New Computer With Windows 8.1...What am I in for???

[Uncensored2008]

Stupid Question #1... What is metro...The tiles people talk about?

Stupid Question #2....I think (???) I bought Dell Inspiron 23 5000 Seies 8GB 1TB windows 8.1 with a 27" monitor. Is it a touch computer?

Metro is the tile interface. Yes, it's an all-in-one with a touchscreen monitor. Win 8 really isn't that bad, most (like me) hate the Metro interface but even then it has a major learning curve for users going from XP straight to Win 8. There are things you can do to make it more Win 7 like thereby rarely having to deal with Metro except on boot up.
Win 7 has a learning curve for those upgrading from XP (or earlier releases) but it's not as bad.

Metro works well on a touch screen, but is horrible with a mouse.

 

[Jackson]

Windows 8 is one of the worst large scale modern operating systems yet. If not THE worst.
By modern I mean post-90's. Let's say 2000 - forward.
It is terrible. It is what critics say it is - an OS made for a smart phone, forced onto a computer.
A smart phone primarily does one thing at a time since of course the small display makes looking at more than one thing impossible. Desktops/Laptops do NOT do one thing at a time. Who the f*ck wants to click on a picture in an email - and the picture completely takes over the computer. You can't look at the image and your email at the same time. That is stupid.
Want to look at an excel file and your email at the same time?
Too bad.
Now, it is true you can abandon the Metro desktop and go back to the traditional desktop (sort of) - but then of course why would anyone want Window 8 - and set it back to a "sort of Windows 7 machine"??
It is as bad as people say it is.
Anyone saying different is a Microsoft fanboy and is being dishonest.

How do you know all of this? Do you have W8? Sell computers? An IT person? Just a Computer knowledgable person?

 

[Jackson]

Stupid Question #1... What is metro...The tiles people talk about?

Stupid Question #2....I think (???) I bought Dell Inspiron 23 5000 Seies 8GB 1TB windows 8.1 with a 27" monitor. Is it a touch computer?

Metro is the tile interface. Yes, it's an all-in-one with a touchscreen monitor. Win 8 really isn't that bad, most (like me) hate the Metro interface but even then it has a major learning curve for users going from XP straight to Win 8. There are things you can do to make it more Win 7 like thereby rarely having to deal with Metro except on boot up.
Win 7 has a learning curve for those upgrading from XP (or earlier releases) but it's not as bad.

Metro works well on a touch screen, but is horrible with a mouse.

I'm keeping my keyboard and mouse

 

[Uncensored2008]

Metro is the tile interface. Yes, it's an all-in-one with a touchscreen monitor. Win 8 really isn't that bad, most (like me) hate the Metro interface but even then it has a major learning curve for users going from XP straight to Win 8. There are things you can do to make it more Win 7 like thereby rarely having to deal with Metro except on boot up.
Win 7 has a learning curve for those upgrading from XP (or earlier releases) but it's not as bad.

Metro works well on a touch screen, but is horrible with a mouse.

I'm keeping my keyboard and mouse

As you should.

One of the first really cool moments with Metro was on my Surface, just reading a news feed. I realized that how I moved the article on screen determined what would happen. Slide my finger down, and the article scrolled - pretty typical. BUT then I slide left and right to have the system respond with either other articles or related materials - all context sensitive. Very cool stuff. You can do none of this with a mouse, Microsoft built all this intelligence into the touch mechanism. There are a lot of things like this in Metro, if you use the touch interface, you will find amazing touches.

