Is Windows 8 for me?

[acro47]

Hello, I am a senior lady who's been a Mac user for many years. I work for an all-Mac company and have an iMac & MacBook Pro at home. I have one large client with a website that I have to use daily which it's Windows-only, and it can only be accessed via IE. Because I work with spreadsheets and have so many documents open on my screen, I'd like to buy a separate (Windows) laptop for their work rather than using Parallels on my iMac and having to squeeze in yet one more window. Question: I am way behind in Windows' evolution/upgrades since I last used it regularly (Windows XP) and I'm wondering how to choose a laptop & which Windows version is best for a relative novice. I am so Mac-ingrained and I know it will be an adjustment -- would I find Windows 7 or 8 a better bet for basic use for this one client? I will be using the client's website on IE for pulling reports, listening to commercials, doing basic research, and then will also use MS Office. Thank you to anyone who will offer opinions/guidance!

 

[cin19]

Win8 is a new version of Windows includes a new-style interface for use with touchscreens.

If you're buying a new laptop, I recommend getting the system with Windows 7 installed and then, immediately taking advantage of the $14.99 Windows 8 upgrade offer (expire on January 31, 2013). You don't have to install it right now.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-8-upgrade-dates-expiry,20140.html

If you're buying a new laptop with a touch screen then you're probably go with Windows 8 directly. Windows 8 is optimized for touch.

 

[RetiredChief]

MUCH prefer cin19's first option, Main reason:
If You get a windows 8 laptop and find that you would prefer Windows 7, Windows 7 "downgrade" will be much more expensive.

On Windows 8:
My Son Asa loves and Most of His systems are Mac (The $8K+ versions). Does Electronic designs for his company. Dale, 2nd Son, is a IT manager for a large Firm Plus runs his own company.
Niether recommend Windows 8.

My self: Tryed he Beta version - Removed and threw disk in trash. Did Buy dte Upgrade Windows 8 and stuck on my 17" laptop. Bigest problem was touching the screen - OPPS not a touchscreen - LOLs. All my windows 7 programs did work. Used for about 2 weeks. Swapped My Windows 7 SSD back in - uSoft still had not fixed the problem of when reverting Back (or daul boot) in that the 2nd HDD (SSD) came up with errors that required checkdisk to be run - It did Fix the problems and my 2nd SSD was OK - Still an anoyance that hpefull will be fixed!!

Outside of that, If you Like the feel of a Touch Screen panel (closer to mac screen), Win 8 should be fine. Didn't mention your budget as Large screen laptops w/touchscreens are EXPENSIVE.

Bottom Line, By buying the Windows 7 and ONLY paying $15 for win 8 upgrade will allow you to get windows 8 Updates downstream (After say 6 Months) and they have worked out most of the Bug fixes.

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

tried 8 pretty much the same as 7 not worth upgrade,unless you operate with touchscreen

 

[electricfirebolt]

Windows 8 much better, Been using since it first launched as it is fast and secure. Individuals dislike windows 8 due to its start screen interface which can be solved easily by just buying Stardock Start8 which is very cheap and offers the ability for Windows 8 to boot straight to the original desktop and also provides the well known Windows Start Menu. Windows 8 offers some performance increases therefore its worth buying. I've just bought my 2nd copy of Windows 8.

 

[RetiredChief]

It's not just about the Start menu

Again - I had NO problems, outside of one with it, However In all honesty I have to also state:

It may be fine for Joe (or Jane) Q. Pubic. But Corporate America, The majority seems to be - avoiding it.
As one Colledge Prof stated " Buy it and give to someone you HATE"
Although Windows 8 is NOT Windows ME, nor Vista - it does share this one problem with Corporate acceptance.
The percentage of units sold (as Upgrades) from Windows 7->Windows 8 is WAY lower than from Win XP-> Windows 7 - Himmm

As to Performance increase, yes there is some - ie:
Cut my laptop boot time from 15 Sec to approx 8 Sec which is Note enough to reommend it in itself. Small performance boost to some "larger" programs. Memory mapping appears better, Security is better, initially untill hackers/virus writers become more familiar with it.

