What do normal people think of new Windows 8 PCs?

One thing that’s fascinating about HSN is that it’s a community made up of people who are very different from the tech bloggers and gadget addicts that tend to hang around places like this.

Hipsters and techies might scoff at HSN, whose habitués are about as far as you can get from Silicon Valley and Williamsburg when it comes to tech and design sophistication, but HSN shoppers buy a lot of technology. And because they’re a community, they love to leave reviews. It is no accident that every HSN listing for a Windows 8 PC has a Pinterest button alongside the Facebook Like and Tweet This buttons.

So I was particularly eager to read the first reactions to these new devices from, for lack of a better word, normal people.

Source

Do any normal people post here?

A Guy

 

[Coke Robot]

Well Area,

can you quote my post, I have no idea of what you are referring

sorry for the late reply, i was in France for 4 days.

I just mean that i cannot be convinced NOT to use Win 8, but to each his own.

Jeff

Same here, I see little benefit in using 7 at this point in time.

 

[Joan Archer]

Just had a quick look through this thread and see I'm going to have fun. Not sure if you'd call me normal or not but fingers crossed I should have Windows 8 tomorrow on a new Laptop. I haven't tried it yet as I didn't bother with the beta this time but I was thinking of getting myself a tablet or iPad or something along those lines so I could still surf and email etc. when in the living room instead of being tied to my desktop at the other end of the bungalow.

After looking at tablets and their prices decided to instead just get a laptop, I could do more with it than I'd be able to with a tablet. It comes with 8 and really the only thing different is that it's not touch screen.

What I've got to find out is what am I missing in the Home Version that's in the Pro, would I be better off upgrading to Pro or not.

 

[whs]

Joan, home or pro - it's going to be a pain either way.

 

[Coke Robot]

Just had a quick look through this thread and see I'm going to have fun. Not sure if you'd call me normal or not but fingers crossed I should have Windows 8 tomorrow on a new Laptop. I haven't tried it yet as I didn't bother with the beta this time but I was thinking of getting myself a tablet or iPad or something along those lines so I could still surf and email etc. when in the living room instead of being tied to my desktop at the other end of the bungalow.

After looking at tablets and their prices decided to instead just get a laptop, I could do more with it than I'd be able to with a tablet. It comes with 8 and really the only thing different is that it's not touch screen.

What I've got to find out is what am I missing in the Home Version that's in the Pro, would I be better off upgrading to Pro or not.

We'll be here to help you figure things out Joan! Hopefully the laptop you bought has a decent touchpad, as you can use gestures like if you were using a touch screen with it.

 

[A Guy]

Joan already knows some gestures

A Guy

 

[Joan Archer]

Ooh! Bill what do you mean.

 

[dball]

I think I am as normal as you get - wife, kids, grandkids, the dog, I have to paid taxes and my wife make me shovel the snow. I love Window 8 - bottom line.

Cheers,
D2

 

[A Guy]

Welcome to Eight Forums dball. A Guy

 

[Max Peck]

No.

If we were, we'd be out living our lives, not sitting here stressing over an OS....

You got that right Kat!

 

[Max Peck]

I call BS on the dissent. You don't give someone a Mercedes Benz and expect them to know how to drive it properly after driving an old Ford Fiesta. By just not showing someone just the simple basics of how to use Windows 8, or at least telling them, you've basically just misrepresented the whole OS and UI. Yeah, it can be tricky and yeah it's different. Why wouldn't you not show someone the ways of how to use it? This I've yet to understand. The argument that says that is shows that Windows 8 is unintuitive is a load of malarkey.

Yeah, as much as I "hated" the thing originally I've got to agree with you here. No, it may not provide immediate value to a desktop user who would otherwise be fine with Win7 but, OTOH, it is the way forward with the platform and it adequately addresses backward compatibility as MS always does.

-Max

 

[SIW2]

The argument that says that is shows that Windows 8 is unintuitive is a load of malarkey

Huh?

 

[Microbillgates]

I love it

 

[area 66]

with Billgates as a nic, I guess you love everything Microsoft put on the market.

 

[whs]

You don't give someone a Mercedes Benz and expect them to know how to drive it properly after driving an old Ford Fiesta.

You are absolutely right. I just got a new Mercedes last month after having driven an old Renault for 13 years. That Mercedes drives me absolutely up the wall. A gezillion switches and 2 screens with another gezillion settings. This car is full of electronics and does half of the driving without human intervention.

Why can't they make cars any more that have 2 displays and 3 buttons. The user manual of that Mercedes is 520 pages - 120 pages just for the radio. When I am back in Germany in the spring, I think I am going to sell this thing and buy a rustique car - if I can find one.

 

[Vince53]

ZDNet repots today that over 95% of Windows 8 users are not using a touchscreen. I love Win 8 Pro, wish I could afford a touchscreen, but don't need one.

 

[skallal]

ZDNet repots today that over 95% of Windows 8 users are not using a touchscreen. I love Win 8 Pro, wish I could afford a touchscreen, but don't need one.

90% of my Windows 8 usage is with a touch screen. Yet keyboard & mouse are quite usable.

I think a track pad like the Logitech T650 is the next best thing to real touch. And I wouldn't miss screen touch on a desktop...

 

[area 66]

You don't give someone a Mercedes Benz and expect them to know how to drive it properly after driving an old Ford Fiesta.

You are absolutely right. I just got a new Mercedes last month after having driven an old Renault for 13 years. That Mercedes drives me absolutely up the wall. A gezillion switches and 2 screens with another gezillion settings. This car is full of electronics and does half of the driving without human intervention.

Why can't they make cars any more that have 2 displays and 3 buttons. The user manual of that Mercedes is 520 pages - 120 pages just for the radio. When I am back in Germany in the spring, I think I am going to sell this thing and buy a rustique car - if I can find one.

A ford Focus also have a lot of gezillion switches

 

[dball]

I have a rustic car for you, cheap - you just have to come to Northern Alberta to get it. My wives new Lincoln has a smaller manual but more buttons that I will never figure out at my age, rides better than rustic. It is nice to know I am in the noted 5%, on the other hand the touch screen is part of the experience, still loving it, and the ride is also great.


Cheers

 

[Coke Robot]

I showed Windows 8 to six people yesterday, by the way, I made my first Windows 8 service sale yesterday! The sale was for friend of a friend that has xp running a Dell puter that for some reason had xp instead of vista running. I showed him the apps and Start Screen, he really liked it over xp. Mind you, he is a line cook at a restaurant.

And the other five people were some of my friends of which I was also showing Windows 8 and they had some time to play with it on a laptop I had with me along with my Windows 8 To Go drive, and they all want to upgrade to Windows 8. A couple are recent high school grads and the other few are in college.

Speaking of cars and Mercedes Benzs, I love those cars! A friend of mine lent me their Mercedes for the day and OOOHHHH! Beautiful! It's a 1999 C230. I thought it was a 2003 model because of all the technology. It's a perfect winter car though because the tech in it improves its stability in winter driving. I have a 1990 Mazda 626 five door and that is more my liking. I like early to mid '90s cars as they're a good combo of mechanical workings and digital technology. It's mildly satisfying to hear my vents open and close when I change the air flow. I would LOVE a 2000 BMW 525i with manual transmission with black leather interior and those gorgeous BMW alloy rims. OOOOHHHHH!!!

 

[shubhamstunter]

I would like to say its an investment worth recovery.