Windows 7 or Windows 8.1

[Sandstone Addiction]

It's time to replace our ageing PC (running XP) with a new one and from what I've read so far, people are mixed on which OS is better.

The PC will be used mostly by my wife who works at home, but will have limited gaming and playing by my kids.

One concern is the learning curve for Windows 8.1, as my wife is even less tech savvy than I, and am worried about 8.1 being completely different than previous MS offerings.

One smaller concern is how long MS is going to support Windows 7 in the future and will I end up upgrading sooner than I would like.

[bigred72]

I have 8.1 and I would get it again. There are only minor differences, any of the major bugs have been fixed and if anything she can watch videos on YouTube for assistance. My 65 year old mother (who left school in the 8th grade) just bought her first computer and she is doing fine.

[Eric Holden]

I use Windows 7 at work and windows 8.1 on my gaming/video machine at home. I love them both, I would just go 8.1 as it is the latest and greatest.

[hank moon]

Win 7 offers the most seamless transition from XP. Win 8 is quite a departure and structured more for touch screens than keyboards. Also, the default settings are geared toward entertainment use over "serious" application use, IMO. I will only get Win 8 when forced to by Win 7's obsolescence, hopefully many years ahead.

[jman]

Windows 7 'extended support' ends in 2020 (January I think) but M$ current push is Windows 8. You can't buy Windows 7 anymore directly from MS. You can still buy it from other retailers until 2019.

If you get Windows 8.1 - be sure to install a free 3rd party app called "classic shell" which brings back the functionality of Windows 7.

Windows 8 is quick but in my opinion, windows 7 is better optimized for the desktop compared to the tablet.

And rumor has it, "Windows 9" will make it's debut next year which will be focused on the workstation PC (like Win7) rather than be tablet-oriented.

[Iceaxe]

Windows 8 is for Facebooking and such. It sucks as a serious work place OS.

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[bigred72]

I produce rock, electric and acoustic music, GoPro video and DLSR and various outlook functions on my 8.1 laptop, but I use the desktop setup and mine is not a touchscreen. Once you get past the 'charms' it's all the same as I use a Win7 laptop at work.

[hike2kolob]

I think it depends on how you will use it. I use two laptops. One that has Windows 7 that sits in a docking station connected to a large monitor. The other is a small Lenovo Yoga 11s with Windows 8.1 and a touch screen.

Sitting at a desk with a big non-touchscreen monitor, Windows 7 works great. However, working in bed on my lap or casually browsing the internet from a couch, I love the touchscreen and 8.1. I would say for home use, get a 2-in-1, Windows 8.1 with a touchscreen. It's the most versatile for your money. I highly recommend the Lenovo Yoga series, but there are other good ones.

[DiscGo]

I once again find myself agreeing with @hank moon.

[BruteForce]

Touch screen or non touch screen computer? If non touch, get Win7.. Win8 can be made to look/act like Win7 - but I'd avoid Skype, Facebook and other Social "apps" on Win8 and download the Win7 variants instead.

[phatch]

If you've kept XP for this long, there isn't much of reason to upgrade now depending on your wife's work requirements except for Microsoft abandoning it to the hackers.

For free, you can move to Linux Mint which is a simple install, behaves much like XP in interface, is secure and continues to be updated. https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/Home will guide you through it, useful tweaks for after you install as well.

And you can save your money for when you really want/need to move to a more powerful computer. If your wife's work is web-based, this will probably be just fine. If she needs only mild Office compatibility, Open Office will do the job. If she needs full Office compatibility, WINE (a windows environment in Unix) might, but I don't know for sure as I've not tried running Office on WINE. But her work may well require Windows compatibility.

If you have to go to a new computer, my preference is Win7 because I strongly disagree with the new UI and how Microsoft is taking Windows down the Apple walled garden approach to computing and user abuse. So my next computer will not boot windows of any flavor, but be a pure Unix box. But those might not be your issues.

For a desktop computer, touch screen interface is vastly overrated and violates a lot of best practices for screen distance, posture, and such. But, there are all in ones that also include a battery so you can use it as a home portable lap device and touch makes more sense there. So you need to consider not just how you use a computer now, but how you might want to use a computer if it supports that use.

Who do you use for your primary free technical support? Buy what that person will continue to support for you is my honest recommendation.

[Sombeech]

I've got Windows 8.1 on a laptop, Windows 7 on about 4 other desktops at home.

One thing I don't like with Windows 8 are the apps that take the full screen, if you aren't using it from desktop mode. Say for instance you browse to Facebook in Chrome and it invites you to install the Facebook App, then you've got to start installing these apps while signed in or linked to your Microsoft account.

I don't want no stinking Microsoft account.

Then it forces a sign in each time you boot your machine, now linked to that Microsoft account.

But for everybody else who is used to keeping things secure behind passwords to login and such, it's not a big deal. I just set it something easy like 1111 - yes that's right I don't care if you know how to sign into my laptop.

