is windows 8 better than vista?

hi

my dad is thinking of getting a new laptop. an his current laptop is running vista. and he has been very happy with it for 4 or so yrs but laptop is getting to show its age a bit now. i have seen and heard some negatives surrounding W8 regarding the OS menu system explorer etc and am a bit sceptical so am just wondering if there are any opinions regarding the latest windows os. and if a vista fan would appreciate the change or if it would be to different and too much to learn for a 60+yrs computer novice.

thanks
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he has 2 options he has been considering so far if anyone would like to inform which is best would be much apreciated. and the specs are as follows.

OPTION 1: £349 (win 8)

Intel® Core™ i3-3110 processor
4Gb RAM
500Gb SATA hard drive
15.6 inch display
DVD/RW drive
Integrated graphics
Multi-in-one card reader
802.11 b/g/n WiFi
Webcam
Windows 8 Home Premium
Acer E1 Laptop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OPTION 2: £329 (win 7)

Intel® Pentium® dual core B967 processor
6Gb RAM
500Gb hard drive
15.6 inch HD Acer LED backlit display
DVD Super Multi DL drive
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 4.0
Built-in Webcam
2 in 1 card reader
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Acer Aspire V5 laptop



thanks

Given that Vista is now considered an OS that is past its prime, an upgrade to W7 or W8 makes sense. I myself would go for OPTION 1, as it is the most up to date.

Incidentally, being in your 60s shouldn't be considered as limiting what you can learn and adapt to with Windows OSes. My late father, who died in Oct 2011, got his first (and only) computer in his early-mid 70s. Running XP, he didn't bother about the Internet and used it mainly for Church records and other things (he was, at one time, Social Secretary, but was able to turn his hand to most things associated with the Church).

hi dwarf thanks for reply


when you say past its prime how do you mean? my dad absoloutly loves it and when seven came out i asked if he was interested he insisted he was happy as he was
i agree that his age should not limit his ability to learn however i fear his patience and willingness to learn are limited.
his main worry is will the menus and subsystems appear differently to vista and if so is it a lot different. the thing is hes worried he may not be able to find his files as easily or set up a network etc etc. i do help him with majority of his computer needs however he needs to be able to grasp the basics for when im not around or available to help him.

thanks again for response much appreciated

The main thing I found a bit annoying when I transitioned from Vista to W7 was the Aero Snap stuff. If I moved a window too close to the edge of the screen, it resized to fill that half of the screen. Taskbar was a bit different. But once I got used to it, I preferred it. Files and all that is no problem. It's not radically different than Vista.

The Pin To Taskbar is great. If you pin a program to Taskbar and have say 10 or 20 files you use all the time with that app, you can drag the file to the app's Taskbar Button and pin the file to it. Right click on the Taskbar Button for a program, and click the pinned file to run the app with that file.

Plus I like the Progress Bar in the Taskbar Button. Instead of showing download or processing progress by showing "59%" when you mouse over, the programmer can have the green go across the Taskbar Button. Very cool. Plus the memory management and prefetch work a bit better.

If you guys can afford it I recommend getting Windows Seven Ultimate. It's more intelligent using resources if your machine is a few years old. My W7 PC only has 2 GB ram and Seven runs fine on it. Granted I don't work with giant spread sheets. But for general usage 2 GB is fine with Ultimate.

Difficult question.

I think if you liked Vista, then you will like win7 - it is the same thing at heart, just trimmed a bit and a couple of extra little fancies like libraries.

Even those who didn't like Vista liked 7 mainly.

Win 8 is something very different. It is aimed at tablet users. The idea is to push the unsuspecting into the MS clouds and eventually to a subscription based service.That would be massively more expensive for most average users- there are also concerns about loss of control and privacy and so on.

I don't like that aspect of it. Many are not even aware of it. That is the danger - you are not supposed to know where you are being led.

If you buy a new machine nowish - you may be able to find one with win7 on it. But when stocks run out - people will be inflicted with win 8.

I think option 0 should be to stay with Vista. Option 1 would be my next choice (because the i3 is a modern CPU and the Pentium is an old banger).

