Windows 8. Yay or Nay?

Building a new gaming rig soon and was looking at Windows 8 over 7, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. How does 8 hold up? Anyone have any particularly bad experiences with it so far?

Might want to check out the Windows 8 quick look if you're on the fence. I'll be sticking to Win7 for now as it doesn't seem to be a big upgrade.

Meh

Seems really cool to me. There are a few logical missteps that will probobly get cleared up within a month or two, but overall it looks like a lot like Win 7 with fancy conveniences. I'm also in a position to get a touchscreen monitor whenever that happens so I'm pretty excited to be all futurey and "enhance" shit.

Yay. I've been using it for months and it's much faster than 7. The start menu is great for quick and easy access to basically everything you need and want. I find that transitions within the OS are very snappy. Also, it makes better use of system resources. I can only imagine this will be even better in the retail version when it ships.

I'm actually eager to get a copy of Windows 8 and give it a try. I think it's really interesting what they've done with the whole Metro UI thing. That said, if I were you, I'd just get Windows 7 for the time being. You can always upgrade to 8 for $40 later on.

I'm getting it for cheap with my newly bought PC so why not.

Seems unnescessary , might want to check the quick look in Tested

@Masin said:

Building a new gaming rig soon and was looking at Windows 8 over 7, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. How does 8 hold up? Anyone have any particularly bad experiences with it so far?

Gaming rig -> stay away from Windows 8. You can always upgrade later but I bet you're inviting a lot of compatibility trouble if you like to play games that are older than a year or so.

@Masin: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-windows-8/17-6462/

it looks pretty cool.

Nay.

An extremely strong no for Windows 8. The people in charge in Microsoft must have gone completely insane. They're really thinking that desktop PCs will die and be replaced with touch screen computers.

Windows 8 will never go within a mile of my gaming PC.

I do really want a Windows 8 tablet though, particularly a Surface.

Basically if you can't decide use this:

Yes I think it looks cool, and I like new things. Out with the old in with the new is what I say. That includes people, too.

I like most of the features they added to the desktop part of Windows 8. I however hate the metro part on a desktop computer.

Right now there's there doesn't feel like there's a reason you need Windows 8 on a Desktop. I would just stick to Windows 7 until the App store builds up into something you actually want access to.

I'll wait till it actually seems worth 40$, a fancy new start screen just doesn't do it.

It's a matter of just... not needing anything more out of my PC. So I might as well stick with Windows 7 until they drop support for it.

@DeF said:

@Masin said:

Building a new gaming rig soon and was looking at Windows 8 over 7, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. How does 8 hold up? Anyone have any particularly bad experiences with it so far?

Gaming rig -> stay away from Windows 8. You can always upgrade later but I bet you're inviting a lot of compatibility trouble if you like to play games that are older than a year or so.

Well that's not true. The only game I've had trouble playing in Windows 8 is Blur, and it sounds like some people had trouble with that in Windows 7 anyway. Every other game I've tried has worked just fine, and I have a lot of games.

I'd go with 7 the big change is the interface. Which I thought was horrible looking when it came to 360.

Plus I don't know why you'd need a fancy looking browser to navigate your computer, unless your new.

@wmaustin55 said:

Meh

Will use it if I get it on a new pc but right now with this rather new pc for me with win7, think I'll be happy with that for a while.

It doesn't offer anything that 7 doesn't have except looking better at the cost of maneuverability. 
 
Next time I reformat though, I might go with it. But that's hopefully a couple of years away. 
 
If I had a touch monitor though, I'd upgrade in a heartbeat, but that's another thing that's not happening for a couple years. Maybe never.

Sure, why not? I know that it doesn't have many new features beyond the start screen, but the performance boost alone is enough for me to want to upgrade, especially on this crappy laptop I'm using.

@wmaustin55 said:

Meh

Windows 8 is worth it if you're buying fresh anyway. I feel like the reason you should be on the fence is if you already have Windows 7 and are happy with the interface.

@Scrawnto said:

@DeF said:

@Masin said:

Building a new gaming rig soon and was looking at Windows 8 over 7, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. How does 8 hold up? Anyone have any particularly bad experiences with it so far?

Gaming rig -> stay away from Windows 8. You can always upgrade later but I bet you're inviting a lot of compatibility trouble if you like to play games that are older than a year or so.

Well that's not true. The only game I've had trouble playing in Windows 8 is Blur, and it sounds like some people had trouble with that in Windows 7 anyway. Every other game I've tried has worked just fine, and I have a lot of games.

have you tried all of them, though?

what about OLDER old games. like good old games-old. does the win7 compatibility extend to 8 similarly to how Vista compatibility meant likely 7 compatibility?

