Windows 8 on the XPS m1710 - First Impression

My Sager is my main laptop, however I keep my Dell XPS m1710 as a backup computer and testrig. (Specs are in the signature.) I put Windows 8 Milestone 3 Build 8102 on the computer after upgrading the HDD from 160 GB 7200rpm to 500GB 7200rpm and then installed the x64 Milestone to the computer. Installation was quite easy, with all drivers from sound to ethernet being found. The only driver I had to find manually was a Windows 7 x64 driver for the 7950 GTX (Driver version 179.48). Once I installed that, and Flash 11 RC1 (so I could watch my youtubes), off I went.

The first thing I noticed was that it looks too "happy" for my tastes. Yes there are easy-to-use control buttons, but the transition from the Win95 - Win7 interface to Windows 8 "Metro" is too jarring, the traditional screen that we have grown accustomed to seems to have been reserved for more advanced users while integral programs are left to the "Metro" Screen. Scrolling and other features seem to be a bit choppy on this computer, perhaps in part due to the relative incompatibility of the 7950 GTX to the interface, and additionally due to the alpha state of this system. However, even if Microsoft is trying to modularize (for lack of a better word) the Windows-touch interface... by imposing it as a primary and making people dig for the more reliable "desktop", Windows 8, I fear that even if this system is better than Windows 7 (and that would be a VERY high bar to top)... that beyond the "windows phone and droid" crowd, there will be some backlash - including from me (I'll just stay with Windows 7).

What does make me happy about this build is its snappiness. My XPS m1710had had Windows XP on it, and up till now had become an extremely slow (ie: took greater than 3 minutes to load) machine that I felt was on its last legs. Windows 8, even though it doesn't take full advantage of the 7950 GTX's GPU contribution (i WISH it did), makes the computer feel snappier for some reason. Whether I'm surfing on IE10 Preview, waiting for startup, etc., there's a certain lightness to it that wasn't there when I had XP on it. I'm not going to say that this is a fully-formed product, but if they can build on the snappiness while managing to integrate more cleanly the traditional GUI with metro, then I may be more conducive to Metro's existence so long as it's not coerced upon me and the rest of the Windows-loving populace.

With that said, I'm not certain how Windows 7 / 8 does its WEI grading, but it seemed a little strange that with a T7200, 4GB DDR2-667, and a 7950GTX, that the WEI score was a 4.2. (Breakdown: 4.9 / 4.9 / 5.9 / 4.2 / 5.9). Either there is a failure to optimize performance with the 7950GTX in windows 8, or between windows 7 and windows 8 there was an incredibly massive jump in expected performance to be considered "good gaming graphics, or something"; speculation will only lead to migraines. However, as this machine is a test rig and there are videos on Engadget of Win8 running on as little as 128MB RAM, I don't feel particularly concerned of the day-to-day performance of Windows 8 Aero and Metro on this rig. Where i AM concerned however, is the computer's sudden desire to associate "shut down" with "hibernate / sleep".

Shut down and sleep to me have always been 2 discrete options. With Shut down, you're telling the computer "i want you completely off"; sleep is "I want what I have stored and for you to be in a low-power state until I need you". With this build of windows 8, Shut down sometimes gets hung up; one instance of me initiating shut down had the shutdown screen staying on for the better part of 10 minutes until I lost patience and manually forced a shutdown. Sleep however, can be done by holding the power button for 5 seconds (which for every other OS was how to force a shutdown), or by simply closing the lid, or even selecting the "power button" and hitting sleep. However, even when I told it to shut down, it entered more of a "hibernate" state... pushing the power button under the pretense of powering on did nothing more than return me to the "locked screen" that I could flip up like the lock / unlock screen on a droid. Microsoft really has to allow for the OS to know whether it's on a touchscreen tablet or on a proper laptop / desktop. And this leads me to my final concern.

How will the professional business crowd react? Windows 7 had grown as a bubbly, aero-loving, aesthetic system that had the ability to maintain decorum due to its traditional orientation. Windows 8's "Metro" GUI looks like a 5 year old's dream. Push the big idiot button, and voila a program opens. I know kids like this stuff, but businesses and academic atmospheres a) do not adapt to change easily (hence why XP is still as prominent as it is); b) like to have their employees using something that looks professional and doesn't look like a game in itself - after all, the idea is WORK, not play; and c) for someone like me who still enjoys the old WinXP / Office 2003 GUI and isn't a fan of millions of dropdown sub-menus, the new "ribbon" interface slows my work down from "here's a tiny button, click it", to having to read a formal manual to do something that used to be simplistic. Perhaps as I use it more I will adjust, but the sheer "shock" of the change of direction for windows 8 - even in the vintage GUI - when an explorer window is opened, is just too much.

I hope Windows 8 is the success that 7 was. I really do. That Win8's requirements performance-wise are the same as 7 will allow a greater range of computers to enjoy 8's benefits. However 8 leaves me simultaneously wanting more and less. More of an ability to have autonomy over how the computer behaves and what programs should be given prominence, and less of Metro as "this is what we WANT you to use". It's nice that it works with most windows 7 drivers, and many applications that are around right now, but I don't want to have to feel like I'm using an "app" every time I want a more "advanced" and less "idiot-proof" interface. With all that being said, I don't think we'll see the tick-tock pattern of 2000 / me / xp / vista / 7 of "good OS, bad OS"... but only time and further development will tell.

