Who here is playing with Windows 8

[andrevautour]

On Windows 7, the three screen set up was amazing. Everything was really easy to move around and organize how I liked it. I also love gaming on these things, I don't mind the bezels much and it just looks so cool to literally be surrounded by the picture. If I could, I would get two large HD panels, and only game on one. However, this set up I have now is working alright, albeit it's not as functional on W8. The only reason I have these monitors now is because they were free; my mom brought home one a couple years ago and when I figured out she had a bunch more at her office that I could take, I just had to do it.

Ah, I see!

For gaming I find 1920X1080 or 1200 is good, but for everything else I prefer a 2560X1440 screen. I have a Samsung SyncMaster 27inch that I use with my PC and I play games on that most of the time. And I use an Apple Cinema display most of the time for daily stuff. I find being able to have more things open at once on the one screen is really nice + the sharpness is great. I have also used both of them together on the PC and that works nicely too.

 

[SieB]

Does anyone know how to close the widgets you open from the start page?

I don't see any way to close them from within the widgets, the only way I know how to close them is to switch to the desktop, put the mouse in the top left corner so the window with the widgets shows, then right click and click close.

 

[jamesriley94]

Drag the black bit at the top to the bottom of the page. It thows it away - literally

Alt-F4 works fine too

 

[SieB]

Thanks, it was doing my head in not knowing how to close them

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

Why there can't just be an X button, I don't know. Just further shows that windows 8 wasn't built for desktops.

 

[andrevautour]

i got my retail copy in the main this morning and i installed it. im pleased to report that the issue with max payne not launching and the bf3 punk buster issue is not happening anymore with the retail version.

you dont need to use the metro stuff if you dont want to but the desktop and explorer are much faster and more responsive. just pin all your apps to the taskbar and stay in the desktop all the time if you want and it's better than 7 im sure we all have machines that are powerful enough that the metro apps running inthe background wont affect performance

 

[Mark3Max]

I'm still on the fence about getting win.8 , I guess like others say , we don't like change. I think I'll wait a while and let them work out the bugs and the use of beta drivers. I have a new version of win.7 ult. that I'll put on my build when it's done, but I guess sooner or later I'll have to get a copy.

 

[andrevautour]

i always hated the look if 7 it always looked so tacky to me so i like the look of 8 a lot more its much more clean and also has a very noticeable faster, lighter feel to it just overall more snappy, much faster boot etc. i would never go near 7 again personally but it's really not a huge deal since 7 is still fine. i'm sort of the opposite i always am jumping on new things early and looking for things to change just for something new you know. there is literally not a single problem that i have encountered with the retail version and i can only report all the same good stuff about 7 plus even better performance and more modern features.

 

[Feronix]

I'm planning to install Win8 in my new build, but I read really mixed reviews and I'm afraid that I won't like it would be €85,- down the drain lmfao

I sure will invest in that €5,- app from Stardock though. At least it gives you a start button and start menu. I think it also boots directly to the desktop instead of Metro, so that would be nice. I reaaally don't like Metro as it's made for Tablets <_<

The performance better be worth it. Or do you guys recommend me to buy Win7 now for €80,- and upgrade later for like... €45??

 

[Ralm]

I'm planning to install Win8 in my new build, but I read really mixed reviews and I'm afraid that I won't like it would be €85,- down the drain lmfao

I sure will invest in that €5,- app from Stardock though. At least it gives you a start button and start menu. I think it also boots directly to the desktop instead of Metro, so that would be nice. I reaaally don't like Metro as it's made for Tablets <_<

The performance better be worth it. Or do you guys recommend me to buy Win7 now for €80,- and upgrade later for like... €45??

Windows 8 on Windows store is 30€ and the problem with the start thing, you just feel it the first times, like the first 1 week or 2. After that everything seems normal and familiar.

I bought it since day one, Ive been using it since then and performance/stability wise is the best that microsoft ever did. A day one purchase and I never had a blue screen, hangs or bad responsiveness.

The metro Start turns out to be useful if you know the tricks and how to navigate it (you can scroll out, name groups, etc). And all you need that you had in windows 7 start are way more handy then in windows 7. You need control panel??? Hover the mouse in the bottom left corner, right click, control panel. Actually there you have a bunch of system management.

Now talking about the bad I feel on it after all this time/experience. No synergy between Metro apps and desktop (I can explain that better if you want), lack of options/control on metro apps. But on the end of the day you wont even use most of the metro apps. The only metro apps that I actually use are my online bank (its awesome), cooking recipes, tweeter (tweetro is awesome) and checking cinema movies. That is all, all the other tiles are shortcuts to desktop apps.

Note: Skype or Chrome in metro app SUCK SO HARD. But you can use the normal desktop versions.

Hope it helps.

 

[andrevautour]

they had the digital download for $40 when it came out and physical copies for $69

searching in metro is just as fast if not faster than using the start menu i think people just overthink it and decide they wont like it really it takes only about a day to get totally used to it and youll forget a start menu ever excited in a couple of weeks. i never found the start menu to be very useful anyway besides the occasional search which like i said metro does just as well or better. the start menu hasnt even crossed my mind once since windows 8 came out and i certainly dont miss it. i dont care about the start menu too much but i have to admit that start 8 things looks pretty good i suppose. i have really mixed feelings about windows in general i have never really liked it that much my main interest is in the hardware. I generally don't like any sort of aftermarket changes but the start 8 thing has caught my eye slightly although i do like the clean taskbar with no start on it to me it feels more modern that way really.

i would tend to say just get it as that is what i always do with new things and just get used to it really fast and not worry about how things "used to be" but if you really think you like the way 7 is then just keep using that and you dont have to buy a new copy if you just use the same copy you have on your computer now if the activation fails you ust use the automated phone activation thing and when it asks how many computers has it been on just say 1 and that works fine since it will be your personal computer still and you're only using one of them at a time.