I'm a long time Android user, and the Android interface is downright primitive compared to Metro. Right now only Windows can do these things. Obviously Apple will soon steal all the innovations and "create them" to the wild applause of the Apple fanatics - but for the moment, only MS has a hyper-intelligent touch UI.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Windows 8 is one of the worst large scale modern operating systems yet. If not THE worst.
By modern I mean post-90's. Let's say 2000 - forward.
It is terrible. It is what critics say it is - an OS made for a smart phone, forced onto a computer.
A smart phone primarily does one thing at a time since of course the small display makes looking at more than one thing impossible. Desktops/Laptops do NOT do one thing at a time. Who the f*ck wants to click on a picture in an email - and the picture completely takes over the computer. You can't look at the image and your email at the same time. That is stupid.
Want to look at an excel file and your email at the same time?
Too bad.
Now, it is true you can abandon the Metro desktop and go back to the traditional desktop (sort of) - but then of course why would anyone want Window 8 - and set it back to a "sort of Windows 7 machine"??
It is as bad as people say it is.
Anyone saying different is a Microsoft fanboy and is being dishonest.

How do you know all of this? Do you have W8? Sell computers? An IT person? Just a Computer knowledgable person?

ALl of the above with exception to selling computers.
We have one Win 8 laptop in the house. And we (like most) set it to boot up into the traditional desktop. Metro is horrendous. Unless you are a teenager who only uses Facebook and Youtube...then it is great.
We also have one Win 7 laptop, a Chromebook, a LinuxMint Desktop running Plex Server and two laptops running LinuxMint.
I never use the Win 8 machine, and my wife prefers the Chromebook. Which I am willing to bet you would also. If you primarily do everything in a browser - Chromebook is fantastic.
I have a loong history in IT.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Windows 8 is one of the worst large scale modern operating systems yet. If not THE worst.
By modern I mean post-90's. Let's say 2000 - forward.
It is terrible. It is what critics say it is - an OS made for a smart phone, forced onto a computer.
A smart phone primarily does one thing at a time since of course the small display makes looking at more than one thing impossible. Desktops/Laptops do NOT do one thing at a time. Who the f*ck wants to click on a picture in an email - and the picture completely takes over the computer. You can't look at the image and your email at the same time. That is stupid.
Want to look at an excel file and your email at the same time?
Too bad.
Now, it is true you can abandon the Metro desktop and go back to the traditional desktop (sort of) - but then of course why would anyone want Window 8 - and set it back to a "sort of Windows 7 machine"??
It is as bad as people say it is.
Anyone saying different is a Microsoft fanboy and is being dishonest.

Either that, or they are educated and actually know what they are talking about.

It appears to me that you don't even know the difference between an operating system and a user interface.

User interface... you understand that is a broad term. Or did you mean the GUI? The graphical user interface. I take it you do.
Microsoft is the one that forgot what an OS is. Or what it should do. Like stay out of the way after it launches your software.

 

[Jackson]

Windows 8 is one of the worst large scale modern operating systems yet. If not THE worst.
By modern I mean post-90's. Let's say 2000 - forward.
It is terrible. It is what critics say it is - an OS made for a smart phone, forced onto a computer.
A smart phone primarily does one thing at a time since of course the small display makes looking at more than one thing impossible. Desktops/Laptops do NOT do one thing at a time. Who the f*ck wants to click on a picture in an email - and the picture completely takes over the computer. You can't look at the image and your email at the same time. That is stupid.
Want to look at an excel file and your email at the same time?
Too bad.
Now, it is true you can abandon the Metro desktop and go back to the traditional desktop (sort of) - but then of course why would anyone want Window 8 - and set it back to a "sort of Windows 7 machine"??
It is as bad as people say it is.
Anyone saying different is a Microsoft fanboy and is being dishonest.

How do you know all of this? Do you have W8? Sell computers? An IT person? Just a Computer knowledgable person?

ALl of the above with exception to selling computers.
We have one Win 8 laptop in the house. And we (like most) set it to boot up into the traditional desktop. Metro is horrendous. Unless you are a teenager who only uses Facebook and Youtube...then it is great.
We also have one Win 7 laptop, a Chromebook, a LinuxMint Desktop running Plex Server and two laptops running LinuxMint.
I never use the Win 8 machine, and my wife prefers the Chromebook. Which I am willing to bet you would also. If you primarily do everything in a browser - Chromebook is fantastic.
I have a loong history in IT.