Stand By my bottom line: Get Windows 7 laptop and pay the measely $15 bucks for the Upgrade Win 8 (which should be expiring sometime his month).
Ideally, what I would do is buy a 2nd HDD:
.. Clone the windows 7 HDD to it.
.. Swap HDDs
.. Do a windows 8 upgrade to 2nd HDD.

.. Everything great and she loves (Has no Problems with) Windows 8 - GOOD TO GO
else;
.. Swap windows 7 HDD back in, wait 3 to 6 months, Reinstall 2nd HDD and let win 8 do it's updates and Retry.

NOTE: Buying the 2nd HDD is not really an added expense as eiher HDD can later be used as an external BACKUP HDD.

 

[aadiz64]

Firstly, if you're been a mac user, you've gotten accustom to finder and If you want a windows PC, I would say go for a Windows 7 PC, then if you don't like it, upgrading is very cheap, for a windows xp user, you would have been accustomed to finding everything, and I mean EVERYTHING either on the desktop or from the start button in to all programs and all that. Windows 8 doesn't have a start button and finding things is SLIGHTLY trickier. I'm not going into the pain of listing all the technical details because all you want to know is based on USABILITY. Hope this helps

 

[gomerpile]

Windows 8 much better, Been using since it first launched as it is fast and secure. Individuals dislike windows 8 due to its start screen interface which can be solved easily by just buying Stardock Start8 which is very cheap and offers the ability for Windows 8 to boot straight to the original desktop and also provides the well known Windows Start Menu. Windows 8 offers some performance increases therefore its worth buying. I've just bought my 2nd copy of Windows 8.

whatever you said I agree, If your going to invest in a new business solution get 8, there is going to be no support for 7 very soon. Its history. So you buy 7 now and upgrade later to 8, makes no sense at all. 8 works just fine

 

[Soda-88]

Windows 8 much better, Been using since it first launched as it is fast and secure. Individuals dislike windows 8 due to its start screen interface which can be solved easily by just buying Stardock Start8 which is very cheap and offers the ability for Windows 8 to boot straight to the original desktop and also provides the well known Windows Start Menu. Windows 8 offers some performance increases therefore its worth buying. I've just bought my 2nd copy of Windows 8.

Why waste money on Start8 when Classic Shell is free

 

[gomerpile]

classic start 8 is free and works great

 

[lostgamer_03]

When one of your concerns is IE then Windows 8 will give almost 2x performance from Windows 7 in terms of browser speed.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/internet-explorer-10-chrome-23-windows-8,review-32569-12.html

If you're used to Windows 7 and feel more comfortable using that, then it is easy to mod Windows 8 to get the "start" button and get away of metro.

Though I do not understand why some people think it's hard to get used to Windows 8. It's just about the willing to learn and if you're commited for only about 3 minutes then you find out that there isn't much difference from Windows 7. The same functions still exists, but has been moved a Little.

 

[RetiredChief]

Quote: there is going to be no support for 7 very soon End Quote
And what Horses behind did you get that from. LINK PLEASE.
1) Unless Corporations adapt Windows 8, Windows 8 could be as short lived as Vista - Any one say Windows 9 (heard that it may be called Windows Blue - LOL) For next Year.
2) Windows 7 support will remain at least several years - Basically untill Corporate America switchs - And My gut feel on that is NOT going to happen, may happen when Windows 9 comes out.
.. ANY dissageement regaurding Corporate switching to Windows 8 - please provide a LINK to source.

Quote: Windows 8 will give almost 2x performance from Windows 7 in terms of browser speed END QUOTE.
This is indid a Fact - What is left out is, That was for their Test bed and IS/MAY not be indictive of individual system as as Internet provider (Speed paid for by individual) will also be a big factor.
Myself, Win 8 IE was faster BUT not 2X Than IE 9 (Win 7) - Both at Home and at Work. Home - Cox High speed cable, work - Not sure, but supports several Thousand Computers.

 

[Monkey With a Mouse]

http://www.neowin.net/news/a-bit-more-info-on-windows-blue

 

[The_Prophecy]

Windows 8 works great, even on non-touch screen systems. I've been using the RTM version since Mid-August when it appeared on TechNet and I don't want to use 7 anymore.

