windows 8.1 or windows 7
Getting a new computer. Which operating SYSTEM SHOULD I get? Windows 8.1 or windows 7.
Forum Discussion
I have a high-end-at-the-time (around $1.9K) HP widesreen laptop with Vista on it ... and after 8 years I have finally got Vista to act and feel just the way I want it to ... emulating the speed, classic screens, and look-and-feel ease of use of good old XP. In fact I have an XP desktop and the user interfaces for both computers act and look alike for a zero learning curve when sitting down at one or the other.
Recently, some websites are coming up with a "suggestion" that my OS needs updating and some of their videos don't play at all or only with some messing around ... and I don't buy the argument that constant new operating system upgrades are "necessary for reliability and security reasons" ... they're primarily necessary to keep up with the cutesy stuff so forms of the various new operating systems can also be fitted on, and used on, devices for the "mobile" crowd.
But it should not have taken me years to achieve this with Vista or any other OS (and yes, I started with DOS on a PC Jr way back when, so taking this length of time wasn't just "all me"). For my toughest Vista problems I have to consult the Internet. What I find out when I do this is that surprise, surprise ... the Windoes OS 7, OS 8, and OS 8.1 PC users have problems just as mysterious and infuriating as mine have been with Vista.
When is this OS madness going to stop? Probably never ... considering the $$$$$ at stake. (By the way, my DW's 2014 model iPad with 32 GB of memory is way more infuriating to use than my tweaked-Vista laptop.)
Our laptop and desktop PC computers both have fast-at-the-time processors which are still fast relative to the processor speeds in the latest mobile devices everybody is raving about ... and are still fast enough for my gold standard test - large pixel-count digital photo processing with Photoshop. The laptop has plenty of memory but the desktop needs some more added, which is cheap and easy to do (unlike Apple products).
I'm probably going to upgrade both, soon as available, to OS 10 and I'm hoping beyond hope that it doesn't take me years to again get the two computers to look and feel like good old XP ... except being supported again by Microsoft and being able to, hopefully, now play all of the bloated, speed hogging, memory hogging code buried in today's websites.
Recently, some websites are coming up with a "suggestion" that my OS needs updating and some of their videos don't play at all or only with some messing around ... and I don't buy the argument that constant new operating system upgrades are "necessary for reliability and security reasons" ... they're primarily necessary to keep up with the cutesy stuff so forms of the various new operating systems can also be fitted on, and used on, devices for the "mobile" crowd.
But it should not have taken me years to achieve this with Vista or any other OS (and yes, I started with DOS on a PC Jr way back when, so taking this length of time wasn't just "all me"). For my toughest Vista problems I have to consult the Internet. What I find out when I do this is that surprise, surprise ... the Windoes OS 7, OS 8, and OS 8.1 PC users have problems just as mysterious and infuriating as mine have been with Vista.
When is this OS madness going to stop? Probably never ... considering the $$$$$ at stake. (By the way, my DW's 2014 model iPad with 32 GB of memory is way more infuriating to use than my tweaked-Vista laptop.)
Our laptop and desktop PC computers both have fast-at-the-time processors which are still fast relative to the processor speeds in the latest mobile devices everybody is raving about ... and are still fast enough for my gold standard test - large pixel-count digital photo processing with Photoshop. The laptop has plenty of memory but the desktop needs some more added, which is cheap and easy to do (unlike Apple products).
I'm probably going to upgrade both, soon as available, to OS 10 and I'm hoping beyond hope that it doesn't take me years to again get the two computers to look and feel like good old XP ... except being supported again by Microsoft and being able to, hopefully, now play all of the bloated, speed hogging, memory hogging code buried in today's websites.
