Windows 8.1 - why'd I wait so long?

I have a fast machine on Vista and one on Win 8, I mostly use Win 8 nowadays and when I occasionally use Vista, the difference in speed is staggering… You might argue of course that Vista has always been sluggish, but on the same computer Win 7 was not faster. The metro UI is a matter of taste of course, I personally like it a lot, but to judge the overall performance of an OS only on whether you like metro or not, it is a bit superficial I think.

 

apparently the Metro look was designed to save battery times.

i think it's pretty damn ugly but i never cared much for any of the Windows OSes look anyway.

thankfully, that can be changed easily with 3rd party utilities.

 

I uninstalled all the metro apps.

 

first thing i did.

you done good, grasshopa!

i played with those for a few days but realized quickly it was best left for smartphone users.
not desktop users.

 

Seems to be a lot of opinions regarding relative performance\speeds of 7 vs 8 vs 8.1
Can't comment on 8.1 as I don't have it. I've had Windows 8 Pro on my laptop for 14 months now – and it is faster than 7, but not by that much - (no doubt benchmark tests would show a big difference) – but it's in real time that counts....don't it? (maybe having an SSD makes a difference?)

Regarding Metro Apps – I too, got rid of the lot, except for Weather and Maps – then found I was still getting updates for the Apps I got rid of! This despite the Apps no longer appearing in My Apps. I ended up having to re-install the lot to get the damn updates to work and stop pestering me! (round and round we go!)

I don't mind Windows 8 as I use both Metro and Classic Shell – so I'm still fence sitting with regard 8.1 and undecided if I should bother downloading it. Is it really such a big change from 8?

 

it's not just a matter of getting big changes, it's getting up to date.

make a disk image in case things go sour.

 

you arent using windows 8.1, as soon as you install classic shell it becomes basically windows 7 except faster.
How many (non computer literate) people are going to install classic shell? You basically tweaked windows 8.1 to get it to look like windows 7.
If you had no classic shell, you wouldnt be praising windows 8.1 so highly.

 

i don't use Classic Shell or anything like it.
there's no need for that imo.
but to each his own.

there's more to Windows 8.1 than just being faster.

 

I've said this a few times.

 

Windows 8.1 is faster than Windows 8.

 

You don't even need Classic Shell. Sure, some people really would prefer Win7 or XP style Start Menu but it's not a necessity per se. Even if you don't use Modern/Metro apps, you can still use the Start Screen as a launcher for desktop programs.

 

Agreed.

But also consider the lowered tech/support costs IF you roll out with Classic Shell, then slowly move folks over to the Metro Start. Also the 'shock' won't be so much, but folks can take advantage of what Windows 8.1 offers.

That's why from an IT perspective, it makes perfect sense to roll with Classic Shell at the start, then ease away from it.

 

Any company that gave me that advice, wouldn't be a company I do business with in the future, that's for sure. Especially since 8.1 can speed up virtually everything, including gaming.

 

Care to elaborate what criteria is that Win7 is a better vector in than 8.1? 8.1 is faster, gaming is smoother, shutdown/startup is faster, error handling is streamlined, security is tightened. Unless I am missing something, where does Win7 accel over Win8.1?

No offense but if someone is taking $1700+ for a gaming rig I could build for $700, they need to be a little more careful with their advice. If I had one of these companies, I'd immediately license an enterprise kit of Classic Shell or Start8, and drop it with every shipped product, rather than recommending people stay with an older, inferior operating system.

I think it's little to do with good advice, and more to do with how many cases of cheap OEM Win7 discs they have sitting around.. Just a guess though.

 

Pete they did not steer you wrong this time either.