Thank you. That's quite a resume!

I prefer a desktop. I like my keyboard and mouse. I don't want and hope I did not get a touch computer. I don't have a smart phone, so it'e unlikely I would want a touch anything. I had an ipad and gave it away.

So, you can see I am not tech savvy, but like to be on it for this board and mundane tasks. I'm thinking Windows7 is what I should have. Think I will call Dell to make sure I didn't buy the touch.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

How do you know all of this? Do you have W8? Sell computers? An IT person? Just a Computer knowledgable person?

ALl of the above with exception to selling computers.
We have one Win 8 laptop in the house. And we (like most) set it to boot up into the traditional desktop. Metro is horrendous. Unless you are a teenager who only uses Facebook and Youtube...then it is great.
We also have one Win 7 laptop, a Chromebook, a LinuxMint Desktop running Plex Server and two laptops running LinuxMint.
I never use the Win 8 machine, and my wife prefers the Chromebook. Which I am willing to bet you would also. If you primarily do everything in a browser - Chromebook is fantastic.
I have a loong history in IT.

Thank you. That's quite a resume!

I prefer a desktop. I like my keyboard and mouse. I don't want and hope I did not get a touch computer. I don't have a smart phone, so it'e unlikely I would want a touch anything. I had an ipad and gave it away.

So, you can see I am not tech savvy, but like to be on it for this board and mundane tasks. I'm thinking Windows7 is what I should have. Think I will call Dell to make sure I didn't buy the touch.

I am thinking you should call Dell and cancel the order and reconsider Chromebook. (You can very-very easily plug in a traditional keyboard/mouse into a laptop and also plug it into a larger monitor. Very easily, plug it in and it just works.
What is Chromebook? Essentially it is a computer designed only to use the internet. So if all you so is email, browse the internet, come here, type some letters and print them etc. Then Chromebook is the way to go. Not only are the VERY cheap, but they are waaay faster the a traditional computer since they have no hard drive and operate on a very small O.S.
Seriously, go to a Best buy or even a Walmart and try one out.

 

[Bleipriester]

How do you know all of this? Do you have W8? Sell computers? An IT person? Just a Computer knowledgable person?

ALl of the above with exception to selling computers.
We have one Win 8 laptop in the house. And we (like most) set it to boot up into the traditional desktop. Metro is horrendous. Unless you are a teenager who only uses Facebook and Youtube...then it is great.
We also have one Win 7 laptop, a Chromebook, a LinuxMint Desktop running Plex Server and two laptops running LinuxMint.
I never use the Win 8 machine, and my wife prefers the Chromebook. Which I am willing to bet you would also. If you primarily do everything in a browser - Chromebook is fantastic.
I have a loong history in IT.

Thank you. That's quite a resume!

I prefer a desktop. I like my keyboard and mouse. I don't want and hope I did not get a touch computer. I don't have a smart phone, so it'e unlikely I would want a touch anything. I had an ipad and gave it away.

So, you can see I am not tech savvy, but like to be on it for this board and mundane tasks. I'm thinking Windows7 is what I should have. Think I will call Dell to make sure I didn't buy the touch.

A touch-display does not hinder you to use a mouse instead and normally you don´t need to buy a new computer if you want to use Windows 7. Just buy a Windows 7 Systembuilder license, load the drivers from the internet and install Windows 7. Or, again, try the tools I provided.

 

[Uncensored2008]

User interface... you understand that is a broad term. Or did you mean the GUI?

It's not 1985 anymore, and Steve Jobs didn't just invent icons (by stealing them from PARC)

I meant what I said, the UI - which in modern terms includes input models such as multi-touch.

The graphical user interface. I take it you do.
Microsoft is the one that forgot what an OS is. Or what it should do. Like stay out of the way after it launches your software.

