OK so thanks to my friendly torrent site, I just got my hands on the RTM of Windows 8. This is the same version you find on your brand new Store Bought computer. I have ran every version of Windows 8 from before it became public to the latest Beta and it did get better, but I still didn't like the Metro Interface. It made me feel like I was using an I-Phone, I know I know Windows Phone 7 has a similar interface, but most people don't know that. Which is why I said I-Phone. I am a Mac hater by the way. OK but thats off topic.

What are peoples opinion, both performance and usability of Windows 8. I know it would never happen, but I would have really liked Microsoft to take a leap back wards and give us something that felt like Windows NT or 2000, or maybe at the very least the ability to turn off all the Fluff in the new builds of Windows 8. Hey I like my desktop icons, my start bar and my task bar just fine thank you. I have my often used apps pinned to my task bar, (IE 32bit, IE64bit (IE 64bit launches my 5 torrent sites at once for its home page, and all other apps use IE32bit) MS Outlook 2010, and Calculator. Then on my other side, I have my icons for apps that load with windows. PS3 Media Server, Bandwidth Monitor, UTORRENT, Power ISO, Avast and something to do with ATI. Then a few other standard windows items like "network monitor, volume and clock/date.

Some of the stuff I DID like in metro was how easy it was to view my common things on the Metro Interface and the new integration with my XBOX. Also the way it handles multimedia files is pretty slick too. I was also pleasantly surprised that it ran fine on both my older rigs. Although a few years old, my Core I7 2630 CPU and 8gb of DDR3 ram in my laptop with a new 128gb SSD, it ran pretty smooth and in my really old desktop with its E8400 and 8gigs of DDR2 with a decent ATI video card that has a gig of GDDR5 ram on it and a 1ghz CPU. It really seems like Windows 8 is leaning hard on the Super Power GPU's out today to improve its performance. The E8400 rig is my media server so it has a rather large storage array. Just over 13 TB. (13,312 GB's)

So how do you like it, and what specs of machines are you running it on.

Now to the next question. Dual Booting. It used to be a cake walk. Install your Primary OS then pick a new partition and install your 2nd OS, then if you want, find a 3rd partition and install a 3rd OS. 10 years ago, I was tri booting, XP, Longhorn, (became Vista) and a Linux Distro. I think I also had Win98 in the mix for a while too.

However the last couple times I did an 8 install it simply took over the boot partition and wiped out 7. I just did a clean install on both my Laptop and my Desktop so I don't want 8 to take over I just want to install it and play with it then go back to my Girlie Fluff Windows 7. LOL, I should not be so hard on it, I have a stripped down version from someone that does custom installs. (Think of it like taking a normal cushy car and gutting the interior to make it a race car) Super lightweight and Super Fast, with no Extra apps installed at first boot, so I can install the ones I want and only the ones I want.

So tell me your stories about 8 and Dual Booting. How did you do it, so I can find out what step I missed to make it work. Then I ask again, what are your rough system specs.

------------------
857GT Part 85GT Part 87GT Part Caddy, 93 Eldorado 4.9, 5spd Dual O2 Custom Chip, Custom Exhaust. MSD Everything Now with Nitrous. Capt Fiero --- My Over View Cadero Pics Yellow 88GT 5spd Full Poly Suspension, Lowered 1/2" in front, Corner Carver.

Dell Studio 1747, 1st Gen i7 1.6 GHz, 8gb Ram, Raedon HD 4650, 2 500gb internal HD's

I have the consumer preview of 8 installed on this along side of 7 and it works well from what I have seen. I really haven't used 8 that much, but initial impressions are that its pretty similar to 7 except it has a lot more features suited to touch screens. For example, the missing start button is replaced with a screen gesture. A good idea for tablets, but a little annoying if you are using a mouse. There are also other gestures that are for other shortcuts, again a little weird with a mouse.
My biggest beef with 8 is that it seems to have been dumbed down. Everything is accessible through menus, but other than main programs like IE or Office and a few basic settings, programs and settings seem to be buried behind several layers of menus and links. I guess this is good so the average consumer doesn't accidentally format their hard drive or something, but to me who likes to use some of the advance functions, finding them is a pain. I find myself using the search to find programs more than anything.

Dual booting with 7 and 8 was really simple. I already had 7 on one of my internal hard drives, so I just chose to install 8 on the second one during the installation process. Installing 8 alongside 7 also automatically installed a bootloader that lets me select which system I want to run on startup. It works well, but will add a few seconds to your boot time to load the menu.

As far as older machines go, I have an old tablet PC, the kind that has a stylus and the screen turns around and folds down to convert from a normal PC. Its a single core 1.8 GHZ processor, 2gb ram, 30gb HD.
I can install the consumer preview of 8 on it from scratch and it will do fine, but when I try to upgrade to 8 form the current 7 install that is on it now, It will not and says its below specs.
8 does work decently on it, although sleep is not supported and the stylus sometimes has trouble bringing up the gesture menus.

This /\, I set my Asus laptop exactly the same, and I find it intolerable having to search for the programmes when I need to boot them. And I am a PC illiterate

Windows 8 is more of a Tactile monitor OS .... I've been testing it in VBox (Virtual Box) and found the OS more visual than functional ... for a tablet the OS is excellent but for a standard desktop computer Win7 does almost the same.... IMHO too simple is not for the average user or geek .... for computer illiterates Win8 with tactile screen is the way to go ....

by the way I am a Apple Certified Tech and I use IOS5 and Xservers more than Win7 .....

regards
Danyel

------------------

My Build Thread
Tylers Toy