Windows 8 on Windows store is 30€ and the problem with the start thing, you just feel it the first times, like the first 1 week or 2. After that everything seems normal and familiar.

I bought it since day one, Ive been using it since then and performance/stability wise is the best that microsoft ever did. A day one purchase and I never had a blue screen, hangs or bad responsiveness.

The metro Start turns out to be useful if you know the tricks and how to navigate it (you can scroll out, name groups, etc). And all you need that you had in windows 7 start are way more handy then in windows 7. You need control panel??? Hover the mouse in the bottom left corner, right click, control panel. Actually there you have a bunch of system management.

Now talking about the bad I feel on it after all this time/experience. No synergy between Metro apps and desktop (I can explain that better if you want), lack of options/control on metro apps. But on the end of the day you wont even use most of the metro apps. The only metro apps that I actually use are my online bank (its awesome), cooking recipes, tweeter (tweetro is awesome) and checking cinema movies. That is all, all the other tiles are shortcuts to desktop apps.

Note: Skype or Chrome in metro app SUCK SO HARD. But you can use the normal desktop versions.

Hope it helps.

I agree with all of this, and basically the metro stuff just don't use it if you have a good pc because it's just not very useful except for searching and maybe the camera because I never really found a nice webcam app for windows and the metro camera is pretty nice, but you dont have to use the metro stuff at all just stay on the desktop all the time thats what i do and its great.

 

[Damien c]

I have tried it, but cannot use it at the moment since I get nothing but BSOD's after I install the drivers for my motherboard.

I do like the speed of it especially the boot and shut down time etc but until Asus/Microsoft fix the Driver issue I just cannot use it.

Once you get use to the Tablet style interface and learn how to get rid of it, then it's good but it does take abit of getting use to.

I think it once they fix the driver issue I have, and also the Cod 4 and Punkbuster issue I will use it again but until then I will stick with Win 7.

 

[Feronix]

Thanks guys, good points!

I can't find anything but upgrades on Windows.Microsoft.com, and I can only even find the Windows 8 Pro, which I don't think I'll need. I can't really upgrade now though, as my copy of Windows 7 is err... Almost legal ;$ =\

 

[andrevautour]

Thanks guys, good points!

I can't find anything but upgrades on Windows.Microsoft.com, and I can only even find the Windows 8 Pro, which I don't think I'll need. I can't really upgrade now though, as my copy of Windows 7 is err... Almost legal ;$ =\

pro is the only version for desktops

you can get the disk for 70 until the end of jan http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbpage.Windows_8_Pro

 

[Feronix]

I can get a regular version on disc from the retailer I'm getting my parts from though. The pro version costs €40,- more and as I said, I can't really do an upgrade :c

 

[Brooksie]

Got the digital upgrade edition for £24.99, upgraded from my Windows 7 had issues with my creative drivers. Performed a full reformat and installed the PAX software + Creative beta drivers and all is working well atm.

Also downloaded start8 which has eliminated the need to use the 'Metro'.

The lockscreen is nice, and it does start up & shut down much quicker.

 

[dugdiamond]

start8 FTW

 

[andrevautour]

Not really sure what you mean by regular version vs pro though I'm never heard of a regular version I've only ever seen pro for desktops anywhere I've looked. the only other version i know of is RT but that is the version for tablets and its very limited in functionality.


as far as upgrading with a download version i just installed a fresh copy of 7 on my sister's computer and didn't enter any serial number for it and did not activate it and she downloaded the upgrade version for $40 and it worked fine so it doesn't seem to require a licensed copy of 7 for the upgrade to work.


as far as something like start 8 is concerned i'd rather not have a start button on my task bar that seems like a step backward to me but that's just my preference.

 

[Ralm]

Not really sure what you mean by regular version vs pro though I'm never heard of a regular version I've only ever seen pro for desktops anywhere I've looked. the only other version i know of is RT but that is the version for tablets and its very limited in functionality.


as far as upgrading with a download version i just installed a fresh copy of 7 on my sister's computer and didn't enter any serial number for it and did not activate it and she downloaded the upgrade version for $40 and it worked fine so it doesn't seem to require a licensed copy of 7 for the upgrade to work.

There is 3 version now instead of thos 7 or 8 useless in windows 7.
So its Windows 8 RT, Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro.

 

[andrevautour]

There is 3 version now instead of thos 7 or 8 useless in windows 7.
So its Windows 8 RT, Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro.

"Windows 8 ** comes preinstalled on a variety of new tablets, convertibles, Ultrabooks, laptops, and all-in-one PCs. Windows 8 works with both existing desktop software and apps that you download from the Windows Store."

If you look at compare if does show it but you can't buy it from the MS site anyway. it says it come preinstalled on some things.

Maybe some places will sell the regular 8 but I was looking on the MS site and I could not find anywhere to buy the non-pro version.