And once you set the correct associations for each filetype, say for instance opening each JPG with Windows Photo Viewer so it stays with the desktop theme instead of going full screen, and the first time Win 8 users are like how the hell do I get out of this photo app now and get back to my desktop....

But just get the basic keyboard shortcuts down, like Windows key + D to show the desktop, Windows key + F to search for something, then you'll probably start liking Windows 8.

In the meantime, I have no reason to upgrade my other desktops from Windows 7.

[2065toyota]

I don't need no smart phone. My flip phone does everything I could ever want


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BlueRoads]

Just replaced a laptop running Vista with a Dell desktop with Win 7 Pro. It acts like I expect a computer to act! I don't need a touch screen, or an OS that wants me to use a touch screen. My phone fills that need! I spent way to many years remembering to keep my damn fingers OFF the screen to change now.

Retired 11+ years now, and I'll be damn lucky to outlive the support for Win 7. :)

[jman]

For those STILL running Windows XP - consider this, Microsoft, as of today, severed it's extended support for Windows XP today! They say 25% of web-traffic users are Windows XP. This will make exploitation of Windows XP users at a huge disadvantage. Upgrade very soon!

Food for thought: http://arstechnica.com/information-t...ort-has-ended/

And more interesting news regarding extending XP support: http://arstechnica.com/information-t...dows-xp-alive/

[Sombeech]

What does it mean that XP will no longer be supported?

It means this; If somebody like me creates a bug or virus aimed at the XP system, Microsoft will no longer create updates to protect you from these problems.

Will XP continue to run? Yes of course, Microsoft is not going to force you to upgrade, your computer will run as it is until it gets infected with a bad bug, or the parts build up with too much dust, heat and corrosion so the machine dies.

If you're careful and you know what you're doing with a PC, you'll probably live out your XP days in peace and prosperity. But the other side of the coin suggests if you know your way around a PC, you'd have been running a Windows 7 system by now. So in the end you'll most likely have problems with your XP system.

The funny/sad part is, at this very moment I am installing Windows XP Home Edition on somebody's old computer, but on a new IDE 80GB hard drive they bought for $20 on Amazon. They don't want to spend $$$ to upgrade their computer and it won't support Windows 7, so we're going with XP again. Fortunately the hot programs will be Solitaire and Minesweeper. I threw 'em a bone and put Office 2003 on there because I'm a helluva guy.

[Iceaxe]

If you are running XP there are two things you want to do. First is dump internet explore and switch to Chrome. The second is to switch your virus protection to avast. Those two items we go a long ways towards keeping you up and running.

Tap'n on my Galaxy G3

[accadacca]

I have no comments for this discussion...

[Sandstone Addiction]

I would like to thank all those that contributed to this thread.

I finally broke down and ordered a new PC with Win 7 (I could think of a thousand ways I'd rather spend $700 ). I tried out Win 8 at Best Buy and although it didn't seem all that bad to me, I'd just rather keep with what has worked for me and my wife.

This was a new experience for me as I've always had HP's or Dell's in the past and they have all had Intel processors doing the work.

But, I've heard good things about ASUS and AMD so I hope this one works out for us.

If you have an opinion on this set up or about ASUS and AMD products, good or bad, I'd love to hear it.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...dows_7_hp.html

ASUS M11BB-US001O Desktop Computer

Processor	3.7GHz AMD A-10 6700
Chipset	Socket: AMD A55 FCH Type: FM2
Memory	Slots: 4x DIMM 240-Pin Type: 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM Installed: 8GB (1x8GB DIMM 240-Pin)
Graphics Card	Type: Integrated Installed: AMD Radeon HD 8670D

Storage
Hard Drive	Installed: 1TB 7200rpm Type: SATA
Optical Drive	24x-Speed Tray-Load SuperMulti DVD Burner
PCI Expansion	Quantity: 1 Type: PCI Quantity: 1 Type: PCIe x1 Quantity: 2 Type: PCIe x16

Inputs/Outputs
Ports	2x USB 3.0 (A) 6x USB 2.0 (A) 1x PS/2
Display	1x HDMI-out 1x DVI 1x VGA
Audio	1x 1/8" (3.5mm) Headphone Output 1x 1/8" (3.5mm) Microphone Input 8x 1/8" (3.5mm) Audio
Flash Media Slot	1x SD 1x SDHC 1x Memory Stick 1x Memory Stick PRO 1x xD-Picture Card 1x MMC

Communications
Network	1x 10/100/1000Mbps Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45)
Wi-Fi	None
Bluetooth	None

Keyboard & Mouse
Keyboard	Type: Full-Size
Mouse	USB

General
Operating System	Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Power Supply	300W
Dimensions (WxHxD)	6.8 x 14.2 x 15.8" / 17.3 x 36.1 x 40.1 cm
Weight	17.4 lb / 7.89 kg

[phatch]

It looks fine. I have a minor quibble with the power supply being just 300W, but where you are running onboard sound and graphics with only 1 drive and DVD it will be OK. If you want to add more drives or a discrete graphics card, you should also bump up the power supply to something with more power. There are plenty of PSU calculators out there, Here's ASUS http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx