[PunchT37]

This thing just showed up at my house last Thursday.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-14-l421...d=xps-14-l421x

Guess I spent $1500 on a computer with an outdated OS.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by PunchT37

This thing just showed up at my house last Thursday.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-14-l421...d=xps-14-l421x

Guess I spent $1500 on a computer with an outdated OS.

Nice! I like our Dell Gear. Planning on purchasing more Dell with upgrade in OS. Our HP gear; other than monitors & printers; not so much.

Sent from my Radio Shack TRS 80 via Tapa What?

[Old Goat 67]

Nice. Love my Dell Latitude D830's!

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by Old Goat 67

Nice. Love my Dell Latitude D830's!

Came real close to getting a Latitude. Thought it had too much "bussiness stuff" for what I needed. Good computer for the money.

And came with a dvd/rom drive that this one doesn`t have.


Looked hard at this one before the XPS.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/la...aptop#TechSpec

[KS circutguy]

Love these for the quality - price - performance.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425036,00.asp
But that Dell is a nice looking rig.
Enjoy!

[428GTO70]

I've been running windows 8 for about a year now, upgraded to 8.1 yesterday finally. It is a very fast OS, and coupled with the fact that its installed on a SSD hard drive my reboot times are right around 15-20 seconds.

All you have to do to make 8 totally fine is install an aftermarket program named Classic Shell. It puts the normal start button back in the bottom corner that everyone is used to. Windows 8.1 put a start button back there but all it does is bring you back out to the start screen. Classic Shell gives you back a REAL start button.

[GT182]

I installed Classic Shell yesterday too. 8.1 said not to as there could be problems with it.... or something like that. Anyways, I put it in and I like it.

Now the only big thing I have to do is install my motherboard's CPU Level Up software to overclock my i5 2.81 processor to an i7 2.93 or 3.06. I need that little boost to run Silent Hunter 5 the way it should be run. With the Corsair H-60 water cooling it'll stay nice and cool.

[giddygoat]

I will keep the 8, its just another learning curve, read something about 8.1 that was an issue but do not remember what it was. With the 7 it took me awhile to get used to the libraries. I finally went and read up on them and now find them to be a nice feature.
Software is not anymore intuitive but it is getting more features so it takes longer to learn it all. Will 8 save me time? At this point I don't think so...

[F ROCK]

try editing video clips with the windows live movie maker in windows 8.
I dare you.
I really regret buying this pos.
they've overcomplicated things that were simple and worked fine.
xp was user friendly.

[GTO4spd]

I have had several popups in the last week offering W8 free trial. If I download to try will it wipe all my files? Here is the link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/i...P9&OCID=MA00P9

[KS circutguy]

Why not just get Windows 7 ,
Backup you're documents to a UBS or another drive then do a "clean" install not an upgrade!
A clean install is the way to go, less headaches down the road.
You have 30 days before you need to get a product key to activate windows.
Just download the correct Windows 7 or 8 version you intend to buy because the key that comes with purchased copy only works for the version you install.
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...download+links

[Bob Timmermans]

I recently ordered a new HP Pavilion laptop with Windows 8 , no choise on the Windows edition they're all Windows 8 !!!

Had it for a week and got real close to smashing the thing about 4 times.
Really hated the software architecture , completely counter intuitive , like having to solve a puzzle for every little move I made.

So I got on the Dutch version off 'Craigslist' and bought a young secondhand HP Pavilion with Windows 7.
Now I can enjoy this laptop without getting aggravated every 5 seconds . . . . hallelujah.

[KS circutguy]

They offer (HP-Dell) windows 7 again in case you missed it guy's!
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/20/53...popular-demand

[GT182]

Bob, you could have done the free upgrade to 8.1. Other than that you have to play around with 8.1 to get to know it. It's not that bad if you take the time to play with it and get used to it.

