Never used win 8.1, considering buying laptop - any advice

[urso]

I found a pretty good deal on a laptop running Windows 8.1 and am considering purchasing it.
My issue is I have never used Windows 8.1 and wonder how big a change it will be from Win 7.

Is it possible to downgrade to Win7 from Win8.1?
Does anyone have any advice? This is a laptop, not a tablet and I have heard Win8 is much better suited for a tablet.
I have no intention of discarding my keyboard for using the LCD as a touchscreen interface.

Should I re-consider my decision?

Any feedback is appreciated.

>>>>>

Wanted to add some further information on how I plan to use the laptop.

I want to use EssentialPIM ( Personal Information Manager to manage Outlook and Other MS Office 2010 files)
Use skype for online learning (Russian Language)
Load Russian Language / keyboard support.
Use browser for research (language, culture and other misc. topics)
Stream movies, videos etc.

That is pretty much it.
Can I do this with win8.1?
Will it work with files created on a Win7 box with Office 2010?

Again, TIF (Thanks in Advance)

 

[mdmd]

It's been 2 hours and no one has ... yet.
Touch is not necessary to use 8.
If not immediately fascinated with the tiled start screen, find a way to stay with Windows 7.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13326-downgrade-windows-8-windows-7-a.html

http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/26919-how-do-i-downgrade-windows-7-a.html

Also, you could try 8.1 enterprise for free if you have an available HDD or SSD to install separately.

Download Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation

Have you tried using 8.1 at the retailer's sales desk?
Are you familiar with imaging systems?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/8956-system-image-create-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/software-apps/18540-best-imaging-software-suggestions.html

Windows 7 is familiar. Windows 8 is different.

http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/14648-difference-between-windows-7-8-a.html

Also, search differences between 7 and 8 (Bing or Google or whatever)

 

[pparks1]

8 is fine on a new machine. Use something like classic shell if you want a start menu. You don't have to give up the keyboard and use the touchscreen. I have numerous touch devices and I never touch them.

 

[mdmd]

8 is fine on a new machine. Use something like classic shell if you want a start menu. You don't have to give up the keyboard and use the touchscreen. I have numerous touch devices and I never touch them.

Perhaps it is but just adding a desktop menu does not make 8 into 7.

 

[pparks1]

While a start menu does not make 8 into Windows 7, it makes it enough like Windows 7 that most people don't care. I want that embedded BIOS key with 8 as it makes it a breeze to reinstall and get activated. 8 boots faster and shuts down faster.

Aside from driver issues, often caused by "upgrades", 8 is a solid OS under the hood if you can get around the visual differences. I'm using 8 now on all new computers at work and most have had no complaints adjusting with a few tweaks made ahead of time like installing Classic Shell.

I'm about as likely to "downgrade" a Windows 8 box to Windows 7 as I am XP.

 

[Edwin]

@ urso:
Many find Windows 8/8.1 intimidating and/or frustrating at first but if you stick to it for a couple weeks you can easily get the hang of it.
There's lots of perfectly good tutorials on YouTube and other places, and also free guides; just Google a little bit for links.
If you want to dive in deep check out 'Windows 8.1 Bible':
Windows 8.1 Bible: Jim Boyce, Jeffrey R. Shapiro, Rob Tidrow: 9781118835319: Amazon.com: BooksLast but not least, if you have any questions, ask here; there's lots of knowledgeable folks here every day.

 

[4wd]

Install Classic Shell (or other start menu restorer of your choice), and use it just like w7 (while you investigate what parts of ms' grandiose vision of metro\touch\tile-disney-world\app you may find useful). W8 can indeed behave and be used like a very good 'w7.2', just needs a little user interaction to add \ disable a few things.

And remember, no need to use any MS account (and become a member of the MS Church of Apps) to install\activate\use w8. Works great here, the 'w7 part' is extremely stable, refined and reliable imo.

 

[mdmd]

I'm about as likely to "downgrade" a Windows 8 box to Windows 7 as I am XP.

What?



Yeah. But what about those that say Windows 7 is perfect?

 

[mdmd]

Install Classic Shell (or other start menu restorer of your choice), and use it just like w7 (while you investigate what parts of ms' grandiose vision of metro\touch\tile-disney-world\app you may find useful). W8 can indeed behave and be used like a very good 'w7.2', just needs a little user interaction to add \ disable a few things.

And remember, no need to use any MS account (and become a member of the MS Church of Apps) to install\activate\use w8. Works great here, the 'w7 part' is extremely stable, refined and reliable imo.

Funny, the CS is not a shell and was intended as a Windows 7 menu replacement.
If a newbie doesn't know how to setup their system, they will be forced into an MS account.
Then they will have to learn how to disable it and not learn how to use it.