Jason

 

I think for old notebook, dell support new os is very poor.

 

It's not a production OS, it's a DEVELOPER build. Support is SUPPOSED to be poor.

 

Again alinad, I don't know if it is a language translation issue or what, but you failed to read that this is a MICROSOFT PRE-BETA OS RELEASE. Why would Dell support something this far off from prime-time on an old system? And most of this incompatibility is Microsoft's problem anyway if they intend to let this OS run on a older system.

To the OP: Thanks for the feedback and thoughts. I for one dislike the previews I have seen of the OS, it does indeed look like a 5-year old's drawings to me and seems poorly oriented to actual computers TO ME. But there is a long time yet before Microsoft will even have this ready for RC stage, let along release, so we can only hope they get it right in the meantime.

 

I wonder how it will handle being deployed in a corporate environment. I'm sure it'll be great for powerpoints and other presentaitons, but what else? I don't live on Powerpoints or presentations (As a Poli-Sci major, i LIVE on word and writing apps), and in a way I see this OS as MS's way of idiotproofing to the point it insults those who can actually find their way around the win95 to win7 atmosphere (one that has had 16 years to mature). I know most people won't touch control panel, or touch the nVidia driver panel, or whatnot, but why make it virtually inaccessible? I hope subsequent previews are of better caliber, but all things considered it's a good start.

Jason

 

Am I the only one that hates windows 8?

I installed a windows 8 developer copy on my virtual machine. The boot up is pretty fast...but the user interface is terrible for a desktop. I would agree that it'll be great on a touch-screen tablet but no way would I want to have it on my desktop

 

I guess its designed for the increasingly idiotproofed market that is the United States. Heaven forbid an OS or a computer is crashable.

 

That's the way it should be. Why should they design a mainstream OS to appeal to 2-10% of the users?

 

I hate most all I've seen of it so far, but I will reserve final judgement until they release an RC and I try that out. But I agree that right now it would be a terrible choice for a corporate setting. As one who extensively uses applications such as Solidworks and other engineering programs for work, the interface would be awful to use (at least it would appear so).

I don't get the tablet obsession personally. Everyone seems to be obsessed with them right now, but I don't see the point. I have an iphone. It's fine, but I wouldn't want an oversized version for internet and the like, I prefer the tactile feedback of a keyboard when I do anything. The only reason I would use a tablet is maybe as an ebook reader, and for that I just put an app on the phone and that serves me fine on airplanes. [/sidetrack]

 

I can't stand what they're doing with windows 8 either. The new filesystem that they're working on sounds kinda nice but other than that it looks like a POS.

The home screen thing I really don't understand. Their theory behind it is that because it's also marketed at tablet users with limited hardware that since they probably won't be using the desktop then it's better to simply not load it by default. Why can't they apply that same view to PC where the majority won't be using the home screen idiot box, and simply give us the option of loading the desktop as default and not having the stupid touch interface clogging up our systems in the background?

Another thing which makes me rage is the new ribbon system. The new windows explorer looks so bloated that it's ridiculous. I swear the ribbon bar takes up 200 pixels or so of vertical space whereas a good old menu bar would only take up 50. As soon as I got firefox 4, I simply switched back to the old menu bars instead of the silly "firefox" button.

I know they're catering to a dim whitted market, but I swear they're actually enchouraging people to grow up without any common sense or intuition.

 

Windows 7 is for far MORE than 2 to 10% of all users, but much like Apple banking that Bluray will never catch on, Microsoft is putting its eggs that tabletmania will be the next big thing. Why alienate the core so much that the mouse-friendly OS is secondary to what is still largely a niche?

 

new os eat more resource, but not more improve. now also many user and company continue used windows xp.
compare with new cpu, winxp just new *few second start windows xp, None SSD too.

when you has new os, new cpu, also can't improve the typing speed. that a office basic concept.

 

A) Win7 and Win8 are pretty much 1:1 in how much resources they use, in fact win8 uses less on my xps than xp did. (Go figure).

B) SSDs don't work natively on Windows XP, because XP cannot fully support drive maintenance functions such as TRIM.

C) The only way to improve your typing speed is to either practice or get a better keyboard with a faster response rate. That isn't a problem of the OS unless you type about 400 wpm.

D) Nobody can understand what you've typed, we've been going on what amounts to essentially piecemeal due to your grasp of english. I know you want to learn, and that's ok... but we can't give you an accurate transmission to reply if you can't make a coherent sentence.

E) Windows 8 starts MUCH faster than Windows 7, try it.

 

Anyone found a video driver that works with 7900gs i win 8?

 

Looking for the same. Anyone? With the driver that comes from Win9 I can only get 1600x1200 and this does not look nice.

 

I got it working, look here:

before you install, Disable Driver Signature Enforcement

note: i did this with win 8 rtm installed as vhd. Not got around to install win 8 as main os on the m1710 yet, enough problems getting a graphic driver to work on only a 2 year old tablet pc.

 

Thanks for the hint. It unfortunately didn't work. Maybe because I still have to old 7900 Grafic Card and not the 7950..

 

well, it works for me on the 7900gs card. Just installed win 8 as main os and 306.63_win8_winvista_win7_64bit_international drivers