Should I upgrade from 8 to 8.1?

Hey,

I have Windows 8 on my laptop. I have Classic Shell installed for my start button, don't use any modern apps (not against them, just have yet to see the point), and am not interested in the Skydrive at the moment. Is there any added value to upgrading to 8.1 or should I just stick with 8? Thank you.

Well, considering that it's free... there is no reason not to.

Reasons why you should.. Windows 8 won't be supported forever. IE11 will not be available on Windows 8 (you have to upgrade to 8.1 to get it).

I don't see why you wouldn't upgrade... Staying on 8 is a dead end. You'll have to upgrade eventually anyways.

Well, considering that it's free... there is no reason not to.

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Well There's a reason not to at the moment for some PC's. I have 3 PC's which I did update 2, with the third PC, I have an MSI Z77 mpower MB and there's quite a few problems with incompatible drivers, namely: Blue tooth, Wireless and in addition, some applications will not work with Windows 8.1.
Having said that, you can try it yourself BUT, before doing update to 8.1, you should make a complete image backup of your current system so if you run into problems at least you can back out and wait until the manufacturers come up with new drivers, apps etc...
For me, there's not much changes between 8 & 8.1, just little things here and there.

topgundcp said:

Well, considering that it's free... there is no reason not to.

Click to expand...

Well There's a reason not to at the moment for some PC's. I have 3 PC's which I did update 2, with the third PC, I have an MSI Z77 mpower MB and there's quite a few problems with incompatible drivers, namely: Blue tooth, Wireless and in addition, some applications will not work with Windows 8.1.

Click to expand...

Well, of course that statement is qualified by "If your system is compatible".

If you use a Microsoft account, you should.
If you love to use a Local account, you shouldn't

A very slight improvement in response time, much of the improvements are in Store and IE11 is not supported by Gmail, it loads very, very slowly, Windows 8 is supported for another 2 years and we will have Windows 9 by that time, if you are happy with Win 8 just ignore it and get on with whatever you are doing and I can assure that you haven't missed anything exceptional

If you're desktop user and don't use very specific new windows 8.1 features like 3d printing..
Windows 8 is just fine.

IMHO only good things in windows 8.1 is:
Slightly (very slightly) better performance its hard to notice if you don't clock it.
Boot straight to desktop, but I would recommend 3rd party start menu anyway and usually it has option to boot straight to desktop.

Other than that start button is scam.. it is not start menu that many people wanted it does same as corner did in windows 8
if you're desktop user probably you won't care about start screen that has been changed a bit.
IE11 may be good but there is still sites that has some compatibility problems with IE10..

And the bad in my opinion:
You're forced to use Windows online account to login to your pc well you can still use local but SkyDrive doesn't work and youre nagged about it.

Deep bing integration I never was fan of bing (luckily you can disable it)


Generally windows 8.1 moves more towards metro tiles, not windowed metro apps and cloud services
if you like that upgrade would be good thing.
If no at least I would recommend waiting some time until some bugs get ironed out and workarounds for some annoying things are found like how to sync files with SkyDrive with local windows account like it was possible with windows 8.

Hi there
YES
end of.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
YES
end of.

Cheers
jimbo

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Thanks guys. I'll update eventually, but I think I'll wait for awhile to make sure any bugs are worked out. I use a local account and really the benefits don't seem huge big given my current computer use.

mooreupp said:

Thanks guys. I'll update eventually, but I think I'll wait for awhile to make sure any bugs are worked out. I use a local account and really the benefits don't seem huge big given my current computer use.

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I've decided to stay with 8 for awhile based on what I've been reading on this forum. I too use a local account plus I have OEM 8 and switchable graphics laptop which is a whole'nother bucket of worms.

I would wait. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I myself have updated to 8.1 without any problems. But I am not really doing any useful work with it. Windows 8 is sitting in a virtual partition for study purposes only.

I'm on Win8 Enterprise and I'll stick with this OS until a few months pass and all of the small issue get resolved. I really like Classic Shell and Win8 together, so for me, there's no compelling reason to upgrade yet...

Since i am not able to launch the store (nagging there is no internet connection..) and no other obvious way to update, I am happy now Microsoft screwed the upgrade process to 8.1 up.
Thanks for clarifying. I can wait 2 years ;-)

I'm waiting awhile too. I really wanted to update, but having seen all the problems in the forums, I'm no longer gung ho for it.

Instead of those start buttons, I use Quick Launch tool bar and and the Programs tool bar. What I don't put in the Quick Launch can be found in the Programs toolbar.

I may try to put Windows 8.1 32 bit on the old dual boot 7/8 machine if it will work. Windows 8.1 64 bit won't work and I'm not sure 32 bit will work either, but I """may""" try . . . Curiosity did kill the cat . . .

popeye said:

mooreupp said:

Thanks guys. I'll update eventually, but I think I'll wait for awhile to make sure any bugs are worked out. I use a local account and really the benefits don't seem huge big given my current computer use.

Click to expand...

I've decided to stay with 8 for awhile based on what I've been reading on this forum. I too use a local account plus I have OEM 8 and switchable graphics laptop which is a whole'nother bucket of worms.

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Me 3, after all of the trouble I've put into these two machines, I've decided to keep 8 on both of them.

I have 8.1 ready to be installed on my Test machine, once I do that it will decide me for good if I wanna update my other machines, if so I'll do one of them and keep one of them at 8.

I really haven't had much go wrong, I'm not one who upgrades his OS every time one comes out. I still use XP and 7, and those machines are locked due to them being attached to Hardware that requires it, my DAW and an Automotive thing, that reads car computers. I don't even like doing the weekly "updates" (downdates).


Besides, one of us needs to keep using 8, for those few people who are going to keep using it.

Wynona said:

I may try to put Windows 8.1 32 bit on the old dual boot 7/8 machine if it will work. Windows 8.1 64 bit won't work and I'm not sure 32 bit will work either, but I """may""" try . . . Curiosity did kill the cat . . .

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Stick with 32 bit, it saves a lot of Grief! I just got 8.1 Pro 32 bit. Once I get a new DVD drive, I'll install it to my test machine.

If every thing is working OK, stick with 8. I have not seen any thing worth the trouble to upgrade. To me it was a down grade. It's slower and crashes and full of bugs.

XweAponX said:

Stick with 32 bit, it saves a lot of Grief! I just got 8.1 Pro 32 bit. Once I get a new DVD drive, I'll install it to my test machine.

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Got no choice on that machine since 64 bit 8.1 won't install. That is if it will even take it.

I'll probably use 32 bit OS's until they make a 128-bit CPU and a 128-bit OS. At that time, I'll switch to 64 bit. Probably stick with 32 bit even then, if it'll run on the hardware.

Only reason I do it is because I have a bunch of stuff that is 16 bit.