Should I Upgrade from Windows 7 Ultimate?

Wasserman

New Member
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3
I am trying to find out if I, given my situation, should upgrade or not? Whether it will help me or hurt me.

Hardware: So I have a Dell Deskstop, a Studio XPS that is a few years old but is still pretty powerful and i've upgraded it overtime. I have a single 20 inch monitor without touch support. No tablet or laptop. I have an Droid 3 phone but MAY upgrade to windows phone 8 phone depending on the announcement.

Use: I play a lot of PC games, usually involving steam. I have a lot of music all loaded into itunes and streaming using spotify. I download a lot using Utorrent. I watch a ton of videos using VLC and Media Player Classic. And of course web browsing with Chrome and Waterfox.

Basically, I want to know if I should upgrade. I have read a lot about the pros and they seemed to be about the advantages for multiple devices, touch support etc etc....none of which effect me right now.

Will Windows 8 help me with the things that I do now or will it make things more annoying? Any info you could give me would be wonderful.

Thanks in Advance for the help.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Valve software relies on the open structure of windows and the internet to prosper their steam game store. Windows 8 seems to be the beginning of Microsoft trying to close the structure of Windows, could be a lot worse in Windows 9 and 10. If this trend happens, companies like Valve software are going to be up a creek, they can still sell their games (as apps) but then Microsoft will take a hefty cut.

We shall see my friend, we shall see...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro ($39.99 upgrade)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel I5 3570K overclocked to 4.2ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z77-V LX
    Memory
    Cosrair DDR3-1600 (4 x 4gb)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT 610 2GB
    Sound Card
    None
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC 27" LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1920x0180
    Hard Drives
    Seagate HDD 500gb (windows)
    Seagate HDD 1.5tb (media)
    Seagate HDD 1tb (media)
    Seagate HDD 1tb (media)
    PSU
    CoolMax 700watt
    Case
    Cosiar R400 Carbide series
    Cooling
    Cool Master H212
    Keyboard
    Dell
    Mouse
    PowerUp 3 button mouse
    Internet Speed
    12mb down, 1mb up
    Other Info
    qty. (5) 120mm fans, four are monitored by motherboard.
    Logitech T650 Touchpad for touch screen gestures
From what I can tell of your usage, upgrading won't help you, nor would it hurt you. One nice feature you might like, if you store a lot of videos is the Windows Storage Spaces, which allows you to combine drives of different size into a storage pool. But other than that, I don't see anything that would benefit greatly, other than the performance improvements in Windows 8.

So it basically falls down to personal preference. Try it out, and see if you like it. If you want to spend the money, then do it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77X-UD4 TH
    Memory
    16GB DDR3 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GTX 650
    Sound Card
    Onboard Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Auria 27" IPS + 2x Samsung 23"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440 + 2x 2048x1152
    Hard Drives
    Corsair m4 256GB, 2 WD 2TB drives
    Case
    Antec SOLO II
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
    Mouse
    Logitech MX
Thanks guys.

That is what I suspected but I wanted to make sure. Lots of positive things online lately about Windows 8 so I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
Where did you see those "lots of positive things"?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Well, since you do PC gaming, there is SOME benefit to upgrading as Windows 8 is more efficient than 7. There's also better file management through the Ribbon in Explorer. I do a lot of torrentibg and that I find it to be hugely advantageous than 7 as the UI is better to use. Shoot, even file searching is more powerful than 7, and library management is nicer. I personally have a few hard drives full of video and with 8, I was able to combine ALL locations to be ungrouped, meaning EVERY video file I have is in correct alphabetical order in one clean view in my Video Library. No more scrolling.

I'm not too concerned with Valve or Steam ditching 8, yes, Xbox for Windows can threaten them, but Xbox for Windows doesn't host the game quality and style of games Steam does. You can't get Dirt3 or Metro 2033 on it, yet. So far, the games are just simple ones. I don't know, but chances are that they might integrate their apps into Windows 8 as that's potentially a HUGE stage for them.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
You seem to be "power user". I was gonna say upgrade right away, but if you play games don't upgrade yet.

Windows 8 is itself is very optimized. But softwares are not ready yet. They're gonna run just like in windows 7.

Wait until official release. By then there will be new games out and then you can see the all awesomeness of Windows 8
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro x64
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 15 L502X
    CPU
    i5 2450m
    Motherboard
    Intel HM67
    Memory
    6GB DDR3 (1333MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 3000+GT 525m
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD+ WaveMaxx
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500GB 7200.1 RPM
    Internet Speed
    25mbps=2.5mbit/s
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