buying a new laptop for business, picked it, all good but comes with Win 8 Pro

undercovergeek · June 22, 2015, 09:56:28 AM

Never touched Win 8, cant roll back the laptop, doesnt come with a 7 option

Am i right in thinking 8 is a mess and needs 8.1? Is that a paid upgrade or can i just download 8.1 as soon as i switch on the laptop

and is 8 64 bit or is it either or

thanks for any help chaps

Barthheart · June 22, 2015, 09:59:12 AM

You should be able to go immediately to 10 and avoid 8 all together...

undercovergeek · June 22, 2015, 10:03:46 AM

it comes with 8 preloaded - theres a 10 upgrade option for 8 pro?

i thought it was just for Win 7 folk

Barthheart · June 22, 2015, 10:51:16 AM

Quote from: undercovergeek on June 22, 2015, 10:03:46 AM
it comes with 8 preloaded - theres a 10 upgrade option for 8 pro?

i thought it was just for Win 7 folk

Pretty sure it's for everyone.

bbmike · June 22, 2015, 11:20:32 AM

You can upgrade to 8.1 through the Windows Store for free.

Staggerwing · June 22, 2015, 06:58:27 PM

Quote from: bbmike on June 22, 2015, 11:20:32 AM
You can upgrade to 8.1 through the Windows Store for free.

And then you can upgrade to Win10 for free after July 29th if you reserve your copy before then using the windows icon on the lower right side of the toolbar.

undercovergeek · June 23, 2015, 02:47:20 AM

thanks chaps - the couriers on his way and ill get it on then

JasonPratt · June 24, 2015, 06:42:55 AM

Certainly agree about updating to 8.1 pronto.

Personally I recommend finding the Opensource Start menu program, too (the name of which escapes me at the moment, OpenStartShell maybe, though I doubt that's exactly it), since 8.1 doesn't really fix the lack of a proper Start menu. When I got my new Surface for the office (to test things for upgrading our accounting suite eventually ~~and to play games with my nieces on a portable Windows platform~~), it came with 8.1 but still wanted to do that awful swipy mobile pseudo-start desktop, not the 'real' desktop which still didn't have a proper 'start' menu. :P So I promptly found that shell program again and installed it and my life has been much easier and happier. I even gave them a Paypal donation I think.

While my Surface has registered for the new Win 10, I'm going to hold off installing it for a while, much less on my main gaming computer (The Presence) at home -- which for some reason has never given me an option to register for a free Win10 upgrade. Weird. I need to look into that before I lose the opportunity...