I've been running Windows 8 on my laptop since the consumer preview and I'm loving it. I certainly don't think it's perfect and there are a few issues that I hope they fix, but otherwise I've had a great experience with it. It's got a bit of a learning curve, but if you stick with it, it becomes second nature. I started off just using the desktop and rarely using anything in the start screen aside from search. Now I switch between the two fairly often and it's surprisingly smooth. Most of the apps aren't great, but hopefully the release versions are improved.

I'm running it on an HP Pavilion dv4t. It's around 4 years old. if you're curious, it's got a Core 2 duo T6400, Nvidia GeForce 9200m GS, and 4 GBs of ram. A lot of people seem to think it's not good for mice, but I'm mostly using a non multitouch track-pad and I get around pretty fast, so I don't know why people think there's an issue.

As far as gaming goes, I haven't had the best experience. Granted, my laptop isn't exactly a serious gaming machine, and I rarely ever played games on it, so I don't really have a pre-Windows 8 experience to compare to in that regard. That said, it seems to be mostly a driver issue. Most games I've tried have terrible frame rates, but got a little better every time I updated drivers. I switched to the beta drivers yesterday, but haven't had a chance to fully test it out. I played The Walking Dead. The menu is barely usable, but the game is just fine if I turn off AA. I don't believe Jeff mentioned any gaming issues with it during the quick look.

I hope all that information was helpful. If you have any questions just ask. Hopefully, any issues with video games on Windows 8 will be fixed by the time you get the computer. If not, stick with Windows 7, but I highly recommend upgrading to windows 8 eventually. Of course, the best way to decide, is to try it out. The release preview is still available, so if you have a spare computer lying around, you might want to think about trying it.

reinstalled win 7 on my gaming tower. 8 doesn't have anything I want

Skip 8. It seems like it's a terrible choice for gamers. Just do some research and you'll see why.

I've been using it for eight months on my work computer.

Nay from me.

I've been using the preview of 8 on both my laptop and my pc, and I have zero complaints about it. I've even grown to like the "modern" (as its called now) start menu.

@SnowPin said:

Skip 8. It seems like it's a terrible choice for gamers. Just do some research and you'll see why.

Could you link to some articles explaining this position? From all I've seen, whether to install Windows 8 or not comes down to liking or disliking the Metro UI style. It seems to be faster than Windows 7, use resources better and, for the most part, compatible with everything Windows 7 is compatible. Granted, it just entered RTM and I assume game developers have not had the time needed to make sure their games work on it, but it's mostly Windows 7 with a new skin for that matter. I wonder how many people have actually tried Windows 8 with "gaming PCs".

Eh

you might want to go with windows 8 just to be cutting egde. as much as i hate microsoft they might pull bs like dx 12 windows 8 only.

@DeF said:

have you tried all of them, though?

what about OLDER old games. like good old games-old. does the win7 compatibility extend to 8 similarly to how Vista compatibility meant likely 7 compatibility?

No, I haven't tried them all. Some of them I actually haven't even played yet. However, Windows 8 is much more like 7 than 7 was like Vista. There aren't any significant compatibility breaks that I'm aware of.

I have played Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate on Windows 8. They worked, though they were the GOG versions. I'm not sure if they were tweaked any for that release.

YEA OR NAY

Unless you literally mean: "Windows 8. Whoopie! or No"

I think it looks cool, and I'd install it on a new rig. With a SSD and 8GB or more of RAM, I bet it'd be incredibly fast. Right now though, it just wouldn't be worth it to me.

I was hesitant, but it does look pretty damn cool.

@Chavtheworld: If you had a tablet, I'm not sure why you wouldn't want Windows 8 on your desktop. Dat profile sync thru skydrive, bro.

i'll upgrade on my desktop just because i need a 64 bit OS and it sounds like it'll only be $40 and i'll probably get a Windows Surface Pro to replace my touch screen laptop.

Why not? It's cheaper and faster than 7, and pretty much runs most of what 7 runs. The Modern UI takes a little getting used to, but then again I've gone for days without using it and just using the desktop portion of it on my laptop.

@NekuCTR said:

Seems really cool to me. There are a few logical missteps that will probobly get cleared up within a month or two, but overall it looks like a lot like Win 7 with fancy conveniences. I'm also in a position to get a touchscreen monitor whenever that happens so I'm pretty excited to be all futurey and "enhance" shit.

Having a touchscreen monitor seems like just about the only reason to really be excited for Win8. Also, that's pretty fucking cool. I'd like to try that out one day when Metro Modern UI is more heavily supported by devs. Has potential for sure.

Also, @SoothsayerGB said:

Ads on your desktop! ADS!!!!

Yeah, that goes in the Xbox direction way more than I'd like.

May...be. Haven't decided yet.