M11x - Windows 8 Discussion

Hey there fellow M11xers. I saw that Microsoft had released the "consumer preview" of Windows 8 and I was wondering if anyone had installed it on their system. I know it is supposed to be a massive change from Windows 7 and was wondering what peoples thoughts are on it.

Windows 8 download

 

It is a massive change, the whole UI is different. It's designed to be effecient on tablets or touchscreens. I think you would benefit more if you had an All-In-One PC touchscreen and had windows 8 installed.

It's focus is more of apps and such, like a windows phone per say. Paying over $100+ is rediculous if you get diminishing gains.

Although, I believe this new OS would be more efficient in battery life, so for portable users (tablets, ultrabooks) it might be better if you don't game. Since this is the m11x forum, I'd say most of us would stick to the Win 7.

 

I tried the Developer Preview as a virtual guest machine (Oracle VirtualBox) and didn't care for it. I DO see it used as hiarieshi says: via touch screen

Another thread somewhere here mentions running it as primary OS on M11x and I recall some positive comments but I will "pass".

 

when i tested it it really made my old laptop very quickly and booted alot faster i would love to put it on my 11xr2 :] if it boots faster lol

 

I'd rather use hibernate on Win7. They're just almost the same.

 

haha it boots faster because it has less things to load; mainly because it's designed for tablets and touchscreens which don't have the hardcore specs as some pcs

 

wasn't the new 8 core amd design for windows 8?

 

^ I have no idea. I stick with Intel chips. besides wouldn't you use that amd 8 core processor for better things than to load apps?

 

I keep getting the NVidia drivers cannot install because they are not supported. I'm on an R1. Anyone else have this problem?


Never mind, figured it out.

 

Hi Hawk, I have an R1 that I only use for surfing the net and was going to have a crack at installing Win 8 today.... what was the NVidia issue and how did you resolve? Anything else I should watch out for? Or should I just not bother )
Thx

 

Used the VHD method to install on my R3. Seemed to be working. Tried to go into the 3d application settings in the NVIDIA control panel (driver 295.73) and the machine did a crash dump and restarted. Now Win 8 won't load.

Guess I have to play around with it some more.

 

NO. the FX cpu's were not designed for windows 8. iv had my FX4100 since october. and windows 8 is a step forward in computing, for people that say it isn't for desktop users, you are COMPLETELY wrong. its a lot better even with metro. as a developer I love it. and most people think it sucks because they don't bother to give it a chance for more then a half hour, and they don't learn a thing from using it or even get to see/use all of its new features, windows 8 was built from the ground up for consumers, as an all in one OS. and they've done a great job with it. over 100,000 code changes from the dev preview, to the consumer preview. its great, you all better get used to metro, because whether you like it or not its here to stay. people just need to learn to give it a chance and actually learn/ adapt to something new and innovative.

 

to be FAIR I am using dev release in a virtual environment but the first thing I didn't like was how I have to scroll around to see what I have on the start screen (as a default). I'm trying to avoid disabling the start screen or creating a start menu. bleh.

This MIGHT be overcome with resolution changes but to me the power of an OS on a mobile+kb+mouse is good use of screen real estate (Linux wins). If you looked at the screen grab I posted, thats two 1080 panels with W8@1280. Is this typical? Lots of wasted space and unless I have a touch screen this seems counter productive. Hope the released version offers scaling. Maybe if a good working zoom was avail - but damn, I have reasonable screen res so this is just annoying. The current release better? Immediately didn't like the default tile structure/order btw.

Conclusion: as a desktop os, I would be digging for a way to lose the tiles. If I couldn't have a start menu or better default way to see my installed apps (apps that would be nice to view all at once+other programs) I would likely end up creating shortcuts to everything on the desktop and install non app versions. I shouldnt have to customize the tiles so much IMO especially given the layout sucks.

This whole thing screams "how to compete with ipad while not having to create/manage/support multiple versions of an OS". One ring to rule them all! Anyone else get the vibe that this is just like when console games get ported to PC? IE from start page is not the same as IE from desktop

Once you ditch what makes this different from Win7 the initial impression is that it's fine. Some things to adj to just like prior releases. Namely the start page tile doodad but I also might include anything thats obvious for finger use. Gimme an option to choose "touch mode" to enable all that crap.

