New Laptop/ update to Windows 10

[Dave Lehnert]

I have been holding off purchasing a new laptop waiting for Windows 10. Sales person at the office store said win 10 release next week but will be a bit longer before you see new laptops with Win 10 installed.
I am seeing some great prices on 8.1 with back to school season around the corner.
How big a deal is upgrading a laptop from 8.1 to 10?
My thought is when I upgrade I will still have junk left over from 8.1 on my system. Just rather start with 10.
I kinda need a new laptop sooner than later.
Should I hold off for a win 10 machine or am I concerned over nothing?

[Cary Falk]

I had Win8 on my laptop and moved it over to Win10 about 8 months ago. It has been a constant update instead of a full install but this is the trial version so I am not sure how the full Win10 version will be. I would guess it would be an update like install also. I still like Win7 better but Win10 is a lot better than 8. The IE replacement is kind of funky. I might try something else.

[Curt Harms]

I'd probably wait for a clean install, and would probably wait at least a couple months (longer wouldn't hurt) after Windows 10 is released for the most obvious bugs to be found and squished. Except for the part most obvious to users - the user interface - I'm not sure how much 'under the hood' difference there is between the latest Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. I suspect not that much.

[Jerome Stanek]

I would buy now and wait a few days till Windows 10 comes out to start really using it and upgrade for free. That way you get the better price and have a fresh windows 10

[Sean Troy]

I'd probably wait for a clean install, and would probably wait at least a couple months (longer wouldn't hurt) after Windows 10 is released for the most obvious bugs to be found and squished. Except for the part most obvious to users - the user interface - I'm not sure how much 'under the hood' difference there is between the latest Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. I suspect not that much.
Windows 10 has been testing for 12 months now. if the bugs aren't already found by now, Microsoft may as well close down because of incompotence.

[Mike Henderson]

Windows 10 has been testing for 12 months now. if the bugs aren't already found by now, Microsoft may as well close down because of incompetence.
LOL, just wait. No matter how much you test, there will be situations, software, machines, that the software has not been tested on and there will be failures. It's a fact of software life. I wish it wasn't.

Even after the software has been in general use for a year or more, there will be problems found.

Mike

[I spent a fair amount of my career managing software engineers.]

[Brian Elfert]

Windows 10 has been testing for 12 months now. if the bugs aren't already found by now, Microsoft may as well close down because of incompotence.

Microsoft finds bugs in their products constantly. Why do you think they releases patches every month?

It is impossible to test a product used by millions of users with every possible combination that users have. Bugs will be found once software is out in the wild.

[Larry Browning]

I know of at least 2 people who have recently bought Win8.1 PCs and are just storing them on a shelf waiting for Win10 to come out. The plan is to remove all the crapware first and then do the upgrade before proceeding. That way they get the good pricing now. I have not heard of anyone having trouble with the upgrade, especially on a brand new computer. I think the smart thing to do is to wait a few months to upgrade anyway, so you are looking at November or so to do the upgrade. Why not go ahead and get one now, start using it, trying not to do any major tweaking and then do the upgrade in a few months? Don't wait too long though, the free upgrade will only be available for one year. I think it will be around $100 to upgrade after that.

I think if it were me, I would try to find a new computer with Win7 or 8.1 Pro installed, that way you can then upgrade to Win10 Pro. Plus, generally, a Win7 Pro computer has less crapware installed due to it being marketed to businesses rather than home users. If you don't care about the Pro features, then it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

[Pat Barry]

I know of at least 2 people who have recently bought Win8.1 PCs and are just storing them on a shelf waiting for Win10 to come out. The plan is to remove all the crapware first and then do the upgrade before proceeding. That way they get the good pricing now. I have not heard of anyone having trouble with the upgrade, especially on a brand new computer. I think the smart thing to do is to wait a few months to upgrade anyway, so you are looking at November or so to do the upgrade. Why not go ahead and get one now, start using it, trying not to do any major tweaking and then do the upgrade in a few months? Don't wait too long though, the free upgrade will only be available for one year. I think it will be around $100 to upgrade after that.

I think if it were me, I would try to find a new computer with Win7 or 8.1 Pro installed, that way you can then upgrade to Win10 Pro. Plus, generally, a Win7 Pro computer has less crapware installed due to it being marketed to businesses rather than home users. If you don't care about the Pro features, then it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.


Why do they feel like they are winning by doing this? Do you expect the new Windows 10 computers to be a lot more expensive?

[Larry Browning]

Why do they feel like they are winning by doing this? Do you expect the new Windows 10 computers to be a lot more expensive?
No, not at all. My thinking is this: Traditionally, late summer is a good time to buy a PC. Many retailers are having back-to-school specials on school supplies, computers are school supplies. By the time new computers start shipping with Win10, the back-to-school deals will not be available.

[Matt Meiser]

Dell says they are shipping Windows 10 machines starting on the 29th.

[Larry Browning]

Dell says they are shipping Windows 10 machines starting on the 29th.

I have been reading that the July 29th date was when it was going to START rolling out the upgrade and that new PC's would would be "sometime" (whatever that means!) after that. So, if that is the case, then the main advantage of buying now would be that you could still choose to delay upgrading to Win 10 for a few months.

[Chuck Wintle]

I have a dell laptop eligible for the windows 10 upgrade. This will be my test machine as I plant to run the upgrade the moment it is available. That will tell me what to expect for my desktop. If they have been testing for 12 months then maybe, just maybe, win 10 will be mostly bug free. I wonder where this expression came from?

