Windows: 7 or 10???

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Haven't seen this specific question asked but if I missed the thread feel free to berate me and direct me to the discussion.

Time for a new laptop and I find a lot still loaded with Windows 7 (usually 7 Pro) but most loaded with 10. Will mainly use it for email, browsing, saving some boat files, docs and manuals, an occasional movies and of course OpenCPN.

So which way to go. I hated Win 8 and tiles but a salesman (who was trying to sell me a Win10 laptop so I'm taking what he said with a grain of salt), tells me the tiles are gone and Win10 looks and feels more like Win7.

Another point, seems like each succeeding version of Windows is more of a resource hog than the one before, requiring more power and memory to run. Is that the case with Win10 vs Win7.

Any other issues or questions I should ask.

And before this suggestion pops up, don't think I want to go with some Linux version. I may be wrong but from discussions I see about Linux it requires more time and effort to install, compile, configure, etc and I just don't have the time or interest in getting involved in something like that.

I had 8 then 8.1 and hated them upgraded to 10 and loved it then my 'puter went phut, not related to software.
Bought a new laptop and only option was with 8 and free upgrade to 10 Went with that but had the Best Buy Geek Squad do the upgrade and add Office 365 and Webroot A/V The geek squad service was $100 and covered 3 machines ( one mine one hers, one on the boat 24/7) plus it came with the Webroot suff FOC for 3 machines too).

You should find a demo Win 10 machine in the store, they all were when I bought but none had it pre-loaded back then.

thoroughly recommend the Best Buy Geek squad service because they have the upgrades and al llatest updates on their in house servers so no problem with dodgy online connections etc. I had upgraded my wife's machine mysaelf from 7 to 10 and a subsequent MS upgrade would not load, all sorted courtesy of the GS with a remote access service.

WIN10 is way faster than 7 but I do have a decent specced ASus machine with 8GB RAM

I have heard that the auto updates can be a pain on a metered connection or poor WiFi but you can configure it to only update on a good WiFi link to avoid doing it on a cellphone data type contract OR you turn off auto updates altogether if that is a real concern.

I think you are not far from me in Florida so must have a Best Buy store nearby, mine was in Daytona Beach. I got a very good deal on my new Asus, way better than otheraround including Staples who were waymore expensive ang had no interest in trying to fix my old machine which I had bought from them, itwas like ' well the repair will cost more than a new machine ( probably true as it needed a new motherboard I later discovered) buy this , this or this, right now'

WIN10 runs OpenCPN very well it seems if you use it, I have it on my home laptop but run it on Vista on my boat one, just asa backup really for the full Garmin network set up( screen hopeless in bright sunlight for cockpit use to be the main one).

[pwmullins]

Suggest you go to youTube and watch the various tutorials for Win 10, it will smooth the transition. You don't have to use the tiles if you don't want to; I use the desktop version. It takes a little bit of break in to understand file maneuvering, but after you do it once or twice it gets easier. Also right click on the windows symbol in the lower left corner and it will let you do all kinds of things instantly. hope this helps.

[aguenther]

Buy a MacBook and avoid lots of trouble, time on solving problems and research.
Even IOS upgrades dont make any problems with drivers or Naviagtion Software like MacENc. It's the best you can do.

aguenther

[KidSheeleen]

Upgraded for windows 8 to 10, no problems on install, and its very user friendly. Love it!

[carlheintz]

Here's advice from someone who does seminars on operating systems and writes a book updated yearly on computer technology:

Win 10 is a great operating system... if you make some adjustments. Search Forbes Magazine for an article about Win 10 spying. It captures user info and sends data back to the mothership Microsoft for use in marketing. You can turn that off, if you go to the security settings and privacy settings. Easy fix.

Win 10 is smaller than Win 7, uses less resources, powers up faster, and has additional security features. It will act just like Win 7, almost. Yes, when you click the start button you will get some of those annoying tiles (aka Win 8 "Modern Interface") back, but you can right-click and get rid of them.

Win 10 will run virtually any program that runs on Win 7. Not so much for an XP program. They generally don't behave.

WIFI is better on Win 10, but it may be occasionally slightly slower if you don't turn off the spyware. Also, Win 10 has a feature called telemetry which constantly sends short bursts of info back about the health of the operating system, its configuration, etc. Win 7 updates have included the same feature in Win 7, so there.

All in all, I would not be afraid of Win 10. It is an easy transition from Win 7. There are a few downsides, but by in large it is a better operating system than 7, and way, way better than the abomination called Win 8.

[SteveInMD]

I wiped my computer clean with a fresh install of Windows 7, then upgraded it to Win 10. No junk, no bloatware. My computer starts and runs faster than ever.

[bobfromcanada]

OK, got 5 machines. One Win 10, one Win 10 updated from Win 8.1, one Win 8.1 (won't update), two Win 7. Due to these issues I'm unwilling to update the rest of my machines to Win 10
1) On Win 7, when I hover over a wifi connection I see name, signal strength, security type, radio type and SSID. On Win 10 all I see is name and Connected. Personally I want to see what kind of security there is when I connect to a network.
2) Win 10 does its updates WHEN IT WANTS TO. Win 7 I can control when and if.
3) Most things I want to look at can be seen from Win 10, just the route is a little different.
4) I can't quite determine if I'll lose my access to Word Click-To-Run if I upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10. I get various reports saying I might lose it ...
That said, if I was buying a NEW machine I would go Win 10. In the meantime I'm holding off upgrading.

