Windows 8!

that's the standard GUI on Win8
Just looked it up and figured it out.
Now, by saying that part stinks,

1. what's the matter with it?
2. is there any alternative while still having windows 8?
3. how bad is it when using windows 8 with no touchscreen? maybe that's the awkward part?

finally, i use my laptop primarily for office stuff and running mathematical/data code. not a whole lotta need for a touch screen, but if that's the way of the future, it doesn't bother me on my phone....or does that not necessarily follow.
 
Sced, win 8 is bad. I know several IT people who hate it. It may be faster performance wise, but the way it was put together it is actually slower and more cumbersome for the user. Especially if you dont have a touch screen and are using a touchpad.
 
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It may be faster performance wise, but the way it was put together it is actually slower and more cumbersome for the user.

Could very well be the case. Like I said, the guy who told me his story is an engineer and I would say more interested in numbers and raw performance than things that matter to real people. People like us, lol. But as I understood it, he got it working pretty much like a standard Windows GUI. I can ask him to clarify when I see him next.
 
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All MS want to do is their direct their OS towards marketing, those little tiles in the metro interface will soon be for no more than an internet shopping, advertising and social networking.
For those of us who actually do work with the PC it's a travesty, I have a windows 7 rig for certain proprietary software but i can categorically say when 7 support runs out I'll be boarding up the windows for good.
The good thing to come out of it is that many more software companies are now working on Linux or Mac ports because the whole touch screen ethos would send them all bankrupt.
 
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Sced, win 8 is bad. I know several IT people who hate it. It may be faster performance wise, but the way it was put together it is actually slower and more cumbersome for the user. Especially if you dont have a touch screen and are using a touchpad.

For the work I do, I would like to see multiple screens at once, and need to type more than browse or do any photo editing or gaming or whatever else. Mostly, my computer is for work and rarely play.
I've had linux partitions on my computer before but never been able to spend the time gettign every driver to make everything work, and certain software I use just doesn't work with it, so I could not have it as my only OS, hated havign a partition, and can't afford two computers. Can't afford mac and their software has issues with half the software I need to run for research (my colleagues who use mac insist its the best thing since fire and the wheel but can never get anything to work and always need another partitioned os)
So windows is a compromise.
 
Follow up: got a new puter wednesday night: some kinda super light weight toshiba (best components for the $$$$ and I had a good experience with my first laptop which was a toshiba and mediocre/bad experience with dell....anyhoo)
came with windows 8 no touch screen.
no other option. I was assuming if it was bad enough I would have to just wipe the drive and put some other OS on it.

So far, after installing some freeware thing that makes the desktop look/act like windows 7(googled something like that and downloaded the first program I saw that was free), I just about can't tell the difference.
I've been able to install, run programs, save, peruse the disk, transfer files, and write code in my favorite statistical software programs. Drivers have been a nonissue. Settings are about in the same places as with windows 7.
Honestly, I've never had a transition to both a new os and a new laptop be this seamless.
Are there landmines I've yet to traverse? Or are my needs just simple enough to not notice the downsides?
I'm not very computer savvy. At all. Are my expectations just low?
 
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Sced maybe you are just smarter than most of us? Maybe whatever u googled and downloaded really helped make things easier. I dunno, but I know the controls were nothing like win 7 on my daughters laptop with win8.
 
Honestly, I've never had a transition to both a new os and a new laptop be this seamless.
Are there landmines I've yet to traverse? Or are my needs just simple enough to not notice the downsides?
I'm not very computer savvy. At all. Are my expectations just low?

I have the same experience, no problem at all. Works great, and some good functions for touch that I'm starting to learn.
 
I'm looking at buying myself a new laptop as well, long story short, my work-supplied laptop is so locked down it's useless adn I can't put anything personal on it, so I was looking at a new personal machine.

From what I've read W8 is OK as long as you have a touch screen? Is that not the case?

Cheers

Dave
 
I'm looking at buying myself a new laptop as well, long story short, my work-supplied laptop is so locked down it's useless adn I can't put anything personal on it, so I was looking at a new personal machine.

From what I've read W8 is OK as long as you have a touch screen? Is that not the case?

Cheers

Dave
I don't have a touch screen.
There is an option when you first start the computer to interact with the windows 8 os via those tile thingies or go to a "desktop" i installed a freeware thing that just takes me to the desktop automatically, and for the most part has restored the 'start' menu and all that.
i wasn't all that excited about a touch screen. lots of what i do is type code or write things up, when i'm not typing nonsense on the internet. ;)
i'm not much of an app user, gamer, anything like that. the touch screen didn't seem worth the extra expense, possible hassle, and missing out on the faster processing higher memory and storage of the "ultra" books that were lightweight but not touchscreen.
so far, no regrets, but it's early.

For me, I guess I don't need to go in and change settings or anything around a whole lot, so maybe the os doesn't matter to me once i have the programs i use often.
Still, with very few exceptions, I cannot tell the difference between windows 7 and the way i am using windows 8 right now. I'm sure they are there, but again, it's not that i'm so savvy(NOT), i think it's just that i don't need to do much with an os. what i do seems to work fine. printer drivers, saving things, installing things, all seem to work just like windows 7.