Computers & Electronics

Should I buy a windows 7 or 8?

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  • Feb 25th, 2014 7:35 am
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Jul 25, 2007
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Richmond Hell

Should I buy a windows 7 or 8?

Thinking about upgrading from windows xp to either 7 or 8. Which do you all think is better? I like to game and browse mainly.
I found a site like this http://windows8online.net/
Do you all know if this is legit or not?
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Sr. Member
Mar 7, 2011
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if its a desktop machine I'd say 7
Deal Expert
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Oct 13, 2002
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Just curious ... Why do you need to upgrade the OS ? For game support ?

Does your system support Win 7/8 (ie. drivers) ??
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Apr 4, 2009
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North York
You really need a touch screen to use Windows 8.

Eventually, when one becomes a proficient Windows 8 user, it is okay, to use a mouse and not have a touch screen. (I wouldn't wish Win 8 on a laptop with only a touchpad/trackpoint on my worst enemy.)
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Jul 25, 2007
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Richmond Hell
willy wrote: Just curious ... Why do you need to upgrade the OS ? For game support ?
Sorry I should have mentioned that I'm reformatting the comp and upgrading the hdd to an ssd. Also It's an xp cd I have and not vista. I will edit my op.
Thanks
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Richmond Hell
Roarke wrote: if its a desktop machine I'd say 7
Thanks. Can you let me know why you think 7 is better for a desktop?
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Nov 9, 2005
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Vulcan, AB
Windows 8 is the leanest and best performing windows currently on the market. Purchase that and download some free software (classic shell) to restore the classic start menu. The performance difference from Windows Vista is substantial.
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Oct 13, 2002
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How old is the system ? Does it support Win 8 (or 7) ?
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Richmond Hell
willy wrote: How old is the system ? Does it support Win 8 (or 7) ?
Yes the hardware is all supported. I bought the computer 3 years ago brand new but asked to have xp pro installed instead of vista because I was used to xp.
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Jul 25, 2007
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Richmond Hell
Russell wrote: Windows 8 is the leanest and best performing windows currently on the market. Purchase that and download some free software (classic shell) to restore the classic start menu. The performance difference from Windows Vista is substantial.
Thanks for your feedback.
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May 22, 2005
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Toronto
Dont listen to people that say go with windows 7. They might end up telling you to go with windows XP.
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Jan 28, 2014
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My XP computer died last March - I never had Windows 7. I wanted a desktop - all of the desktops with Win 7 had been sold the previous week. I bought Windows 8 with Internet 10. I HATE IT. I use my computer only for the Internet, e-mail and Word (and I equally hate Word 2013). I had to buy a new printer, back up the factory settings on a flash drive and buy the Word key card (note - one try only and then Windows is involved - turns out your password has to have a couple of capitals - mine didn't). If I had ever had Win 7 I would have paid to get it back. My husband's office is sticking with Win 7 and Word 2010. I am with Rogers and had its paid security. Rogers had me uninstall the temporary Norton security and reinstall the paid for Rogers Security - and then the guy hung up as it was processing. Rogers did not support Win 8 or Internet 10 - so I called back. Another rep asked me the name of the "person" who had told me to install the security on Win 8 because Rogers did not support it at the time and has just started to. HP installed Defender for me. I had to call the printer people and they sent me a disc to hook up the Win 8 because the printer would only work with Win 7 computers. Next up the same problem with the factory back up - stopped at the final "next' - I trouble shooted and many people had the same problem. So I called HP and luckily enough they had just found out what to do - so I did it - the problem was that the flash drives were all for max Win 7. I did speak with the salesman who sold me everything who had asked me to provide him with a glowing review - well he now knows that customer service does not stop at the cash register. My computer kept telling me to upgrade to Internet 9 but then advised that I didn't have enough power to do so. Well, I had 10. Now Rogers is advising people to upgrade to 10, but the message received is that your computer must have Win 7.1. So no use. I signed up with HP for another year so I would have someone to call. I also told one of the guys at Rogers how to do his factory back-up. Frankly, I wish I had bought a Mac. On my last call to HP I asked them to remove the games. Some people like Win 8 - many others despise it with a passion.
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Nov 24, 2005
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I just bought a Windows 8.1 computer to be my main media server - I was a bit nervous about it after reading all the negativity, but to be honest I don't mind it at all - I switch to desktop view after it boots and sail along quite nicely - I have an older HP printer and hadn't set up printing yet, so tried it just now - it took literally less than 30 seconds before I was printing a test page.

I had intended to install something like classic shell, but I'm not going to bother now because I like it just fine the way it is.
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Mar 24, 2004
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Definitely 8(.1)

It's much faster, and it will be supported longer.
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Sep 16, 2005
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Russell wrote: Windows 8 is the leanest and best performing windows currently on the market. Purchase that and download some free software (classic shell) to restore the classic start menu. The performance difference from Windows Vista is substantial.
Don't know about windows 8...but I gave 8.1 an honest chance and gave it time. I think it's the best OS for windows. I only use the main metro apps that are actually useful....there may have been like 2 apps from the store I used.

I like how you can right click on the windows button on the desktop and it shows that new and very simplified menu. No more pre-configuring that start menu in windows 7 with junk you didn't want in the start menu....after a fresh install.

Doing fresh installs in windows 8.1 is much easier as it saves a copy of your settings somewhat with the email it is connected to.....less work to get it back the way you had it before if you are picky about that....and everything looks nice and simple enough not much reason to mess with it.
Sr. Member
Mar 7, 2011
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KevC wrote: Definitely 8(.1)

It's much faster, and it will be supported longer.
Win7 doesn't hit end of life until 2020...
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Jul 25, 2012
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Windows 7 for sure imo.

Until a day where they discontinue win7 support at least anyways. (and on that note you probably shouldn't be using xp anymore, it's a pretty big security risk now I guess)

My experience with 8 is kind of limited, purchased a PC for the parents this year with it and being the complete technologically impaired parents they are it was up to me to learn it/set it up for them to a point I wasn't needed on a regular basis lol (not that I'm an expert or anything)

Needless to say it took about a week of tinkering before that set in.

Above all else, I had a really hard time just getting win8 to connect to the internet, that gave me the most trouble. Turned out win8 wouldn't allow the older router network security type that was already in place, that wasn't easy to find out even after googling for awhile either and not like windows was going to tell me that.

So that required me completely reconfiguring their network just to get 1 machine onto the internet lol, then going around to each of their other PC's (laptop/old PC) and setting those up for the new network info..

Turned out to be a lot of extra work just for 1 machine, they almost had me return it during that time too haha.

Beyond that the new interface isn't very appealing or user friendly, especially not for these old fogies with only win7 experience and nothing else (so this app/tablet concept at start up was especially foreign and completely useless to them).

I had to unhook the old win7 PC so they would stop using it too lmao, tough love, they did get used to it now though - at least they stopped complaining anyways.
I'm not on the can right now, I swear
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Jul 25, 2007
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Richmond Hell
So is it safe to say that windows 7 or windows 8.1 with classic shell is better for users used to xp? and 8.1 on its own for a touch screen device?
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