Upgrading from Windows XP

[fraso]

Now that MS has now stopped supporting Windows XP, I thought I might start thinking about upgrading my desktop computers to a newer OS. I know a lot of people here like Linux but I want to stick with a Windows system for now.

I've used Windows 7 and like it. I tried the Windows 8.0 upgrade on a W7 non-touchscreen laptop but didn't care for it and eventually reinstalled W7.

I was wondering how users like Windows 8.1 and how the W8.1 keyboard/mouse configuration compares with Windows 7. Any advice?

 

[Quest]

you must determine your hardware (e.g. CPU, RAM, etc.) to see if it's capable first (sufficient memory, etc.)

If it's a high end pre-64bit HW, run Win7 32-bit (max out memory @ 4GB).

If it is capable of 64bit architecture, run Win7 64-bit.

Q.

 

[SrDriver]

Windows 8.1.1 just came out.

Lots of positive changes including defaulting to the desktop for non touch screen users.

Considering the price of new computers why not just buy a new system not only for hardware compatibility but speed, etc.

The money spent for Windows 7 or 8 would cost around $100.00 or so and why not put that money into a new system that comes with the latest O/S?

 

[901Memphis]

Windows 7 Professional is the best imho. I build custom computers and it's my go to os.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Windows 7 Professional is the best imho. I build custom computers and it's my go to os.



Home users don't really need to spend extra on Pro.

 

[fraso]

My desktop has an ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 board in it and WXP is reporting 3.21 GHz AMD processor and 3.25 GB of RAM. I'm not sure if it's 64-bit but I think it might be.

I've been planning to do a clean re-install of my (32 bit?) WXP Pro SP3 system with the OS on one drive and my data on a separate hard drive. I could do a W8.0 upgrade (bought for $15 with my W7 laptop) and then a W8.1 upgrade as the W8 Upgrade Assistant isn't showing any major issues ("Secure Boot isn't compatible with your PC" seems to be the major firmware issue).

I could buy a new computer with the latest OS but where's the challenge in that? Besides, I don't like spending any more money on my computer than what's necessary.

 

[ClutchDisc]

Windows 8/8.1 is awful. If you really want to stay with windows go with 7.

 

[Hokiefyd]

We have Windows 8.1 on our computer at home and it's excellent. People will tell you that they hate it, but never say why. It's usually because of the tiled interface, which is completely defeatable with numerous inexpensive or free products. I use Start8 myself. I think it was 5 bucks and I own it for life. Condemning an operating system because of something you can fix for 5 bucks is silly to me. Once you install something like Start 8, Windows 8/8.1 looks and feels just like Windows 7.

The technical advantages of Windows 8.1 are many. Windows 8 delivers notably better performance on the same hardware compared with Windows 7. This has been demonstrated many times in many benchmark testing. Start-up and shut-down are dramatically faster. Windows 8 is allegedly more secure than Windows 7. Because Windows 8 CAN look just like Windows 7, and performs better, I just can't see a reason to not use it.

We took a year or two off from Windows computers with an Apple iMac with the latest OS X releases as they came out. In time, I discovered that there was as much I disliked about OS X as I did earlier versions of Windows, and we moved back to Windows with a new 8.1 computer.

 

[JustinH]

I work in IT, and people come to me with these windows xp laptops, very old asking if they should upgrade to windows 7 or 8.

Honestly, a consumer grade laptop or desktop that old is beyond its end of service life.

You aren't going to be happy after you upgrade it.

I tell people to buy a new dell with windows 8, then install start 8.

Windows 8 is not ready for enterprise use, we have had some problems with it at work. However, it works great in the home.

 

[datech]

New computers have much improved video performance because of the widespread use of GPUs even on motherboard video. Just the rating of the CPU doesn't show this.

New computers are cheaper for the performance than they have ever been.

 

[racer12306]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
I work in IT, and people come to me with these windows xp laptops, very old asking if they should upgrade to windows 7 or 8.

Honestly, a consumer grade laptop or desktop that old is beyond its end of service life.

