I was debating this for a while, but my friend picked up Windows 8 and says the "tablet"-like interface is really irratating and its complete garbage.
I love Windows 7. But I need the latest and greatest. I want to upgrade my computer with a SSD, and with this start fresh with Windows 8.
Thoughts?
My personal opinion would be to upgrade with an SSD and stay with Windows 7. Have you try your friends Windows 8 yet?
There are two areas of concern for Windows 8: the new user interface, and application/driver compatibility.
The user interface concern is pretty easy to get around. If you're not sure you'd like the Metro UI (Start screen) you can live your entire Windows 8 life on the Windows 8 Desktop, much like Windows 7 desktop. The key differences from Windows 7 is that is doesn't have the shadowy, translucent Aero eye candy (it's somewhat flat), but it works nice enough. And it doesn't have a start menu. There are scores of start menu add-ons by 3rd parties. Many are free. I paid 5 bucks for mine, Start8. I like Start8 because it is just like the start menu in Windows 7. It's a simple add-on and you can still go over to the Metro screen using normal Windows 8 commands and play there as you like. You might find some Metro apps to your liking.
The compatibility issue may require a little research on your part. If you have any special programs or applications that are specialized, or they use lots of hardware resources (like advanced games) you want to check online to see if people have had issue with them. On Windows 8 I use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, LibreOffice, all with no issues. But I have not yet tried installing my Cakewalk multitrack recorder, so I don't know about it yet. I still use it on my Windows 7 machine. For device drivers same thing: you want to check if the manufacturer has a Windows 8 specific driver. If they don't, the Windows 7 driver might still work (you want to match 32-bit versus 64-bit with your OS). Again, a little research may be needed. There's also a compatibility list at Microsoft's site you can check: Windows Compatibility Center: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads for Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows 7
IMO, I'd keep Windows 7 on a non-touch machines while I'd buy a touch screen laptop/convertible with Windows 8. Metro store is completely lacking as of the time of this writing compared to Apple and Google App Stores. I'd say don't upgrade your system to Windows 8 unless you want to use a touch screen monitor since I find that Windows 8's Metro Start screen works best for touch, and gestures are extremely easy and intuitional with the touch interface. I currently have Windows Server 2012 (server version of Windows 8) as a virtual machine and mouse gestures are a bit annoying though not unbearble. I also find that some Metro apps (especially games) won't work properly without touch.
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