Any way to run apps in window mode? This feels like mobile with desktop as an afterthought! If you can't then there is a temptation to install other non app based programs just so I dont have to keep switching.

Again, if I was using a touch screen this would be probably fine. I don't and it sucks.

As if I needed to add more I'll offer another almost real example:
I'm installing FireFox in Win8. Suppose I needed some help on the best choices to make during install? I have IE open from start page (tile?) with a nice result describing all that needs done.... but it goes away when focus changes to FF. Its acting like an "app" mobile style where multitasking is a challenge. This is something I hope is only a dev release issue. Launching IE via desktop I'm prompted for choosing my country for MSN as if I'm a new user.

I suspect developers love it because the UI is dictated? Not sure why.

Anyone using the roaming desktop type stuff? Windows history is both good and bad on this, when bad its real bad. Obviously iCloud and MS solutions are in competition so its the future and "better work"

As for adjusting, there are already write ups for making it do things differently. This is because an all in one solution that has to work on mobiles will NOT serve each platform to its best potential.

 

I wasn't bashing it. Let me make it simple.

Currently running WIN 7 = $0

Upgrade to WIN 8 = >$0

Not upgrading ><

 

Nicely said. After my time with the Consumer Preview, I wouldn't be inclined to buy Windows 8 but if I was given it I would probably use it.

Simply put:

if (costWindows8 <= 0){
OS = Windows8
}else{
OS = Windows7
}

 

lol well I don't see how you guys don't like it. you need to learn the inns and outs before a final decision.. people saying its not productive on a desktop simply do not like change. it works very well actually. its fast and fluid, and CLEAN. you can use your scroll wheel to navigate back and forth through the pages on the metro start screen... and searching has never been easier. and metro is just beautiful. the only thing I would change is to allow custom metro backgrounds.

 

I agree ajslay, I really like the Metro UI style. I'm just not convinced that it functions as efficiently as the Windows 7 interface on a desktop. Each to their own.

 

Trackpad scrolling is less efficient on some systems. Win8 start page tile thingy may also be less (or more) efficient

I've owned and supported every version of windows so change I can do. M11x is my 1st personal win7. No complaints.

Is there an easy way to turn off the start page? I never looked. If there is, it solves a lot of the problem - and makes my point

 

i love windows 8 i cant wait till it comes out!

 

there is no way to turn it off. its hard coded into windows 8 now.


and rypac, we still have the desktop. its still there and fully usable.

 

That sucks. I predict a hack forming for that or "windowed" apps

 

well theres a reason why it looks the way it does. to make it look more professional. the UI is everything nowadays, and people want a nice, clean interface to work in. not having a giant X at the top of everything can act as a good thing.

 

I hear ya... but what people seem to want (here anyway) is less bloat - even if there isn't any. When I load up an "app" it might be possible I want to interact with more than one. Right? Seems less polished not more to have to go back and forth between traditional desktop and the apps, or just one app at a time. If I end up going more 3rd party the original apps are just in the way and become wastes of space aka "bloat".

Seriously. Sometimes I play vid clips and then open some other bits to work on (or even just browse a forum) so I'm guessing I have to stop the video to use my app? If as you say there is no option to disable (tiles) then then its really not "clean" at all. In fact, since you WILL have to exit the app panels at some point and use the desktop the whole interface argument falls away.

To get around all that maybe the only option is to install the old fashioned widgets? Maybe I want weather and news feeds while doing other work. I could easily be wrong here but the apps are not multitask friendly.

At the end of the day this stinks of a mobile platform ported to desktop. Has very little to do with UI as the goal and everything to do with making it better for touch screens. Going to be difficult convincing me that its better this way!

 

you don't have to stop what your doing at all. il take a screen shot and show you. you can basically pin a metro app to the side of the screen and still have the desktop open. no need to sacrifice anything. you can still watch a video in metro and still be using the desktop.
also, windows 8 has a smaller footprint then windows 7. takes a couple gb less space then 7 does.

 

slight improvement and a + that you can do that (if set on using the apps). Can it be scaled down or stacked with other apps?

 

How does BF3 run on Windows 8 ajslay? Comparable to Windows 7?