You aren't going to be happy after you upgrade it.

I tell people to buy a new dell with windows 8, then install start 8.

Windows 8 is not ready for enterprise use, we have had some problems with it at work. However, it works great in the home.


That's probably the single biggest thing people don't understand. Essentially, computers (in the normal consumer sense) are disposable. Technology is advancing so fast and new OS's make use of that new technology because that's what the public wants.

I built my desktop as hardcore as I could afford. I could have done more, mainly in graphics, but if I ever want to upgrade that I can just throw in a new one. I spent $1100 for a desktop, monitor, keyboard, mouse for, imo, a beast. I don't plan to replace this computer for quite a while, but I future-proofed it as best I could, and what I couldn't can be replaced.

I'm not one to just upgrade because there is something new out. I like WIN7 Ultimate, so I have no desire to upgrade to WIN8.

 

[fraso]

I usually do the opposite and build my computer on the cheap side, especially since most of its use is for Office applications and internet browsing. Components get upgraded when they burn out.

I thought that both W7 and W8 would perform no worse on my current setup than WXP, which is still fine for my needs.

 

[Hokiefyd]

If you're happy with XP on your current hardware, Windows 8 should run pretty well. It'll run better than Windows 7 would. Both will run better than Vista which, fortunately, is a distant memory for most.

 

[fraso]

Seeing as I already had an W8 upgrade (with 32 & 64-bit disks) that I wasn't using, I decided to try W8 with a clean install to see how it works on my hardware. I have 2 hard drives in my computer that I was going to set up as c: for programs (150 GB) and d: for data (500 GB). I had partitioned the 500 GB drive into a similar c: and d: drive and I was using the 150 GB drive as a backup drive. I backed up my entire 500 GB drive to a 1 TB drive that I was going to use in a different machine as my file server and network backup.

I had already installed 32-bit WXP Pro SP3 on the 150 GB drive along with various other programs and had been putting off cleaning up my 500 GB drive. While upgrading that WXP installation to W8, I learned that I could not upgrade it to 64-bit W8. That means that my 4 GB of RAM still shows up as 3.25 GB. The 32-bit upgrade to W8 took several hours and did not require much input from me. After the W8 installation completed, I found that W8 seemed to work as well as and probably better than WXP.

Seeing as the W7 is already several years old and W8.1 is supposed to work well with keyboard and mouse desktops, I decided use my W8 upgrade but with a clean installation. I formatted my 150 GB drive, installed WXP, and upgraded to W8. Other than having to manually restart my computer once, this upgrade also went fine until the part about activating W8.

Since I had already activated the W8 upgrade previously on my laptop (which I subsequently wiped with my laptop's W7 recovery disks), I had to do a telephone activation. It took me 80 minutes on the phone with MS support because they kept telling me to buy a new license since my upgrade was already activated and embedded in my laptop. Only when I volunteered to let then go online with my computer did they finally relent in giving me an activation code. I hope I don't have to go through this again if my board or drive fries.

What I've learned from the installation:

• W8.1 works fine with my computer and there is no apparent speed penalty.
• W8.1 does not work well with older software (like AutoCAD R14, Adobe Acrobat Pro 6.0, etc) and, if they install, the help files generally don't work.
• The Metro page is the new start menu and it is more easily customizable than W7 or WXP.
• The recent files function is missing but can be easily added to the Start Menu.
• By adding "Recent Files" to my Start Menu, there is no need to add 3rd party start menu software
• W8.1 is more easily customizable than WXP for setting up file locations for Outlook and drive locations for Documents/Pictures/etc. No need to edit the registry like I was doing with WXP and W2000.
• Copy your Outlook PST files to a new directory in your data drive and just point to it when setting up Outlook. This is much less time-consuming than importing and will let you pick up where you left off.

 

[sleddriver]

Interesting account fraso. I'd like to try W8 out on one of my old Dell DT's. I'll have to locate a Dell OEM W8 disk first. I have an old drive I could erase and do a clean from-scratch install for testing. Thanks for the report.