Microsoft suffered a disease all to common for techies; they believed that since they had bleeding edge hardware, everyone else did too. Metro/Modern is designed for touch/gesture systems. It IS the future - either under Microsoft - or as is the usual way, when Apple steals it and "invents" it.

Touch screen is short lived - it's a pain in the ass on the desktop. BUT gesture based computing is simply the way we will interact with machines.

This is what computing will be for the next decade;

Kinect for Windows

WHETHER M$ can manage to market it, or whether they let Apple again steal the hottest technology and market it as their own, gesture computing will dominate.

Who knows, Microsoft earns more profit on every Apple iPhone sold than Apple does, so there IS something to be said about sitting back and collecting royalties on patents - still it would be nice if M$ would do something smart for once.

 

[XPostFacto]

Stupid Question #1... What is metro...The tiles people talk about?

Stupid Question #2....I think (???) I bought Dell Inspiron 23 5000 Seies 8GB 1TB windows 8.1 with a 27" monitor. Is it a touch computer?

Metro is the tile interface. Yes, it's an all-in-one with a touchscreen monitor. Win 8 really isn't that bad, most (like me) hate the Metro interface but even then it has a major learning curve for users going from XP straight to Win 8. There are things you can do to make it more Win 7 like thereby rarely having to deal with Metro except on boot up.
Win 7 has a learning curve for those upgrading from XP (or earlier releases) but it's not as bad.

Metro works well on a touch screen, but is horrible with a mouse.

It's really horrible without a mouse, especially on my laptop touch pad, and God, do I hate touch pads.

 

[XPostFacto]

Touch screens the future? Touch screens are nothing new. A company back in the 70's called Fluke Technology first produced touch screens for their instrument controllers that the Navy used to operate test equipment. Granted they weren't as sophisticated as they are now, but we could even play Star Wars and Moon Lander when we were in between measurements. Ah, nostalgia. Now, the PC world is just playing catch up.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Touch screens the future? Touch screens are nothing new. A company back in the 70's called Fluke Technology first produced touch screens for their instrument controllers that the Navy used to operate test equipment. Granted they weren't as sophisticated as they are now, but we could even play Star Wars and Moon Lander when we were in between measurements. Ah, nostalgia. Now, the PC world is just playing catch up.

I use a Fluke network tester/scanner. Great device.

Try the Optiview® XG on your network- FREE

 

[Howey]

New Computer With Windows 8.1...What am I in for???

Just ordered my new computer and I ordered Windows 8.1. I have had my existing computer so long, I don't know what OS I have, but I know what I read about Windows 8 scares me completely.

I'm not ready to take four months to learn how to use a computer to primarily post on this message board, shop a little and play some simple games. What am I in for?

Run as far as you can from it.

It's hard, but you can actually find a new fast computer that still has Windows 7 Pro.

I finally did last week.

 

[XPostFacto]

New Computer With Windows 8.1...What am I in for???

Just ordered my new computer and I ordered Windows 8.1. I have had my existing computer so long, I don't know what OS I have, but I know what I read about Windows 8 scares me completely.

I'm not ready to take four months to learn how to use a computer to primarily post on this message board, shop a little and play some simple games. What am I in for?

Run as far as you can from it.

It's hard, but you can actually find a new fast computer that still has Windows 7 Pro.

I finally did last week.

You could run from it, or you could just learn how to use it. It's not so bad after awhile. The hardest part for me was installing 8 on my system. I have an ASUS P5Q motherboard. I would get the install half done, and then it would crash. I finally had to reflash the motherboard's BIOS with Windows 7 drivers. There were no drivers for Windows 8, but if you can find Windows 7 drivers, then they will work for Windows 8. Remember that. It could get you out of a jam in the future.