My main desktop, my file storage box and my gaming laptop are all running it and I haven't thought for a second about removing it. The only issue I currently have is that my desktop bluescreens every 24 hours or so, but this was determined to be a RAID driver issue for the included Intel controller on my board, not a Windows 8 issue.

The file storage system and the gaming laptop are running flawlessly.

I had the Metro UI figured out within 20 minutes. It's not that hard to get used to. People are just generally stubborn and unwilling.

 

[gomerpile]

Windows 8 works great, even on non-touch screen systems. I've been using the RTM version since Mid-August when it appeared on TechNet and I don't want to use 7 anymore.

My main desktop, my file storage box and my gaming laptop are all running it and I haven't thought for a second about removing it. The only issue I currently have is that my desktop bluescreens every 24 hours or so,

but this was determined to be a RAID driver issue for the included Intel controller on my board, not a Windows 8 issue.

The file storage system and the gaming laptop are running flawlessly.

I had the Metro UI figured out within 20 minutes. It's not that hard to get used to. People are just generally stubborn and unwilling.

I was running intel rapid storage driver and I had not problems with raid. Not saying you don't have issues. But I don't have that issue. Try going to intell website and installing the intel rapid storage driver for win 8.

I keep wanting a reason to just use 7 but so far my preferred OS is 8, I'm using it more then 7. I am ready to delete 7 and use the drive for extra storage. Maybe even sell my CD key.

 

[captainblacko]

Windows 8 is pretty good, its more stable and faster.

TBH i would just dual boot one of your mac's and buy a version of Windows and save yourself some money.

 

[JamesSneed]

Im not a Mac fan so this hurts but ill say it anyhow.

Use WineBottler for IE8. http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Internet-Explorer-8.0-on-Mac-Using-WineBottler

MS does make office for the Mac as well.

 

[Computered]

Although Windows 8 is NOT Windows ME, nor Vista - it does share this one problem with Corporate acceptance.
.

This is an accurate statement but you did not tell them WHY this is happening.

Windows 8 at it's core is a very cleaned up Windows 7. Highly optimized and secured and a very solid desktop system. The Microsoft tacked on with bubblegum and bailing wire the Metro interface and that is what we have today.

The issues for large businesses is money. Oh sure Windows 8 in outright purchase costs less but then add in the IT time to reconfigure machines to make proper use of the desktop interface, or the learning time for the staff to be taught the new interface if they decide to go that route. Both approaches mean a lot more man hours and thus in the end higher cost and for what?

You see the biggest reason to not move to Windows 8 really has nothing to do with Windows 8 but rather Windows 7. Windows 7 is a GOOD OS. I mean you have a really good OS that works exactly how you want it and then you have an upgrade that makes you relearn everything or have to tweak it to make it work right, why bother? Sure there are improvements at the core but they are not worth the extra time needed for tweaking within a corporate setup, we are talking hundreds of machines often.

As for the OP, as a MAC user I do not think it matters. Windows 8 is NOT like a MAC OS, truth is Windows 7 is closer. In the end however it sounds like you want it just to browse a specific location on the web, if that is the case either should o the job fine.

 

[xPhantomx]

Windows 8 is basically just windows 7 with a new start screen. i have it, i like it. some people do, some people don't. if youre on windows 7 and like it, then you might not bother upgrading but for anyone on xp or vista,i advise you to do it right away.

 

[acro47]

Wow, thanks to all of you for some great info! As I've read (and re-read) everything and considered all the possibilities, I realize even more how Windows-ignorant I am after almost 10 years on a Mac! I do have Parallels on my iMac, but 27" isn't enough surface room for all the different things I have to see at one time, and a separate Windows laptop which I can put next to my iMac will be a better option for me. Nothing is etched in stone at this point, but I'm thinking now that I will probably go with Windows 7. I don't want to spend more than $1,000, I don't need something high-end, and I don't think I want a touch screen, considering that I will be working mostly on charts/spreadsheets from the client's website. But with some good info here, I won't make a decision until I see both Windows versions in action -- that could change my mind. So I guess that means heading to Best Buy or someplace where I can get a look/feel at both 7 & 8 (and hopefully not have a pushy salesperson breathing down my neck). Thank you again for your time & all the details, it's VERY helpful.