I have been on Vista for many years and never had any problems (my wife is still happy with it). Windows 7 is better but Windows 8 is a disaster (in my book). I will not install it on my working PCs - maybe just as second OS on a system I do not often use - only to stay up-to-date.

But if you like a PC with a Playschool interface, Windows 8 may be for you.

hi thanks to everyone so far for your opinions i have found them all very informative and helpfull.

i feel windows 8 probably isnt for my dad. especially due to the security issues raised
however some of the laptops hes looked at that have windows 7 have older processors and the ones with newer processors have win8. however his current processor is only intel celeron m540 1.86ghz so i dont think the older processor will bother him as the pentium b967 is dual core his curent is only single core and current ram 2GB option 2 has 6gb so 3 times what he as now. so he will experience a marked improvement on what he has currently performance wise. im sure that would suit him but its ultimately his choice. which is why i asked on here so as he can get some unbiasd opions from ppl other than me. can never have to much information .

thanks again to everyone for there input on the subject much appreciated

If 2 gig of ram currently isn't enough for what he runs than going with 4 gb will be an improvement provided that's the issue. However unless the channeling is different on those 2 systems (dual versus triple channeling) then 6 gig wouldn't in itself be much more of an improvement over 4 provided that he doesn't use a lot of memory intensive programs. You didn't mention the memory speed and type for each system so I can't do a complete analysis. Keep in mind though that there are other reasons why he is experiencing a performance decrease other than the memory. If you find the root cause then perhaps you can save him the new purchase.

As for the different processors on the new computers unless he does cpu intensive tasks (heavy gaming, video editing, etc) he probably won't notice a difference. He would definitely notice a difference over his current computer with either system. If it where me I'd pay the extra money and get the windows 8 system but then subsequently put windows 7 on it. I have a retail copy of 7 so I would be able to do so relatively easily. If you don't have a retail copy of 7 then you should probably go with the windows 7 system since IMO that would be an easier adjustment than going to Windows 8.

As an attempt to remedy his current issues try some of the steps on this guide http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/81176-speed-up-performance-vista.html. There are several things that I disagree with. For one thing I would not do a BIOS update because if that messes up you could end up with a a doorstop. Also the tutorial mentions installing SP 1. It should say to install SP 2.

hi hes not really sseing performance issues as such just he has had the laptop 4 or so years and what he uses it for now is more than when he first got it but still nothing intensive mainly internet browsing emailing watchin movies and streaming movies. however his HDD is showing wear using CRYSTALDISKINFO also his fan is kicking in very often also sometimes he likes to use it to connect to his lcd tv to watch movies on big screen. however his only connections are s-video and headphone jack for audio and then he plugs those into a scart adapter then into his tv which is ok but there is some loss of quality. so there are a few reasons he feels its time to change. but im sure if he could try some things to save buying one he would.. so i will still check that post out for him. thanks

If it doesn't have to be a laptop I see some amazing desktops for sale in the $300-$400 range. Like with quad or 6 core CPUs large HD and a lot of memory. The main drawback to these is they are loaded with W8 in my opinion. Although at Best Buy I did see a few still shipping with W7 installed. Since the OS is so expensive if your dad can abide using a desktop he could get renewed hardware with the OS virtually thrown in for nothing. I think most of the PCs I'm talking about had at least 4 GB ram and 64 bit W8 or W7. Some of them finally have a couple of USB 3.0 ports as well as the Gb wired ethernet. About the only thing missing is a BDROM drive to play BluRay. Pretty awesome for machines under $400.

the laptop hes been looking at today is £329

and has :

win7 HP
Dual Core pentium B967
500GB HDD
6GB ram
2x usb 2.0
1x usb 3.0

but it dosent say a great deal more than that about it such as graphis etc so am unsure how good they are etc

I've never owned a laptop. So I'm not the one to advise. But like most things, you pay a premium for the portability. You can likely get a desktop with better CPU more ram bigger HD for about 2/3 the cost. But if you prefer a laptop I'm not disparaging that. I learned to type on an old mechanical type writer sitting at a desk. I tried typing into a laptop for about 10 seconds. It was like eating raw jellyfish. I couldn't bring myself to do it. But that's just what I'm accustomed to.

