Win 7 2 Win 8

atomcp02

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I have been using Win 7 for about 2 years now, and I am thinking about upgrading to Win 8.

Does anyone have any real experience with this upgrade?

I read some reviews which some say it's great and others say it's not.

I am concerned with things like drivers and how good/bad is the Metro interface.

Is there a real reason to upgrade?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
    CPU
    Intel 2600k
    Motherboard
    ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional
    Memory
    8GB Corsire
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI HD 6750
Is there a real reason to upgrade?

The simple answer is NO. But if your are like me, I like messing with new systems and learning new things. At the present I am dual booting Windows 7 HP 64bit and Windows 8 Pro RTM 64bit and plan to remain that way for a while. Vendors are still working on updated drivers and updated software to get ready for the OCT 26 retail release. I found that Windows 8 boots faster and seams a little snappier. I like the new Metro Start Screen but only use a few Metro Apps just for fun. Get a copy of the Release Preview and dual boot on your system or put it on a spare unit and give it a try.

Jim :cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 HP 64bit, Windows 8.1 Pro w/Media Center 64BIT
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS - Home Built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A99X EVO
    Memory
    Crucial Balistic DDR-3 1866 CL 9 (8 GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI R6850 Cyclone IGD5 PE
    Sound Card
    On Chip
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VE258Q 25" LED with DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Two WD Cavier Black 2TB Sata 6gbs
    WD My Book Essential 2TB USB 3.0
    PSU
    Seasonic X650 80 Plus GOLD Modular
    Case
    Corsair 400R
    Cooling
    Antec Kuhler H2O 620, Two 120mm and four 140mm
    Keyboard
    AVS Gear Blue LED Backlight
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble Mouse USB, Logitech Precision Game Pad
    Internet Speed
    15MB
    Antivirus
    NIS, Malwarebytes Premium 2
    Other Info
    APC UPS ES 750, Netgear WNR3500L Gigabit & Wireless N Router with SamKnows Test Program,
    Motorola SB6120 Gigabit Cable Modem.
    Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer,
    Epson V300 Scanner
Welcome to EightForums, atomcp02.

Good advice, Jim. :) It's advised to dual boot or install on a secondary machine, not your main rig. It's quite different from past OSs. Learn it and try it out. If you like it, then install as a primary OS.

Good luck which ever way you decide.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer T690
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual Core
    Motherboard
    Acer/Intel E946GZ
    Memory
    2GB (max upgrade)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000 - PCI Express x16
    Sound Card
    Integrated RealTek ALC888 high-definition audio with 7.1 channel audio support
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer AL1917W A LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1440 X 900
    Hard Drives
    350 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
    Thumb drives
    PSU
    Standard 250 watt
    Case
    Desktop 7.2" (183mm) W x 17.5" (445mm) L x 14.5"
    Cooling
    Dual case fans + CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Acer Windows PS/2
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft Arc
    Internet Speed
    54mbp/s
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Office Pro 2013 / Nokia Lumia 1520 Windows Phone 8.1DP GDR1
I am concerned with things like drivers and
Hello atomcp02 :)
Though big software vendors are releasing latest drivers that work on Windows 8, you can't expect each and every driver to work on Windows 8 at present. You gotta understand, Windows 8 hasn't yet been released. After October 26, most drivers will be released so that they work on Windows 8.

how good/bad is the Metro interface.
It's as good as the user :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Linux Mint 14
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion g4
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    1 GB Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500 GB HDD
Thanx for the feedback. I haven't done a dual boot before, so I am going to try to figure it out, and will probably back with questions about it.

Any advice on setting up a dual Win 7 - Win 8 boot? I got a 500GB Hdd so it should be enough - right?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7
    CPU
    Intel 2600k
    Motherboard
    ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional
    Memory
    8GB Corsire
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI HD 6750

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Linux Mint 14
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion g4
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    1 GB Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500 GB HDD

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer T690
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual Core
    Motherboard
    Acer/Intel E946GZ
    Memory
    2GB (max upgrade)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000 - PCI Express x16
    Sound Card
    Integrated RealTek ALC888 high-definition audio with 7.1 channel audio support
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer AL1917W A LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1440 X 900
    Hard Drives
    350 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
    Thumb drives
    PSU
    Standard 250 watt
    Case
    Desktop 7.2" (183mm) W x 17.5" (445mm) L x 14.5"
    Cooling
    Dual case fans + CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Acer Windows PS/2
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft Arc
    Internet Speed
    54mbp/s
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Office Pro 2013 / Nokia Lumia 1520 Windows Phone 8.1DP GDR1

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Linux Mint 14
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion g4
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    1 GB Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    500 GB HDD
Read this tutorial and pay attention to this in Step 6 D.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2344-dual-boot-installation-windows-8-windows-7-vista.html?ltr=D

Open the sources folder first, and run the setup.exe file inside the sources folder.

Dual Boot.PNG

Jim :cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 HP 64bit, Windows 8.1 Pro w/Media Center 64BIT
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS - Home Built
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A99X EVO
    Memory
    Crucial Balistic DDR-3 1866 CL 9 (8 GB)
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI R6850 Cyclone IGD5 PE
    Sound Card
    On Chip
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS VE258Q 25" LED with DVI-HDMI-DisplayPort
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Two WD Cavier Black 2TB Sata 6gbs
    WD My Book Essential 2TB USB 3.0
    PSU
    Seasonic X650 80 Plus GOLD Modular
    Case
    Corsair 400R
    Cooling
    Antec Kuhler H2O 620, Two 120mm and four 140mm
    Keyboard
    AVS Gear Blue LED Backlight
    Mouse
    Logitech Marble Mouse USB, Logitech Precision Game Pad
    Internet Speed
    15MB
    Antivirus
    NIS, Malwarebytes Premium 2
    Other Info
    APC UPS ES 750, Netgear WNR3500L Gigabit & Wireless N Router with SamKnows Test Program,
    Motorola SB6120 Gigabit Cable Modem.
    Brother HL-2170W Laser Printer,
    Epson V300 Scanner
If you are looking to dual boot for testing then I recommend booting to VHD as it is very simple, you're not messing with partitions and not commiting storage since you can use a differencing disk. When you're done with it and want to single boot back to Windows 7 it's a simple 4 step process - Boot to 7, remove Windows 8 boot option from msconfig, reboot, delete W8 VHD file. You can actually keep the VHD file and mount it in W7 if you need anything from it.

Easy to follow instructions here:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2393-windows-8-vhd-create-boot-dual-boot.html
 
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7, Windows 8 RP
I am going to second R0bR's suggestion to use VHD native boot. It is going to be the safest way to try out Windows 8 in what is essentially a bare-metal install.

To answer an earlier question, regarding whether it's worth upgrading, I am going to say yes. You will need to make some adjustments, with regards to the Windows 8 UI. That is a given. You can learn to use it in various ways, or you can just take every tile off except for the desktop and work more or less exclusively in the Desktop UI. Windows 8 does have some under the hood improvements with regards to security, speed, and stability that make it worth it in my opinion.

One thing you do not have to worry about, though, is needing to upgrade in order to have a supported system. Windows 7 will receive security updates through 2020.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows Server 2012 Standard w/Hyper-V
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ProBook 4430s
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2310M
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Hard Drives
    80GB Intel 320 SSD
    500GB Samsung Momentus
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