[captstu]

Upgraded from 7 to 10 with a short visit to 8.

Junked them all for a MacBook Pro. Same price, faster by far, and it does not crash.

Now I spend my time doing rather than fixing Windos OS bugs.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by captstu

Upgraded from 7 to 10 with a short visit to 8.

Junked them all for a MacBook Pro. Same price, faster by far, and it does not crash.

Now I spend my time doing rather than fixing Windos OS bugs.

Can you let me know where you buy the MacBook. I checked a couple of online sellers and for a MacBook with a 15" screen the prices started around $2000 and went up from there. A Win laptop with 15" screen starts around $300-$400 and for $1200-$1400 I can get a top of the line machine.

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Thanks all.

My take so far, Win 7 or Win 10 will both do the job and Win 10, with one exception, seems to be free from annoyances. Also, seems like upgrading from 7 to 10 is not always painless so I'll stick with whatever OS comes on the machine I end up with.

The Mac would be nice but will stick with a Windows machine for a couple of reasons. First, there are some things I've found that won't run on a Mac and my IT friends all use Windows systems so I would give up my free tech support. Also I can buy a similar Windows machine for about half of what a Mac would cost. Maybe when I win the lottery or don't have boat stuff to buy.

BE aware if you buy a new machine with WIN7 the free upgrade option to 10 has a time limit on it, after which MS will want you to hand over multiple beer/boat vouchers.
I upgraded my wife's 7 machine very painlessly to 10 and like me she loves it.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Robin3

BE aware if you buy a new machine with WIN7 the free upgrade option to 10 has a time limit on it, after which MS will want you to hand over multiple beer/boat vouchers.
I upgraded my wife's 7 machine very painlessly to 10 and like me she loves it.

After reading a number of comments I will keep whichever OS comes on the computer. If Win7 I'll keep it that way and not do the upgrade.

Currently leaning towards Win10 Pro. Pro because it will allow me more control over the upgrades and BS that MS runs in the background.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Lizzy Belle

Neither.

I switched to Ubuntu a couple of years ago and never looked back.

Ubuntu is just one of the popular mainstream Linux distributions, but I like it so I haven't really checked out other distributions recently.

I do have to work with Windows every now and again, which usually results in a serious case of TRA (Technology Related Anger) within half an hour

I've been told this by two friends also... still haven't taken the leap though... Someone told me to buy a computer that is NOT preloaded with software.... I forget ... there's a name for that... That way you don't get a bunch of add on's and things that track your every move.. if you buy the software separately and install. (yes, it's more expensive as there are reasons they want you to buy their installed system)
???

[windwalkr]

There were several good posts about win10 vs Win7, here are a couple bullet points which may contribute

#1 The newer hardware will not run on Windows 7, so computers loaded with Windows 7 tend to be very old hardware. No support for NFC, advanced Wifi, Wireless Display, and several hardware based encryption services provided by the modern CPU (Anti-theft, Secure Enclave, etc).

#2 The BIOS on newer computers support something called EFI, which is not supported by older OS's like Windows 7, so Buying a EFI only computer and Downgrading to a legacy OS is difficult (but not impossible)

#3 Windows 10 Supports newer hardware and security standards, but moves security away from the user. AKA the user is no longer considered "Trusted" This is a good thing and also annoying.

#4 Windows 10 loves the internet, If you pay for your data, windows 10 eats Megabytes like Pacman eats dots.

#5 Windows 10 includes many Anti-piracy features which prevents or Reports the use of pirated software.

On a side note, Someone recommended Ubuntu.. Ubuntu Rocks! I am actually typing this on a Ubuntu computer which is controlling a windows laptop.

For all Y'all MAC people out there.. MAC is BSD Unix

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by skipmac

After reading a number of comments I will keep whichever OS comes on the computer. If Win7 I'll keep it that way and not do the upgrade.

Currently leaning towards Win10 Pro. Pro because it will allow me more control over the upgrades and BS that MS runs in the background.

But unless you take up the free 10 upgrade option by (JULY 2017?) when MS eventually discontinue support for 7 ( think security updates and/or drivers) you would have to buy a new WIN10 licence currently around $100 IIRC in order to get 10 which will be kept upgraded forever FOC., 10 being the final issue all else thereafter treated as an update. The MS spying stuff you can disable in settings if you wish but some is useful like location perhaps. It is a bit like smartphones of eitherApple or Google Android flavour, you can disable most stuff ( which I do) or give in by choice but as I found sooner or later you get sucked back in. The men in black will get it eventually anyay!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Wallaby

I have Win 10 on one laptop (which used to have the hated Win 8) and Win 7 on another. It works great except for constant messages that I can upgrade to Win 10 for free. You gotta wonder what is going on.

Read Reply #18 to solve that issue.