 

well you can make the desktop smaller, and the metro app bigger, or the desktop bigger, etc. and it cant be stacked (yet =P)

and as for BF3, on my desktop rig im getting a couple more fps then windows 7 actually. probably due to the fact that windows 8 has scheduler changes for bulldozer processors(which I have)

 

The thing is, apparently Windows 8 has better gaming performance according to the interwebz. If there's a CPU bound game that you tried running on Win7, then try running it on Win8. People have reported that they have been getting higher FPS in games. Yes, game work in Win8. My friend tested out Black Ops and Mw3. He saw a small generous FPS boost.

 

Not fair to compare games yet IMO anyway

 

well iv also tested windows 7 performance and windows 8 performance in BF3 with an intel rig also. (i5 750, 4gb ram, and a 550 ti)

 

Question to those with windows 8 in their m11x (or any fresh install of windows 7) how do you get hdmi audio working?

 

Is this an R3 question? Seems there was a thread recently.

 

I'm using Windows 8 virtualised in Oracle VirtualBox on my MX11 r1

Took a bit of getting used to Metro UI but it ran like a dog although only assigned 2GB of RAM.

Looking forward to the next release in June to make my mind up. Will probably end up getting a tablet rather than installing it on existing desktop and laptops as Windows 8 would seem easier to use and optimised for touch. Hoping there will be an Asus Transformer style option.

 

Yeah Metro is a mobile port to desktop.... bleh. If there is a toggle to turn that off/on it might go far to sway me into trying it. There is no doubt at all that it was designed with mobile/touch screens. Seems to be pretty good on a phone!

I'm also trying it in OVB on an R1 - but not current version. I might try it more if I could get it to run full screen on the screen of my choice (two external)

 

Ok there IS a toggle to turn off the tiles. This goes a long way for me in fixing whats wrong with Win8. Rel Prev 8400

 

ok, not really... I had thought it was for all... my mistake. Not only that but the later releases seem to have disabled the hacks for a start menu (not trying). I wasn't able to revisit the UI until now.

I'm still finding the interface a real pain to use. During install I used one of my email logins... it finds some stuff. ok. Cool. Pics! Open one and it has this minimal phone like display and no way to manipulate the image. I had to "open with skydrive" which only then showed anything useful (saving, path/URL, or picture information). Found myself missing a simple right-click.

Next, I did "download" and had a save option. Ok. When opening it asks me what program. Good. I select PhotoViewer. I'm dumped to desktop and the image opens. I think it was only two programs involved (app and photoviewer) but it felt like three. Oh wait, it was! IE was open for skydrive. Is that 4?

Without a touch screen I can only see value for certain folks. How you guys like it I'll never know. What am I missing? Its horribly inefficient at getting where I want to go by forcing a lot of extra kb interaction or annoying hovering.*

I'm done with photos and have hovered over the left side images tab, then opening it... took me a while to realize I had zero options for closing until right click the window preview. grr. Forgot about that annoying feature. Went back later to delete the test photo that I chose to save and noticed it does not appear in my list of avail images using the photo app. It was at least predictable to find it in my downloads folder. If curious: I dragged it over to the pictures folder using explorer... opened the photo app widget doodad and find 0 files in my library. Comedic moment reading the info blurb telling me I can add photos to library using explorer.

Email app via tile sucks. Bad.

News app was ok on the pretty scale but EVERYTHING was reuters in my results but other sources are configured. I tend to cross check a lot of what I read so the lack of even MS services to look up terms has been left out or removed. You can copy text only from what I'm seeing... so its out of the app and over to IE at which point you choose either the IE "app" or IE proper and past it in. I was unable to share or get a link for the news story I was reading in the news app. Forced to Bing search for the title and find a close (but not exact!) duplicate. Under "Share" in the app it says, "Nothing to share right now/cannot be shared". bleh. No like/email/print options either... all on a poorly used bit of screen space that forces itself in full screen. News app uses adverts btw.

The granny friendly config of crawling your account for you during setup seemed well done - not sure if any benefit to those using multiple accounts

For any long term use I'll have to have a way to get rid of Metro UI. Not bothering for now as its just something I play with as a Virtual system.

*Some annoyances are likely due to virtual install (oracle)