Old Goat 67 had a look at some screenshots I took of it today and said from what he can see, and what we discussed, that it's better than 7. Like we both said... anyone that gets 8.1 has to get past the learning curve..... just like we all had to with XP. My first OS was Millennium Edition and I had learn how that ran. Took me awhile but I got to really like it. So much so that I swore I'd never go to XP. XP was crap until they did SP2 and 3. I was forced to go with XP when the motherboard on my Compac Presario died. It was still under warranty so I was sent a new computer.... with XP. The rest is history.... I HAD to learn how to use XP too. Don't get me wrong..... I still love my XP but I decided to take the leap. I couldn't see getting an OS that cost more (Windows 7) than 8, which many hated for the obvious reasons we all know. Instead I jumped into 8.1, and each time I use it I like it even more. But I also can't wait to see Windows 9 come out seeing it'll be XP based... so MS says. I think they finally took the hint and caved to redoing XP because of all the negativity they got on 7 and 8, and now 8.1.

[KS circutguy]

For Windows ...
http://www.go2keys.com/
Based on the good things said about go2keys.com, I actually went for it and bought a Windows 7 pro key from them, having got the .iso file from the Microsoft Technet pages. I have been using it for just under a week now and no problems. On the system page it has the Genuine Microsoft Software logo. All in all I'm pretty happy and would recommend it to anyone. Put simply, it's legit!
more info;
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...8224944AAgkZoq

[KS circutguy]

Which OS is really faster Windows 7 or Windows 8?
Nice review here;
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/14...faster-windows

[Will]

I went Win 7 when I built the computer I'm typing this on. Had XP before that.

I always wait to see what the buzz is about an OS before making the plunge, and only upgrade when I really need to.

XP was really stable, never had any problems with it. 7 is just as good in that regard and better in other ways. I love the way it handles drivers, networking, and crash recovery.

I'm not hearing much positive about 8, so why bother?

Upgrading was necessary - XP wouldn't have been able to properly support the hardware in this machine (quad core processor, 16gb RAM, 1.5TB hard drive space, dedicated graphics card, etc.)

I'd think anyone who can build a car can build a computer these days. They're pretty much plug & play and you save a boatload of money. If I was to buy a machine like this from Dell or whoever I'd have spent twice as much. Just do a little research to make sure you're buying quality parts (just like for a car) and you'll be good to go.

[Old Goat 67]

Originally Posted by GT182

Bob, you could have done the free upgrade to 8.1. Other than that you have to play around with 8.1 to get to know it. It's not that bad if you take the time to play with it and get used to it.

Old Goat 67 had a look at some screenshots I took of it today and said from what he can see, and what we discussed, that it's better than 7. Like we both said... anyone that gets 8.1 has to get past the learning curve..... just like we all had to with XP. My first OS was Millennium Edition and I had learn how that ran. Took me awhile but I got to really like it. So much so that I swore I'd never go to XP. XP was crap until they did SP2 and 3. I was forced to go with XP when the motherboard on my Compac Presario died. It was still under warranty so I was sent a new computer.... with XP. The rest is history.... I HAD to learn how to use XP too. Don't get me wrong..... I still love my XP but I decided to take the leap. I couldn't see getting an OS that cost more (Windows 7) than 8, which many hated for the obvious reasons we all know. Instead I jumped into 8.1, and each time I use it I like it even more. But I also can't wait to see Windows 9 come out seeing it'll be XP based... so MS says. I think they finally took the hint and caved to redoing XP because of all the negativity they got on 7 and 8, and now 8.1.

Yep, I was impressed. Looks very similar to Win 7.

Charles

[GT182]

More info on Windows 9 and 8.2..... Plus some other good reading material.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/mic...one,25735.html

Will, 8.1 is as stable as a rock from what I'm seeing. Downloads are as fast as XP's were. Loads faster than XP too. Can't say anything about 7 as I've not run it. Cost for 7 was more than what I paid for 8.1 so why bother. So that was the main reason I went straight to 8.1. And it looks like Win9 will be, or could be, another upgrade from 8 and/or 8.1.

A side note. It only took 1 second to download the Start Button 8's 4.32MB file. That's faster than XP.
http://softreviews.co/get/start-butt...8_CCUS_Content

[Alvin]

So what version of Microsoft Office Suite is compatible with both 7 and 8 point 1 point whatever?