As for those that post benchmarks results to prove that 8, 8.1 is faster than 7 they should read the following
https://teksyndicate.com/forum/windows/win-7-vs-8-vs-81-benchmark-interesting-outcome/155543
http://www.extremetech.com/computin...worlds-top-benchmarking-and-overclocking-site
http://www.extremetech.com/computin...ocking-issues-are-blown-way-out-of-proportion
http://hwbot.org/newsflash/2394_ (Jan 21, 2014)

Panagiotis

 

I agree with you. Also, I got much better speed improvements when I changed HDD with SSD than when I tested Windows 8 on my computer. So if you want to gain some speed, investing in SSD is more logical to me. Since Microsoft announced new system next year, I will try to skip Windows 8, just as I did with Vista. And I hope they do it right this time.

hqsec

 

Every test I have run, 8.1 is faster - every single one. That's good enough for me. The improvements to 'smoothing' in games is more than enough to convince. War Thunder for example is noticeably smoother under 8.1. That's the lightening boot/shutdown stuff aside! It's like a free hardware upgrade to be honest. As for SSD - still waiting for some tech improvements, and the price per MB to drop. But since my PC has a 15 second boot, and 1.9 second shutdown, and other improvements - not sure an SSD would offer too much at this point. Imagine 8.1 with an SSD? DANG!

 

What smoothing you're talking about dude? Every benchmark I've seen on Windows 7 vs 8 showed a difference of 1, 2 or 3 fps. It wasn't even faster on all games. And if you think you're going to notice that, well you need to learn a lot of things about gaming.

 

My Windows 7 boots in 15 to 20 seconds and shuts down in around 10 seconds. Since I do both once a day it's not that important to me. I'm not a gamer, so I don't know how games are performing on both of them. I just like Windows 7 better and don't see much benefits in upgrading to 8. At my work we also got bad feedback from our customers that got computers with Windows 8 preinstalled. So now we usually downgrade to Windows 7 and keep them happy.

hqsec

 

I see next to no improvement in the frame rate of games between Win7 & Win8x, I actually noticed that Dishonored & Bioshock Inifinite as well as some other games actually took a frame rate hit on Win8x down about 5-10% Also 3D Mark, Catzilla & the Unigine benchmarks also showed worse results on Win8x for me.

I think the problem that some make is that they are comparing a Win7 system that has been used for a while & has lots of apps installed & then comparing that to a fresh Win8x install with hardly anything installed. A fresh install is always going to be snappier than a well used install.

Win8 is basically the Marmite of OS's, you either love it or hate it

 

I tried 8.1 on my PC and it was not a single bit faster than Windows 7 in any test.
And most benchmarks I've seen online seem to confirm that, the differences are within the margin of error, sometimes in favor of one or the other OS.

The only consistent difference I see in tests is boot time, but only if you use the "fast startup" feature, which is not proper cold boot.
But then why would ever you use that, if you can use sleep or hibernate instead and get an even faster "boot"? It's a completely useless feature, IMO, which only confuses users and causes unexpected problems with dual boot setups (because it basically just hibernates system files).

I don't really hate Windows 8, but seeing how it's not faster than 7 for me and how I've had a few compatibility issues with it, I have no reason to use it.

 

This discussion of whether customers like win 7 or win 8 I believe is simply an indicator of how people react to change. This is really not a technical debate.

Everyone I know, myself included, went through of period of frustration, and anger when they first started using windows 8. When you find that you can not do the simplest of things that you could do before, and that things can no longer be found where they previously were, the first impulse is to want to go back. (this was my first response). Some people never get beyond this phase, they revert, and often become very vocal.

Others find a way to get to the desk top on boot and go from there. The addition of Classic Shell, while not necessary, can bring almost immediate comfort. There is no tweaking necessary, you can simply select the type of start menu you are used to. It does not alter the original set-up in any way ( you can return to the original by hitting cntrl - shift and then the "start" button). Once this is achieved and one starts to actually use the software they begin to realize that it works very well.

So you can debate back and forth about technically which is better, A or B, but I am convinced for many it is simply a matter of how you react to something that takes you out of your comfort zone. Hence why all this unjust trashing that can be found all over the net of an operating system that is at least as good, if not superior in many ways, to what preceded it.

So tell your your customers, "If you are happy with what you have and do not like change, then go with win 7. But if you don't mind getting past the an initial period of discomfort, and would like a lighter, faster, safer operating system - then go with Win 8.1".

 

I just couldn't agree more with you guys.