 

[pparks1]

I'm about as likely to "downgrade" a Windows 8 box to Windows 7 as I am XP.

What?

View attachment 44026

Yeah. But what about those that say Windows 7 is perfect?

I don't see a point in spending money to upgrade my windows 7 desktop machine at home....hence the reason it is still on Windows 7. It started out as a Windows 7 box and it has remained there. It was not a Windows 8 box that I downgraded.

Notice above that I said, "8 was fine on a new machine". When you buy a new computer and it comes with Windows 8, I don't see a reason to not stick with it. Everything I have needed/wanted to do with it has worked, for my own personal work laptop (came with 8 pro), my wife's laptop (came with 8.0) and my kids laptop (came with 8.0), as well as approx 20 laptops at work and 5 all in one desktops.

 

[papafrankm]

Just started windows 8.1 a few months ago, switched mainly from xp but i haved every windows version...yes 3.1, 95, 98, me, nt, 2000, vista, and xp.
They all worked. If you worked at it. Loved xp, ran it on a 8 system network, very reliable. Now running 8.1 xp vista and a few android devices,..you might not use all of 8.1 but it is interesting, and i find makes me more productive.btw w my first computer was a timex/sinclair z???. It ran on a cassette.
My first programming course was Fortran on ibm cards.

 

[broe23]

I have two Toshiba C850d-st3nx1 laptops in my household. They will run Windows 7 with one catch. You cannot get a driver for AHCI. So you cannot fine tune power settings. They will though run Linux with no issue. I did upgrade the wifi mini-cards in both of them to the Intel 7260 Dual-Band Wireless-AC card. Also had to add a second antenna to get the full 300mb/s for the card.

The Realtek card was fine. But was not future proof for if we ever move up to a Wireless-ac A/P in our home, or have to go somewhere that has available Wireless-ac.

You can get some decent deals on Toshiba Direct right now. I will tell you up front that manufacturers have been having issues with the keyboards. Especially since only one company makes them for all of the manufacturers now. I would also go with an SSD on the unit vs. a Platter or Hybrid Hard drive.

 

[Gigas]

My personal experience...
I bought a laptop with Windows 8.1, i could have gone with Windows 7 (what i was used to) since it's custom build laptop, but i chose the new OS as i figured it was the way forward.

First i was alittle frustrated, not because of it booting to tiles, you can fix that so it boots directly to desktop. mainly because the start menu was gone, i most used the start menu for getting to "This PC" and searching.

But i learned a shortcut for those
Windows key + E - for This PC
And
Windows key + S - for searching

Now my overall effiency is faster than Win7

And things like skype, you can still install the desktop version, so it looks just like Windows 7

 

[Rickkins]

Classic shell is the answer, as others have mentioned. It "fixes" the ridiculousness of 8/8.1
Install it, and forget it. Be happy.

 

[pparks1]

And if you find something in Classic Shell that you don't like, spend the $5 and try Start8 by Stardock. I like the look of Stardock's product better, I have purchased 3 copies (one for my work laptop, one for wife's laptop and 1 for kids laptop).

 

[David Bailey]

Are you familiar with imaging systems?

System Image - Create in Windows 8
Best Imaging Software Suggestions

--- by mdmd

Good advice.

This forum is filled with posts about laptop owners having major problems.

Imaging all your local drives will save you a lot of headaches.

I bought Macrium Reflect & make images all the time.

A 64 GB usb drive should be adequate at maximum compression.

I format my usb as ntfs instead of Fat 32 so I get 1 big image.
Fat 32 only allows 4 GB file size.
My images are only 21 GBs.

Hope this helps.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

depends on how you use it --if you can see if you can upgrade the installed W8 to W8.1 update 1 -- and set it to boot straight to desktop.

Most of the "standard" windows apps can be pinned to the desktop and / or the quick launch bar so unless you have a whole slew of applications a Windows Start menu can easily be done without.

You can CREATE a custom toolbar with your own cascaded menu items if you want to -- depends on what you want to run on the laptop.

I've found the menu argument more and more of an irrelevance these days. IMO Windows 8.1 works just fine -- I wouldn't even bother with things like Startisback or whatever - there's probably a 100% chance they won't work with the next upgrade / release of Windows anyway -- why CREATE additional problems for yourself when its not necessary.

W7 WAS a good OS - but it's HISTORY now -- if W8.1 works for you don't bother with "downgrading".

The only caveat I'd list on new laptops is the wretched PROTECTED BOOT stuff -- I'd disable that as quickly as possible if I were you - BUT BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM FIRST.


Cheers
jimbo