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My Windows 8 Review

So I’ve installed Windows 8 on my laptop, and will probably soon do the same on my desktop (not this weekend, but maybe next weekend).

So far, It feels much more solid than it did even a month ago, and a ton better than the release candidate did. Rather than take you feature by feature… I’m just going to detail out the things I really like so far… The things I don’t… and the things I’m unsure of at this point.

Really Like

  • It feels really really snappy (fast). It might just be a “clean” install side affect… but it feels faster than windows 7 at times, which is impressive.
  • Much to my surprise, the new “Start” screen which has completely replaced the start menu has grown on my for launching programs. The windows key has become my most used new hotkey, and I seem to be able to find what I want faster than ever.
  • The new task manager… It’s pretty, and more detailed then ever. This will help a bit when debugging people’s speed problems. Especially since it contains disk IO now. It will be nice to not have to use resource monitor to get all this data.
  • Built in ISO mounting – I didn’t even need to install an ISO reader (such as Magic Disk) to open ISO files, and install them.
  • The install process – It was quick. Seemless. Easy. Might I add pretty as well :-).

Not So Sure Yet

  • I’m not sure I like the apps. It still pretty clear they are meant more for simple uses or tablets… I doubt I’ll be using them on a day to day basis. Then again, I rarely ever used the programs built into Windows before… not sure why I’d care now.
  • The Multi-screen interface – It’s pretty much the same, but it’s interesting that the start bar is on both screens.
  • Domain activities (haven’t seen enough yet to know)
  • Printing (haven’t seen enough yet to know)

Not So Happy With

  • Getting to control panel (or the new control panel). I’m not overly happy with how buried the old control panel seems… but that’s ok… I can get there :-). (Edit: You can move this to the Not So Sure category now… I figured out how to add My Computer, Control Panel, and All of Adminsitrative Tools to Metro… So I’m happy now).
  • Shutting down… Also having a hard time finding this button :-). (Edit: I found this too, it wasn’t so hard, just a tad bit more buried than I would have liked…)

In any case, I’m really liking it on my laptop so far. All my software seems to be working just fine…

I’ll try to update this post with anything if it comes up while I’m playing with it over the coming week.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • PK October 26, 2012, 7:33 am

    Yeah, I was trying to decide if I’ll buy a copy of Win8 or not. Still on the fence, but probably will for Nat’s transcribing laptop.

  • Alex October 26, 2012, 7:33 pm

    Good to see 8 pushing things forward. I bet the built-in ISO support is awesome–nice as it was, I got tired of Daemon Tools.