Reinstall-Touchscreen drivers?

Coke Robot said:

Two things here I should mention...

If the new laptop you want to get is Windows 8.1 Core, you'll need the .iso image of Windows 8.1 64 bit Core edition. The retail disk won't really work if I'm not mistaken. For example, you can't really use the retail disk if it's 8.1 Pro, you need to go through a couple of steps to do such. It's easier to just get the .iso image of 8.1 Core, like the MSDN image that has Core and Pro together (you'll just need Core), and do a clean install that way. The installer detects the key and goes right at it.

Yeh thats the image I have. The MSDN image that installs either Core or Pro depending on which generic key you put in, or if its a newer laptop with UEFI that came with Win8, like you said, it detects the key. Its the newest version as of 3rd April with the Update 1 included. Sorry for the confusion I thought MSDN image and Retail were the same

The touch driver is a system component that Windows handles. I've yet to see a Windows 8 PC that needed separate touch drivers, that is something I've seen with Windows 7 touch PCs. I've used WinPE to install a custom image of Windows 8.1 on touch PCs and tablets and it works like if you had a mouse plugged in.

Awesome. But "it works as if you had a mouse plugged in" - isn't that exactly how it's not supposed to work? It's supposed to work with multi-touch gestures and such, being able to touch anywhere on the screen on what you want and it instantly goes etc, not having to drag the cursor with your finger right? Sorry just paranoid me here hehe.

Being me, I'd recommend you check into HP's 2-in-1 convertibles like the HP Split X2. You get a laptop, you get a tablet, you get the full Windows 8.1 experience. They're quite nice. But you do sacrifice certain things...
Ah yeah I have looked at those, but i'm fairly set on this laptop or its identical 17 inch version, I will have funds for either its just a matter of whether I want 15,6" or 17,3"... Not sure yet

Click to expand...

Coke Robot said:

Yeah, the MSDN and Retail SKUs are two different things. Very good you have an updated image of it!

I should rephrase that. Touch works perfectly fine regardless on a Windows 8 PC. If you're in WinPE or doing the clean install of it through the WinPE installer for Windows, touch works just as if you have a Microsoft Touch Mouse plugged in. You can tap all the way through because Windows of the modern era uses touch input regardless. It works in WinPE, it works by default automatically within Windows 8.1. Third party touch drivers from what I've seen don't exist for Windows 8 PCs because the OS handles that, I believe as an HID, or Human Input Device like a mouse. No need for concern.
Awesome. I'm going clean install for sure now. Bye bye, bloatware

Newb question: What the hell is WinPE? And if I don't use WinPE to install, just my Win8.1 ISO imaged to my USB thumb drive, touch will still work fine right?
Whatever floats your boat. As long as you have touch, it'll make the experience totally something else. I just adore working on touch PCs and tablets. They're such a blast!

17.3 inch is a tad large for a laptop for sure, so if you're looking for mobility than anything. These days, they can make a 17.3 inch laptop and not have it weigh almost seven pounds so it's really up to you. I've worked on a few 17 inch laptops and I can say mobility is kind of a factor as there is more laptop to maneuver.

True. Although I do not take it out of the house often. I have my iPad for short trips and such, as well as my mobile. Longer trips I will bring the laptop, but its not an issue. On the other hand, when I game i'll be hooking it up to my 27" monitor so that should make the screen size of the laptop itself matter slightly less.... Hmm decisions decisions.

Click to expand...

Europee said:

Coke Robot said:

Yeah, the MSDN and Retail SKUs are two different things. Very good you have an updated image of it!

I should rephrase that. Touch works perfectly fine regardless on a Windows 8 PC. If you're in WinPE or doing the clean install of it through the WinPE installer for Windows, touch works just as if you have a Microsoft Touch Mouse plugged in. You can tap all the way through because Windows of the modern era uses touch input regardless. It works in WinPE, it works by default automatically within Windows 8.1. Third party touch drivers from what I've seen don't exist for Windows 8 PCs because the OS handles that, I believe as an HID, or Human Input Device like a mouse. No need for concern.
Awesome. I'm going clean install for sure now. Bye bye, bloatware

Newb question: What the hell is WinPE? And if I don't use WinPE to install, just my Win8.1 ISO imaged to my USB thumb drive, touch will still work fine right?
Whatever floats your boat. As long as you have touch, it'll make the experience totally something else. I just adore working on touch PCs and tablets. They're such a blast!

17.3 inch is a tad large for a laptop for sure, so if you're looking for mobility than anything. These days, they can make a 17.3 inch laptop and not have it weigh almost seven pounds so it's really up to you. I've worked on a few 17 inch laptops and I can say mobility is kind of a factor as there is more laptop to maneuver.

True. Although I do not take it out of the house often. I have my iPad for short trips and such, as well as my mobile. Longer trips I will bring the laptop, but its not an issue. On the other hand, when I game i'll be hooking it up to my 27" monitor so that should make the screen size of the laptop itself matter slightly less.... Hmm decisions decisions.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your help! Much appreciated.

Click to expand...

Coke Robot said:

Europee said:

Coke Robot said:

Yeah, the MSDN and Retail SKUs are two different things. Very good you have an updated image of it!

I should rephrase that. Touch works perfectly fine regardless on a Windows 8 PC. If you're in WinPE or doing the clean install of it through the WinPE installer for Windows, touch works just as if you have a Microsoft Touch Mouse plugged in. You can tap all the way through because Windows of the modern era uses touch input regardless. It works in WinPE, it works by default automatically within Windows 8.1. Third party touch drivers from what I've seen don't exist for Windows 8 PCs because the OS handles that, I believe as an HID, or Human Input Device like a mouse. No need for concern.
Awesome. I'm going clean install for sure now. Bye bye, bloatware

Newb question: What the hell is WinPE? And if I don't use WinPE to install, just my Win8.1 ISO imaged to my USB thumb drive, touch will still work fine right?
Whatever floats your boat. As long as you have touch, it'll make the experience totally something else. I just adore working on touch PCs and tablets. They're such a blast!

17.3 inch is a tad large for a laptop for sure, so if you're looking for mobility than anything. These days, they can make a 17.3 inch laptop and not have it weigh almost seven pounds so it's really up to you. I've worked on a few 17 inch laptops and I can say mobility is kind of a factor as there is more laptop to maneuver.

True. Although I do not take it out of the house often. I have my iPad for short trips and such, as well as my mobile. Longer trips I will bring the laptop, but its not an issue. On the other hand, when I game i'll be hooking it up to my 27" monitor so that should make the screen size of the laptop itself matter slightly less.... Hmm decisions decisions.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your help! Much appreciated.

Click to expand...

Windows Preinstallation Environment, WinPE for short. I use a WinPE drive to either apply boot files to a custom image I applied from my PC to a deployment hard drive; or if it's a UEFI BIOS PC and the internal storage drive is too difficult to remove, use it to apply my custom image to the PC. It's basically more or less a non-user friendly version of WinPE that boots up when you run a Windows install disk, like the MSDN image you have. When you boot from that image and it goes to the installation screens, that's just a modified WinPE OS. Not a noob question at all.

And if you were to boot from your image to install Windows 8.1, yes, touch works. I can tell you for 100 percent certainty it will work because I've done this ohh....sevenish times now with touch?

If you're going to be using that laptop for PC gaming, do find one that isn't an Intel chip if at all possible. Anything NVIDIA or preferably AMD mobile GPUs will do you better. But honestly, an Intel graphics chip these days compared to a gaming laptop 4 years out outperforms a mobile NVIDIA GPU...so, there's that.

Click to expand...