[Jerome Stanek]

most versions of windows go through a year or more of testing. I tested windows 7 almost 2 years before it came out. Windows Messy was one that they forced out early and Vista only had about a year of testing.

[Dave Lehnert]

I was told by the sales person that windows 10 will be released on the 29th but don't expect to just go on-line and download it. You will have to get on a waiting list and then be invited to download at a later date. Guess they are trying to avoid a system crash on the 29th.
I have been pricing laptops since last fall. The prices right now are much lower.

[Myk Rian]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq?ocid=win10_auxapp_LearnMore_win10faq

[Dave Lehnert]

Thanks for the link.

[Greg R Bradley]

I'm beginning to think there is no Windows after 7.

8 is a joke.
8.1 is not much better.
9 stillborn
10 might be worth looking at in a year or so. Probably not.
Home users, buy a Mac!

[Mike Henderson]

I'm beginning to think there is no Windows after 7.

8 is a joke.
8.1 is not much better.
9 stillborn
10 might be worth looking at in a year or so. Probably not.
Home users, buy a Mac!
I've been using 8.1 with an add-on program to get rid of the Metro interface. And like that 8.1 is good - I like it. It boots fast and it's been stable with the applications I run. If 10 is better than 8.1 I'm sure I'll like it.

Mike

[Curt Harms]

I've been using 8.1 with an add-on program to get rid of the Metro interface. And like that 8.1 is good - I like it. It boots fast and it's been stable with the applications I run. If 10 is better than 8.1 I'm sure I'll like it.

Mike

I suspect viewing 10 as 8.2 with a different face wouldn't miss it too far. When I first installed Win 10 in a virtual machine, Windows 10 was not listed but Windows 8.1 was. I told it I was installing Windows 8.1. It installed and ran with no hiccups.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I've been using 8.1 with an add-on program to get rid of the Metro interface. And like that 8.1 is good - I like it.

Same here. I run Windows 7 Pro at work, and 8.1 Pro at home. With a start menu add-on for 8.1, it's identical to Windows 7, only faster.


8 is a joke.
8.1 is not much better.

Then you've probably never used it.

[Myk Rian]

Then you've probably never used it.
I have. It's a joke.
I'll be a sucker to try 10. But I'll make a disk image of my boot drive first.

[Mike Henderson]

I have. It's a joke.
I'll be a sucker to try 10. But I'll make a disk image of my boot drive first.
What about it don't you like? My experience is the same as Gerry - with the program to remove the Metro interface, it's essentially the same as 7, but faster.

I'm just interested in what other experiences people have had with it.

Mike

[Larry Browning]

What about it don't you like? My experience is the same as Gerry - with the program to remove the Metro interface, it's essentially the same as 7, but faster.

I'm just interested in what other experiences people have had with it.

Mike
My experience with Win8.1 is the same as yours with the start menu replacement program.
It has become the popular thing to jump on the Win8.1 is horrible bandwagon. The main thing MS did wrong was get rid of the start menu, just about everything else is good. It takes $5 or less to fix that and you are left with a strong stable operating system.

Myk,
Besides the start menu thing, what exactly is it about Windows 8.1 that makes it a joke?

[Brian Elfert]

I like the user interface on 8.1 a whole lot better than 8 simply because you can right click on the start menu to do a lot of stuff. I like to avoid third party add-ons to what I consider core parts of the operating system.

[Larry Browning]

I like to avoid third party add-ons to what I consider core parts of the operating system.
I really have never understood this way of thinking. This is like saying you won't buy a house because the bathroom cabinets don't have pulls. Please explain, maybe I'm missing something.

[Brian Elfert]

If I add a pull to a cabinet the cabinet doors won't fall off and the cabinet won't become unusable. If I add an add-on to my Windows PC the core system may become unstable and crash more often.

I work on computers all day and too many add-ons can cause instability. I've had to remove stuff fairly often from Windows servers because it causes them to crash.

[Larry Browning]

If I add a pull to a cabinet the cabinet doors won't fall off and the cabinet won't become unusable.
Ya never know, it might. Maybe these cabinets have an add-on pull detector built in and that's exactly what would happen.

[Myk Rian]

I tried an add-on for the menu. It was nothing like a real installation of 7. If you need an add-on, why use it in the first place?
I don't like the "Metro" interface of 8/8.1.. It was made for touch screens, not a keyboard/mouse system.
I'm done on this topic.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

"Start is Back" for $3 is nearly identical to Windows 7, and you never see the Metro pages again.

[Larry Browning]

I tried an add-on for the menu. It was nothing like a real installation of 7. If you need an add-on, why use it in the first place?
I don't like the "Metro" interface of 8/8.1.. It was made for touch screens, not a keyboard/mouse system.
I'm done on this topic.

StartIsBack or Start8 (or any one of several others) solves every one of those problems. Windows 8 brings much faster boot times, along with some really cool backup/restore options and countless other little things that aren't very sexy, but add to stability. I think it seems a bit "snappier" than Windows 7. I haven't seen a single Metro app since I started using StartIsBack.
I swear, if MS had left the start menu in place, Windows 8 would have been a big hit. Once the familiar start menu was no longer available everybody just gave up on it. There is a simple work around that costs less than a Starbucks cup of coffee that will fix it all, and nobody will even give it go. Maybe its because bashing Microsoft is more fun or the popular thing to do. It's just beyond me.
I think I am gonna be like Myk and be done with this topic. It's just too frustrating, and I 'm not going to convince anybody to change their mind. I think I'll join the SawStop debate or how about which track saw is the best?