My Mini-Review of Windows 8.1 Pro

[Opcode]

What do you mean?

 

Thank you.

He could mean the scheduler is optimized for Haswell. Hardware is only as fast and efficient as the software that utilizes it.

 

If you really hate all of the bloatware just install from the kernel.....still faster than windows

Faster at what? Loading web pages? That's honestly the only place that Linux is faster than Windows 8. The downside is you're limited with Linux to the software base that is. I could never make the full switch to Linux (even tho I would like to) simply because I code for the larger margin of the market share, Windows.

[epeglab_1_]

Faster at what? Loading web pages? That's honestly the only place that Linux is faster than Windows 8. The downside is you're limited with Linux to the software base that is. I could never make the full switch to Linux (even tho I would like to) simply because I code for the larger margin of the market share, Windows.

I agree with the last part that Linux is very (IMO) "Held back" by the developers. Some of the apps just doesn't have a nice look and interface, they are just there so the company can brag. 

[GamerDude]

Wow. No blue-screens, crashes, etc.?

I had 64bit Vista in my main rig before moving on to 64bit Win7 followed by 64bit Win8.1, yes, there were issues with driver incompatibility initially but it got better as time went by. With the Service packs, it got to the point where I'd say it was a very good OS, and no, after the first service pack, there were hardly any major issue to speak of,,,,

[tbc]

 

You clearly need to try Linux Mint to truly understand what speed is but anyway good review. I don't like windows 8 because there's networking issues with VMware and the fact that you can't have the Metro UI 100% gone, if you could choose to have or not have it at install I would greatly consider moving to 8.

 

 

 

out of curiosity, how much time would you estimate you spend in the start menu when you use windows 7?

 

 

I had 64bit Vista in my main rig before moving on to 64bit Win7 followed by 64bit Win8.1, yes, there were issues with driver incompatibility initially but it got better as time went by. With the Service packs, it got to the point where I'd say it was a very good OS, and no, after the first service pack, there were hardly any major issue to speak of,,,,

 

 

^ that is the TRUTH about aliens...err Vista

 

everyone that was complaining about vista used it before service pack 1 (when there were almost no printer drivers) or just never used it at all.  don't get me wrong, windows 7 was a huge upgrade.  it's just that alot of the stuff that people liked in 7 was also in vista (where do you think all of the windows 7 printer drivers came from?). just using printers because that one my peeve about vista, there were ALOT more imported low-level stuff than just printer drivers.

 

it was a blessing after the maintenance nightmare that was XP.

[AMICLG]

out of curiosity, how much time would you estimate you spend in the start menu when you use windows 7?

Not very much, maybe 1% of my time as most of my programs are in my taskbar.

[Opcode]

out of curiosity, how much time would you estimate you spend in the start menu when you use windows 7?

On top of that the Start Menu in Windows 95 - 7 works in tandem with the desktop. If the Start Menu is open, the desktop in rendered unusable. Microsoft did the right thing by recreating the Start Menu to utilize screen real estate (since you cannot use the desktop at the same time anyways). "Metro" was a well baked idea, it's just the consumer that rejected it. Which is expected, the Start Menu has been exactly the same and part of Windows for many years. God forbid there be any changes to Windows in the future...

[tbc]

i'm just confused why people haven't been able to differentiate between metro mode and desktop mode.

 

they're almost entirely exclusive.  they're BEST when used together, but it's totally possible to trick the user into thinking they're using windows 7

[Paralectic]

I'm really satisfied with Windows 8.1 pro, for everything AND gaming too.

[Mysticode]

Nice write-up afro walking man! I for one am waiting to see what the next generation of Windows brings, as I am not a fan of the "tablet" features/takeover of Windows 8.

[flibberdipper]

Nice write-up afro walking man! I for one am waiting to see what the next generation of Windows brings, as I am not a fan of the "tablet" features/takeover of Windows 8.

lol Thanks, future-Firefox-Icon man!

[Analog]

I had 64bit Vista in my main rig before moving on to 64bit Win7 followed by 64bit Win8.1, yes, there were issues with driver incompatibility initially but it got better as time went by. With the Service packs, it got to the point where I'd say it was a very good OS, and no, after the first service pack, there were hardly any major issue to speak of,,,,

 

Agreed! Initially I also had some problems especially with my tablet since I upgraded that the same thay Windows 8.1 came out. Lot's of drivers didn't work and I was really pissed off, though in abut a week Acer manged to get everything fixed up. Now it's running so good that I recently switched on it on my desktop from Windows 8. However I am still running Start8 on my main rig so that I can disable all of the features of Metro UI. I just prefer the full desktop experience on my PC.

[ChillKyle]

Honestly, I was a hater of Windows 8. But then I jumped onto the bandwagon of 8.1 and now don't see the hate to it. Love the solid performance of Windows 8.1

[flibberdipper]

Honestly, I was a hater of Windows 8. But then I jumped onto the bandwagon of 8.1 and now don't see the hate to it. Love the solid performance of Windows 8.1

My thoughts in a nutshell. But, the second the Windows 8 CP was up, I got it, and I liked it.

[Guest]

Honestly, I was a hater of Windows 8. But then I jumped onto the bandwagon of 8.1 and now don't see the hate to it. Love the solid performance of Windows 8.1

The performance is amazing, it blows any os out of the water

[flibberdipper]

The performance is amazing, it blows any os out of the water

Unless you have a GeForce 7025 iGPU...