 

[Ava]

Windows 8 is one of the worst large scale modern operating systems yet. If not THE worst.
By modern I mean post-90's. Let's say 2000 - forward.
It is terrible. It is what critics say it is - an OS made for a smart phone, forced onto a computer.
A smart phone primarily does one thing at a time since of course the small display makes looking at more than one thing impossible. Desktops/Laptops do NOT do one thing at a time. Who the f*ck wants to click on a picture in an email - and the picture completely takes over the computer. You can't look at the image and your email at the same time. That is stupid.
Want to look at an excel file and your email at the same time?
Too bad.
Now, it is true you can abandon the Metro desktop and go back to the traditional desktop (sort of) - but then of course why would anyone want Window 8 - and set it back to a "sort of Windows 7 machine"??
It is as bad as people say it is.
Anyone saying different is a Microsoft fanboy and is being dishonest.

How do you know all of this? Do you have W8? Sell computers? An IT person? Just a Computer knowledgable person?

ALl of the above with exception to selling computers.
We have one Win 8 laptop in the house. And we (like most) set it to boot up into the traditional desktop. Metro is horrendous. Unless you are a teenager who only uses Facebook and Youtube...then it is great.
We also have one Win 7 laptop, a Chromebook, a LinuxMint Desktop running Plex Server and two laptops running LinuxMint.
I never use the Win 8 machine, and my wife prefers the Chromebook. Which I am willing to bet you would also. If you primarily do everything in a browser - Chromebook is fantastic.
I have a loong history in IT.

I, too, have a Chromebook and LOVE IT! Mine is a Toshiba Chromebook—13.3. That and my W-7 PC, which is lightening fast for it has none of the 6+ years of Internet accumulation, i.e. trash, that my Vista had, have my needs covered. Jackson, all you really need is the Chromebook, based upon your use however, you may, as I, may prefer a PC with wrist-rest over a touch pad.

 

[Intolerant]

New Computer With Windows 8.1...What am I in for???

Just ordered my new computer and I ordered Windows 8.1. I have had my existing computer so long, I don't know what OS I have, but I know what I read about Windows 8 scares me completely.

I'm not ready to take four months to learn how to use a computer to primarily post on this message board, shop a little and play some simple games. What am I in for?

Jackson, good luck to you. A few months ago, I bought a new PC but went with Windows-7 while they are still available. MS will be supporting W-7 through 2020, so I feel good about avoiding that learning curve of W-8, right now. I have a 6 year reprieve at which time something else will be around that is more user-friendly than W-8.1 ( hopefully ) I generally purchase new PCs about every 6 years.

I am wondering if I should have gone that route!

When I purchased my PC with W8.1 I hated it. But after a few days I settled in and learned it. I really love Windows XP easy to maneuver. Hey Jackson your pretty smart and it shouldn't take long to master it.

 

[namvet]

its app city

start button lower left

you can have it. ill stay with 7

 

[Ringel05]

Metro is the tile interface. Yes, it's an all-in-one with a touchscreen monitor. Win 8 really isn't that bad, most (like me) hate the Metro interface but even then it has a major learning curve for users going from XP straight to Win 8. There are things you can do to make it more Win 7 like thereby rarely having to deal with Metro except on boot up.
Win 7 has a learning curve for those upgrading from XP (or earlier releases) but it's not as bad.

Metro works well on a touch screen, but is horrible with a mouse.

It's really horrible without a mouse, especially on my laptop touch pad, and God, do I hate touch pads.

Wireless mouse...... Never us a laptop without one.......

 

[Missourian]

I was using XP up until I got this laptop. Microsoft was abandoning XP and my old laptop gave up the ghost around the same time.

I got this HP pavilion on Black Friday from Walmart for like 299 or something...and let me tell you, learning Win 8.1 was an experience...but now that I have a have a handle on it, I like it as much as if not more than XP.

The ONE terrible thing about Windows 8.1 over Win 7 is, Win 7 came with a Virtual XP built in and Windows 8.1 doesn't...you have to pay for it.