School me on windows 10

[Guest]

So, i've reserved my spot, but am confused as to the the changes other than everything aesthetic.

With regards to the other perks, tell me everything you guys know about the advantages?

Speed on my "slightly" older hardware? What're the perks?

Cheers, and thanks!

 

CH

[TheAmazingCookieFromSquare]

New and 'improved' UI and DX12 and Minecraft pre-installed even if you don't want to play it

[Sam Z Man]

DX12 HYPE

[Alurit]

win10 should be lighter then even the 8.1 on machines, since x86 tablets/mobile is a focus, though don't think it will be as light as the xp

[Lord_Karango17]

Also comes with their new browser, that I've been testing out on my laptop. its lacking a few features, but its so much lighter than chrome...

[RH00D]

This article lists 10 big things that are new: http://winbeta.org/news/10-things-windows-10-most-excite-me

(Some of the screenshots in that article are outdated/old UI.)

 

Basically I'll try to do bullet points on most things but I don't know them all off the top of my head,

 

• Overhauled Start menu
• The Action Center/notification center
• Cortana (If you are concerned about privacy, there are lots of options for enabling/disabling things Cortana can/cannot do, what she does and doesn't have access to, etc.)
• Continuum (Modifies the UI for tablet or desktop usage depending on device type and input method being used.)
• UI for switching tasks (Alt-Tab) is significantly improved
• Aero Snap functionality hugely improved
• New Microsoft Edge browser
• Universal Apps (This is more relevant if you have multiple Windows-based devices, including PC, Phone, Xbox, HoloLens, etc.)
• Windows Hello (Automatically login/lock PC by face detection, requires special webcam hardware.)
• DirectX12
• Multiple virtual desktops
• All stock apps are completely overhauled (Store, Photos, Weather, News, Health & Fitness, Groove Music, Movies & TV, Settings, Mail & Calendar, Calculator, Alarm & Clock, and many more)
• Xbox app, will bring a bunch of Xbox platform features to Windows 10 including bringing some Xbox games to Windows 10 and allowing cross-platform play, etc. Xbox app can also act as a Game DVR/take screenshots. It will also allow the Xbox One-to-PC game streaming. They are also reportedly working on PC-to-Xbox One streaming. The Xbox games on Windows 10 confirmed so far are Fable Legends, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Gigantic, and Killer Instinct. Doom (2016 release) is also coming to Xbox One and Windows 10. Also, all the Xbox 360 games that will be playable via backwards compatibility can also be stream to Windows 10 PCs
• File Explorer is improved as well with new functionality
• Login screen UI is updated
• Plenty of UI refinements all over the place, everything looks a lot nicer and more pleasing now
• Phone Companion app that works not only with Windows phones but also iPhones and Android phones
• Command Prompt has been improved after all these years as well with a more scale-able GUI and new features like being able to paste using Ctrl+V, among other things (These improvements also apply to PowerShell): http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/09/windows-10-command-prompt-finally-gets-dragged-into-the-21st-century/
• Windows Update in Windows 10 supports peer-to-peer downloading on the same local network. So if you have 2 or more PCs then 1 PC downloads the Windows updates from the internet, then all other PC download the updates from the first PC so it will be faster for the other PCs and save on your internet bandwidth cap if you have one.
• Better high-resolution screen support. Windows 10 supports up to 8K displays and will have better UI scaling overall.

That appears to be most of the end-user facing features that I can think of off the top of my head. Of course they also have been making tons of improvements in performance/stability/security/privacy as well.

 

Here are some videos from recent Insider preview builds. These builds are close to what the final release should be like, although its possible some more small changes will be made.