Windows 8 - The Digital Darkroom

Lonely · 04-12-2012, 12:50

Saw somewhere that someone was looking to upgrade to W8... this is from another forum whose member posted this snippet which might prove useful for those looking to upgrade. As an oldie programmer type chappie, he earlier advised that W8 is a steep learning curve.

A word of warning.

My Win8 laptop suddenly switched off yesterday, as in instantly off. I'd been playing Solitaire in the new Win8 Metro interface.

I'd noticed things getting hot so I installed RealTemp

The temperature when in the familiar Win7-like desktop is good at around 65deg, but after 20 mins Metro/Solitaire it went up to 95deg. The max for my processor is 105deg. So my laptop can't really run Windows 8 at full blast. The 95deg is after sticking extra feet on to give more ventilation underneath and I always have it on a hard surface. It could well be the graphics card overheating as much as the processor, but all those swish graphics obviously comes at a cost. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 1764 - quite a modern beastie.

*HerbalDave* · 04-12-2012, 20:50

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be looking for a laptop before Christmas for Pam, my long suffering wife. Windows 8 will be on the agenda so its a caution worth consideration.
I must point out though that having owned a few laptops, I find the design to be of an equal part to play with regard to cooling. Toshiba (having owned 2) are in my opinion poor at cooling their hardware. Both had cooling issues and as a result I won't go near. On the other hand Acer seem to get it right (I've a works unit, josh has one as does my father and a few friends). So, its totally out of my control but pointed questions will be asked regarding the heat situation.
Thanks again
Dave

*Andy B* · 05-12-2012, 13:06

If you are looking at a steep learning curve you might just as well switch to Mac now

I'll grab my coat!

Lonely · 05-12-2012, 16:10

^ I did that a year ago and the slope still hasn't levelled out. ;-)

*bilzmale* · 06-12-2012, 05:39

My local computer shop is only selling Win 8 with a warning - they recommend Win 7 still.

Lonely · 06-12-2012, 23:21

That would gel with another comment by the same chap. W8 isn't really much of an upgrade if going from W7... unless you have a touch screen and even then it's debatable.

craigs · 10-01-2013, 22:47

I have upgraded to Windows 8 and I have to say I love it.
Sure it takes a while to get used to the new layout as it is totally different to any other windows but... when you get used to it, it IMHO is really good!
Craig

Fiz · 20-01-2013, 00:46

Just for a laugh I installed windows 8 on a spare laptop. Also installed Office 2013 and a bunch of other stuff.

Faster, easier to use, intuitive, beautiful layout.

In a word - Awesome.

Still playing and discovering.

Ed

craigs · 21-01-2013, 13:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiz

Just for a laugh I installed windows 8 on a spare laptop. Also installed Office 2013 and a bunch of other stuff.

Faster, easier to use, intuitive, beautiful layout.

In a word - Awesome.

Still playing and discovering.

Ed

I have done the same at Christmas I find it exactly the same AWESOME O/S well worth the upgrade. And... further more if you have a SSD it is optimised for that too! RESULT!

Craig

*HerbalDave* · 21-01-2013, 22:29

We (that's the royal we of course

) purchased a HP unit (cheap plastics but spec is very good for the money) which has W8. I've had a play and must say that at first glance the system seems a lot better than previous W systems (even though I've always been a fan of xp pro). Time will tel all (provided my good wife actually tells that is), the only thing that annoys at the moment is the hidden start button, hovering for some is just not satisfying enough.

Fiz · 25-01-2013, 08:48

Here is a very useful W8 write up - especially the 25 minute video.

Ed

*bilzmale* · 25-01-2013, 10:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiz

Here is a very useful W8 write up - especially the 25 minute video.

Ed

Thanks Ed - enlightening. I've just installed a SSD with Win 7 on it so have a dual boot. Have ordered Win 8 and will upgrade the SSD copy.

superbrad · 25-01-2013, 21:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiz

Here is a very useful W8 write up - especially the 25 minute video.

Ed

This week I have "Bit the bullet" and installed win 8 on my main laptop and have now loaded my most used progs.
So now about to get to the day to day running of this new OS.
This link has answered such a lot of the mysteries of the OS.
Great article now about to look at the video.
Thanks for the link Ed its now at the top of my bookmarks list.

Regards Ian

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