Starting looking for new Desktop / Trade in Offers on Windows XP PC's

RumRat

OnAndUp wrote: »

Windows version aside does anyone have any other suggestions?

I have been looking at the Acer Revo L80 does a USB Optical drive like this from Amazon do exactly the same as a built in one?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SE-208DB-TSBS-Portable-External/dp/B008X0TX0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394801174&sr=8-1&keywords=usb+disc+drive

Is Acer a good brand?

Yes for the optical drive.
I would put Acer as a middle of the road manufacturer.

OnAndUp

RumRat wrote: »

That said, I don't think you'll like it. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.
Plenty of tutorials on the web.:)

Do you mean I won't like it or his Wife!? :eek:

Obviously I'm currently using XP but also use Android KitKat on other devices, what is so different about W8 or do you mean that it just works better on Touchscreen devices? I definitely won't be getting one of those I like my "proper!" keyboard.

duggan1

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Or they could just have minds of their own and genuinely think that Win 8 is just a POS that offers non touch screen users absolutely nothing over Win 7.

Performance under 8 is generally better. (even up to 33% on some games)
Better multiple monitor support.
Built in Hyper-V.
Seamless 'cloud' integration.
'Miracast' screen mirroring.

and many more improvements from my point of view.

Granted for most people, maybe not the visible improvements you expect from an 'upgrade', but 8 (especially 8.1) is an excellent OS and all my home PCs now either run 8.1, or run on 8.1 as a VM.

Don't use it on a touch screen, or use metro for very much, but it does work well on the surface tablets I've used.

OnAndUp

RumRat wrote: »

Yes for the optical drive.
I would put Acer as a middle of the road manufacturer.

Also looking at Fujitsu Esprimo models but they seem to be about a £100 dearer for similar spec?

I have heard good things about the i3 Processors.

RumRat

OnAndUp wrote: »

Do you mean I won't like it or his Wife!? :eek:

Obviously I'm currently using XP but also use Android KitKat on other devices, what is so different about W8 or do you mean that it just works better on Touchscreen devices? I definitely won't be getting one of those I like my "proper!" keyboard.

I was answering his post as I quoted his thread and I meant him.
Re, W8.1, It is best on a touch screen, that's what it was designed for really. But, if you take the time to learn it and view some tutorials then it's fine with a keyboard and mouse.
If you decide you don't like the modern UI then you can use a third party apps to make it look and work just like windows 7.

RumRat

OnAndUp wrote: »

Also looking at Fujitsu Esprimo models but they seem to be about a £100 dearer for similar spec?

I have heard good things about the i3 Processors.

The i3 is a good processor for everyday PC use. I doubt you will need anything faster.
Have you thought about using one of the custom builders? Someone like these. http://www.palicomp.co.uk/facets/attr_Range-Home_Office_Pcs (There are others). If you look at some of their range you can get an i5 in your budget. You also get a choice of W7 or W8.

prowla

OnAndUp wrote: »

Think I would like Windows 8 as it seem to have grown on people now with 8.1 - is that right?

A bit like a boil growing on your bum.

JJ_Egan

Dont know about grown on as my user experience from 7 to 8 was cheap and flawless .
Touch screen and or the apps dont use only keyboard and mouse .
Installed Win 8 followed by Classic Shell and its just a faster version of 7 . Admittedly some of the settings are a different format or layout to 7 through control panel .

If you wanted to use the touch screen type interface its not that difficult especially for anyone that has used a smartphone .

KxMx

prowla wrote: »

A bit like a boil growing on your bum.

Goodness gracious me. What dramatics! :eek:

Fair enough if you don't like it but as for posting such nonsense...

Posts like yours are the reason so many are unjustifiably scared of Win8 and won't try it for themselves.

At least my posts are balanced with pros and annoyances and come from long term daily experience.

prowla

KxMx wrote: »

Goodness gracious me. What dramatics! :eek:

Fair enough if you don't like it but as for posting such nonsense...

Posts like yours are the reason so many are unjustifiably scared of Win8 and won't try it for themselves.

At least my posts are balanced with pros and annoyances and come from long term daily experience.

Ooh - scratch your eyes out!

I use Windows 8. I also use Windows 7, XP & Server, Ubuntu, Red Hat and Oracle Linux, Apple IOS on an iPhone and iPad, Apple OSX on a Mac, and a couple of other systems too.

I've been working with computers for about three decades, and used Windows 2 and the old MacOS.

I've also worked as a developer and have worked in research in computer interfaces.

Of all of the systems I have used, Windows 8 is the most disjointed and frustrating.

The bolting together of the tablet interface onto the desktop OS doesn't fit well; panels come in with different style of presentation, so you have a desktop with icons designed in one format and then panels sweep in from the edges which have markedly different fonts and icon styles.

When you click on an item in the home screen you don't know whether you will get a windowed app on the desktop or a "Metro" full-screen single-tasking app which is reminiscent of the old DOS text-based character graphics. You might (eg.) change it to get a windows Internet Explorer on your computer, but then you might go to someone else's and find they haven't done that; so Microsoft have implemented something which they believe to be promoting standardisation and they've actually created inconsistencies and unpredictability.

And then if you insert a disc into a drive, you get a flat text box inviting you to "Tap Here" for actions. But if you haven't got a touch screen then you can't "Tap Here", can you. So the OS isn't clever enough to tailor the prompts to suit your system.

And of course, putting a touch screen onto a desktop is a bad idea; you may (if you've been working with computers long enough) recall that there was much work done on ergonomics (how to sit properly, how to use your keyboard to avoid RSI, choosing the correct distance from your screen, etc.)... Well, how bad is sitting at a desk holding out your arm to use a touch screen then? it seems to me that that breaks the rules of ergonomics.

Looking at the changes which Windows 8 introduced over Windows 7 and before; much play has been made of the Start menu having gone, and certainly changing that to a modal home screen that you flip back and forth between breaks common wisdom on the rules of good user interface design, and there are various options to reinstate it (or a lookalike).

But something I do not like is that they took away the glass Aero effects in the production cut (it was still there in the public BETA), and stipulated that windows would have flat single-colour borders with square corners. This then makes the PC desktop consistent with the styling of a budget Nokia 520 mobile phone. But my PC isn't a mobile phone, and it's got a dedicated graphics card which is easily capable of supporting that functionality. Again, you can get this back by buying the WindowBlinds software, but how silly that they took out things which lots of their customers want back.

As far as the Windows 8.1 look and feel goes, they've applied it to MS Office too, and I find the flat 2-D monochrome interface to be more difficult to use; it is less easy to distinguish the content from the interface. Again, poor user interface design.

So, all in all, there are a number of reasons why Windows 8 is a very poor product.

And it's not just me saying it; there are many people saying so, Microsoft themselves fired the head of the division responsible for it, sales are disappointing, business are not interested in it.

Many years ago when Microsoft first released Windows as a bolt-on on top of DOS, Apple said it was like "putting lipstick on a chicken".

Me, I say that, taking into account all of my considered opinions, Windows 8 grows on you like a boil on your bum.:)