[Mkfish]

I loved windows 8 since I very first tried it, honestly I could not understand why people were so bent out of shape over the start menu. It really only takes about a day, tops to get used to the new menu. Now that I am on 8.1 I love it even more. The speed and stability of 8.1 is just fantastic. 

I tried to use Ubuntu, and I really loved it. I loved it a lot. But as far as trying to play games, media and netflix went; even some of the simplest tasks became a nightmare and eventually I switched back to Windows.

Awesome review though, I'd urge anyone who hasn't made the switch yet to reconsider. 

[Guest]

To not start a new thread i will write here, discuss same things as the op.

 

PEFORMANCE:

 

The performance is really awesome, especially in some new games. The usage is really low and the biggest usage i've encountered was like 650 MB's with only the system load while on windows 7 that knew to reach arround 900 mb's. And that is all with the Metro Interface which by the way i really like, it is modern stylish, and brings some fresh air to the whole system, but i really love Windows Explorer 10 on that thing. Also, transitions between desktop and Metro interface are good

 

METRO INTERFACE:

 

Very good and stylish, but never found myself using it.

 

APPS:

 

So since i already started to talk about Explorer 10 i should talk about other things, so the Windows 8.1 came with a preinstalled Zip extraction software and that Explorer 10 i really like, and much more things that you had to download on Windows 7.

 

STABILLITY.

 

Crashed only 1 time on me and never again in arround 9 months of usage, and that was the 8.1 preview, woah, nothing to speak about there.

 

DUAL BOOT:

 

No problems in that department, tried it myself.

 

Some cons:

 

-Activation problems, especially if you try to pirate it, which i didn't, i just got the preview and nothing else.

-Minimizing the games crashes them.

-No Basic theme for less memory usage.

-Some Metro apps need more work.

 

My ratings? 7 out of 10. Good, but needs work

[Guest]

BTW op, i always wanted to ask you something, how did you put spoilers inside of spoilers?

[flibberdipper]

BTW op, i always wanted to ask you something, how did you put spoilers inside of spoilers?

This is the stuff I have in my sig (although a little outdated). http://pastebin.com/cPZ1gqKg

[ijKs Snow]

I got a rig running Win 8.1 and aside from some driver issues, I like it.

I can see why some people might hate it from Win 7, but all that hate when Win 8 was coming out was pretty much people just agreeing with the loud minority.

 

The plus side is that I learned A LOT of different window function keyboard shortcuts using Win 8.1 making productivity for me faster. I rarely even touch the mouse now unless I'm gaming or something.

 

Also, with GUI disabled, PW disabled, Metro UI skip, etc. My boot time into desktop is around 7-8 seconds using a 840 EVO. 

[Madbrood]

-Minimizing the games crashes them.

Which games? I've never experienced this with Win 8.1

 

I was a little worried 'taking the plunge' with 8.1 as my OS, all my friends were telling me to get 7. So glad I didn't, 9 seconds to login, another 2 to desktop. "Runs like I stole it" is right. 

[Guest]

To not start a new thread i will write here, discuss same things as the op.

 

PEFORMANCE:

 

The performance is really awesome, especially in some new games. The usage is really low and the biggest usage i've encountered was like 650 MB's with only the system load while on windows 7 that knew to reach arround 900 mb's. And that is all with the Metro Interface which by the way i really like, it is modern stylish, and brings some fresh air to the whole system, but i really love Windows Explorer 10 on that thing. Also, transitions between desktop and Metro interface are good

 

METRO INTERFACE:

 

Very good and stylish, but never found myself using it.

 

APPS:

 

So since i already started to talk about Explorer 10 i should talk about other things, so the Windows 8.1 came with a preinstalled Zip extraction software and that Explorer 10 i really like, and much more things that you had to download on Windows 7.

 

STABILLITY.

 

Crashed only 1 time on me and never again in arround 9 months of usage, and that was the 8.1 preview, woah, nothing to speak about there.

 

DUAL BOOT:

 

No problems in that department, tried it myself.

 

Some cons:

 

-Activation problems, especially if you try to pirate it, which i didn't, i just got the preview and nothing else.

-Minimizing the games crashes them.

-No Basic theme for less memory usage.

-Some Metro apps need more work.

 

My ratings? 7 out of 10. Good, but needs work

I'm at minimal 1.2 gig windows 7 and 1gig with 8.1

[flibberdipper]

I'm at minimal 1.2 gig windows 7 and 1gig with 8.1

My install of Windows 8 hangs around 800MB (just booted) and climbs to about 1.2GB after a couple of days of use (without being rebooted or anything).

[Guest]

Which games? I've never experienced this with Win 8.1

 

I was a little worried 'taking the plunge' with 8.1 as my OS, all my friends were telling me to get 7. So glad I didn't, 9 seconds to login, another 2 to desktop. "Runs like I stole it" is right. 

I dont know, i might be wrong, it is probably AMD drivers for 8.1, going to reinstall it now, and yes, you are right, forgot to include that it really boots fast, on my 500gb wd 5400rpm hdd it logs in 15 seconds, another three to metro, and really instantly to desktop

[Guest]

@tmcclelland455

I installed it 2 days ago, upgraded from 7 to 8.1, i love it.

One thing tho, does the Netflix app work for you? When i try to watch something, the loading icon keeps stuck at 21%.