) are all very competitively priced. I realize that like Amazon they have the Play store to help make up for selling their stuff near cost but they don't pussy foot around either. $350 for a Nexus 4, $199 for a Nexus 7, the pushed the hardware guys to either do better or get out. Microsoft made a phenomenal device, but then priced it in such an ugly spot that it's guaranteed to be a niche product.

[Reliant121]

Where windows 8 really paid its dues for me was when I put it on my netbook. I had an Acer Ferrari one with one of those pissy little AMD Vision cores and with windows 7 it was reasonably fast but it was still a little sluggish. Windows 8 made it so it could quite literally keep up with a 2.8ghz quad core i5 desktop when doing normal every day things. It was so streamlined with 8, and the interface doesn't really impede my progress.

[IanKennedy]

Where windows 8 really paid its dues for me was when I put it on my netbook. I had an Acer Ferrari one with one of those pissy little AMD Vision cores and with windows 7 it was reasonably fast but it was still a little sluggish. Windows 8 made it so it could quite literally keep up with a 2.8ghz quad core i5 desktop when doing normal every day things. It was so streamlined with 8, and the interface doesn't really impede my progress.

To say 'the interface doesn't really impede my progress' is hardly a ringing endorsement.

[Reliant121]

Where windows 8 really paid its dues for me was when I put it on my netbook. I had an Acer Ferrari one with one of those pissy little AMD Vision cores and with windows 7 it was reasonably fast but it was still a little sluggish. Windows 8 made it so it could quite literally keep up with a 2.8ghz quad core i5 desktop when doing normal every day things. It was so streamlined with 8, and the interface doesn't really impede my progress.

To say 'the interface doesn't really impede my progress' is hardly a ringing endorsement.

I suppose not; I meant it more than its just as good as windows 7's system and I'm just as quick and efficient. The apps are genuinely useful for my uses but I often forget that I even have them.