Has anyone made the leap?
Will do it but will give it a day or two to see if there are any reported issues on our hardware beforehand.
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>> BBC report: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24564738
The changes in 8.1 include:
start button - tapping once on this brings up the tiled interface and a long press opens up system controls
desktop mode - lets people avoid the tiled interface entirely
keyboard shortcuts - removes the need to toggle between different on-screen keyboards when typing numbers and letters
gesture control - some applications, such as those for cooking, can now be paged through without touching a screen
tile sizing - the blocks on the touchscreen interface can be in one of four sizes
web browsing - Windows 8 machines will now display separate web pages side by side
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 17 Oct 13 at 18:15
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Just done the upgrade on my test machine.
You download it from the Windows store ( one of the live tiles on the start menu)
And after its downloaded and installed (and it installs like a complete refresh) it appears and boots exactly like the old 8.0 version (ie Desktop mode is not the default)
I have recently built a very high spec machine for a committed windows 7 user, but installed windows 8 on it.
They now love it even tho there is no touch or pen input.
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I can now finally switch to Windows 8.0 for my builds. I have been sticking with Windows 7 simply because the customers I build the machines for don't want to learn new interfaces. I always give people the choice though.
My parents machine has Windows 8.0 and they seem to cope with it, my sister hates it though. Now Windows 8.1 is here hopefully with fact I can enable the desktop mode without worrying about endless support calls :p.
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Still better to install a start menu - the button just does what the Windows key does surely? Still presented with the tiled menu.
And there are still two interfaces if you use the new style apps - at least the windows are now more flexibly resized.
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Hellllpppp
Laptop died, and it was a bit old and hard used, so I bought a new one.
Apart from having the usual gripes about how useless, non-counter intuitive Windows 8 is, when I go to widows store, whether I swipe/click or even enter the address I found in my searches, all I get is a store full of Windows Apps for heaps of stuff I care not a jot, and no what I call useful stuff in the slightest.
One can't even search the store.
Or do I have to let it do all the stupid updates and tell me it's ready to go there in its own time?
Helpful advice on how to kick it into doing useful stuff will be much appreciated as I should have bought shares in screen wipes....
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>> Helpful advice on how to kick it into doing useful stuff will be much appreciated
>> as I should have bought shares in screen wipes....
What are you looking for in the windows update store? There is nothing of use in there except for windows 8.1 update.
All the apps you had on the old machine, you install in the new machine in the same way you did it on the old one.
Got no idea what you are trying to do here.
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The machine needs a huge amount of updates (and I only bought it today).
While I'm not convinced, it's obvious I need to get it up to date as the build does predate the Windows 8.1 release. It does appear that one update is crucial to Win8.1 being offered, there are 70 odd updates needed on this laptop.
Searching around, there are a few versions of Windows 8.0 where the update doesn't get offered, but I'll have to hope this is not one of them. Not helped by the fact even Microsofts help gives the wrong method for checking.
And... it's now decided it can't update... grrr
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>> The machine needs a huge amount of updates (and I only bought it today).
yes, but the windows 8.0 build was shipped to the hardware maker a year ago.
>> While I'm not convinced, it's obvious I need to get it up to date as
>> the build does predate the Windows 8.1 release. It does appear that one update is
>> crucial to Win8.1 being offered, there are 70 odd updates needed on this laptop.
you would have had this same agro when you bought your previous windows machine
>> Searching around, there are a few versions of Windows 8.0 where the update doesn't get
>> offered, but I'll have to hope this is not one of them. Not helped by
>> the fact even Microsofts help gives the wrong method for checking.
>>
>> And... it's now decided it can't update... grrr
The update is on the windows store (a tile on your start screen) and is/ will be available to ALL windows 8.0 builds preinstalled on OEM hardware. After you have installed all the updates. And they don't all come at once, you have to keep checking for updates.
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40 installed at first, asked it to look again and it found 63...
Probably more yet...
And I can't work out how to turn it properly off (as opposed to sleep).
Ho hum
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>> Has anyone made the leap?
It might be worth waiting until MS iron out the bugs.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24608277
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Just for anyone in the same boat, the 63 updates eventually installed - there is a mammoth amount of time taken, best to go and do something else and lo and behold, Windows 8.1 appeared in the store as the first thing you see, with the biggest display.
Shed loads of stuff to do, but slowly becoming a more useful laptop.
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Installed it the other day on my parents machine (G550, 4GB RAM) so quite a basic machine. Still flies haven't noticed any performance issues at all.
The start menu is a big improvement, if you right click it gives you instant access to control panel etc.
I have now configured to boot straight into the desktop too.
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Windows 8.1 - Focusless