My laptop is better, and cost only $276 on ebay. The processor on the one you listed isn't very good either, clocked at 1.3ghz. If I was going to spend almost 400 on a laptop it would have to have fairly good features. At least decent cpu and graphics,

I didn't spend too much time looking but I already found better laptops on ebay brand new. Heres just one example

Lenovo IdeaPad Z565 15.6in Notebook PC SHIP FREE | eBay

hi thanks but that is in dollars from us?

the laptops hes looked at have these processors
ARK | Compare Intel® Products

the i3 £349
the pentium B970 £349
the pentium B967 £329

i couldnt see a massive ammount of difference between them ?

I don't want to advise on laptop because I've never owned one. Somebody who has experience might see something really horrible that I would miss. So I hope a forum member with extensive laptop experience will advise you.

Yes, I'm in USA and I usually look to Best Buy to see what's around. Also there's one close by. I don't like to buy PCs unless I can easily drive to the store to return it. If you have to ship it back due to a defect it's a pita. Besides, once I decide to buy a new one and have it picked out, I want to go get it and set it up that day. Sort of a planned impulse buy oxymoron.

i agree i would rather buy one at least inside my own country as if anything went wrong it would be a nightmare sorting it all out also wouldnt feel comfortable buying off ebay. would rather buy from a company i know and trust.
like with the lenovo i just looked at it stated "open box" if i buy a new pc laptop i want to be the one to open it. not know that someone else has opened it?? you wouldnt buy a choclate bar if the shopkeeper had already opened the wrapper?

thanks to everyone for helping me out much apreciated

I see 349 converted to us dollars is 559. Man if I had that kind of money then I'd be on ebay getting a better gaming laptop with 1gb dedicated Vram. Thats my goal, but Im going to be saving up for it quite awhile. Every laptop I've ever owned came from ebay, of course I read up on every one to know I'm not getting screwed. And yes it sucks to wait a week or two, but I aways thought it was worth it because I save alot more then buying from local stores. Anyway thats just how I pick out and buy laptops. If you still want to buy one from a store like best buy, a good thing to do is google the laptop, and google any questions you have about what the laptop can handle and what it can't handle. I've learned alot from google.

Man if I had that kind of money then I'd be on ebay getting a better gaming laptop with 1gb dedicated Vram

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On these PC purchases, are they outright buy or do you have to bid? Only time I tried bidding on eBay was the last time. A commodity item nothing to do with electronics. I put in a bid, then wadda' ya' know! At the last minute somebody bid like $.50 higher. It wasn't worth it to me to bid again. Then a few days later there's a fee posted in my account. Basically I shelled out "money for nothing" as the song goes. So I have to wonder how many of these online auction outfits just post phantom bids on no merchandise just to generate fees? Just have the shill make an outrageous bid that nobody will top, right at the end. Ka-ching!!

Na', I'd rather see a price tag.

I never bid on anything, its a lost cause, someone always jumps in and puts you out. I always look for the, buy it now, option. And I always make sure to read the description too. If I cant find any info in the product description telling everything about its condition then I pass on buying it. I make sure its new or like new condition and has pictures of it. Also that it has at least a 14 day warrenty. I always try and find the best, for the least amount of money without sacrificing parts or condition. I could find a good laptop thats $100 less then one with a hdd, but thats no problem because I already have a hard drive. I have my eye on one that would be perfect for modern games, but its 600$, another one is around 800$. If I can get it then I should be set for gaming since one has a 1gb video card and the other a 3gb card. I only have 256mb video card right now so I'm restricted to what the card can and can not handle.

This laptop (lenovo ideapad z565) came with a amd turion dual-core cpu at 2.5ghz which I upgraded it myself to amd phenom dual-core 2.8ghz.

If there was someplace where it was stipulated there's a fee per bid or exactly what fees were charged, I certainly didn't see it. I think that's the idea. They rely on the fact that it isn't worth it for people scammed out of $5 or $10 to expend any time, money, or effort to get it back.

That's not the type of outfit I want to frequent.