W7 vs W8

jimbo45 · 10 Mar 2012

Hi there
Difficult to be precise but on the SAME hardware using W7 Enterprise x-64 and W8 consumer preview X-64 - Both were Fresh installs with the same applications I get the feeling that W8 seems more snappier all round.

OK you have to learn the navigation but it's not that hard.

I ensured Disks were cleanly formatted etc so BOTH OS'es could start from "Pristine Virginal Disks". (The tests were done on THE SAME computer) over two one week periods.

I was using Photoshop CS 5.5 X-64, Most of the Office products --64 bit versions , running 3 identical Virtual machines with vmware workstation and doing some video editing software.

Now W7 is no slouch either -- but it does seem MS has found some way to chop out even more overhead from the OS -- which is as it should be as development is always ongoing - and can take advantage of newer features present in hardware and processors that didn't exist before.

Just wondering if other W7 users who have tried W8 found any difference.

When swapping a HDD for a SSD then both W7 and W8 were lightning fast --couldn't tell the difference.

This wasn't a scientific test --just a subjective one -- and I know that after a few months one should "Refresh the OS" to get rid of old apps etc etc --but in my case both systems were installed from scratch on the SAME computer.

Incidentally the only driver I needed to look for in W8 was an Epson printer which it found via Windows update. W7 was slightly more fussy -- here again not a surprise as the newer OS should have a more up to date driver base.

I'm not sure however if W8 is ready for the workplace prime time -- W7 still runs very well indeed in the workplace -- and I don't see many corporations going to W8 -- some of them are barely starting to make the change from XP.

Just testing the waters here for people who've tried both systems and interested to see how they've found the experience.

Cheers
jimbo

Maguscreed · 10 Mar 2012

I would say the majority of the difference you notice is caused by lack of a solid state drive.
My entire win 7 os loads completely within 7 seconds of clearing the bios post.
Everything snaps so fast it's insane. I'm sure it's possible to be faster, but I do honestly question if I would be able to notice it.

As for windows 8 it's on the machine in the other room.
I hate it with a passion, mainly because it's such a huge mix of awesome ideas that work, and new fangled 'bull substance' that I can not find the least bit of reason for.
I'm sure it will be awesome for some people, namely those using tablets, I'm not feeling it though, I'm actually starting to become slightly miffed at having to learn it because I know clients are going to be wanting it left and right....

pcunite · 10 Mar 2012

Windows 7 is another 10 year OS. Windows 8 is MS's plaything ... my personal opinion on the matter of course.

jimbo45 · 10 Mar 2012

Hi there

the SSD's do make an awesome difference -- they REALLY DO --if you haven't tried them then give one a test -- you will be amazed.

Yes W7 is definitely a "Work Horse" OS
However I quite like playing with W8

We shall see --- I can see W7 though lasting AGES in the corporate realm - maybe having even a longer life than XP although who knows what sort of devices we'll be using in the Workplace in even 5 years time (and I will have retired by then anyway !! so I'll have more time to "play" than people doing "Proper Work") !!!.

Cheers
jimbo

pparks1 · 10 Mar 2012

Windows 8 is going to have to come to market with substantial features or substantial performance gains, otherwise I won't pony up the money to upgrade my boxes to it. A small performance gain isn't worth the price of the upgrade to me personally.

kado897 · 10 Mar 2012

I've only run W8 in a VM but it seems a lot faster than W7 in an identical VM. I guess they would have had to improve the performance to get it to run on a tablet. I'ts a bit early to say, it needs some work still but I think I could get to like it, or at least, not reject it out of hand.

Maguscreed · 10 Mar 2012

kado897 said:

I guess they would have had to improve the performance to get it to run on a tablet.

Not really much guessing to be done there.
probably safe to assume they are messing around with power features too.

kado897 · 10 Mar 2012

Which of course means, even if you don't like/use metro, you get some benefit on the desktop.

CreepinJesus · 10 Mar 2012

jimbo45 said:

the SSD's do make an awesome difference -- they REALLY DO --if you haven't tried them then give one a test -- you will be amazed.

...

I second this. I 'made the jump' a year and a half ago when my hard drive died. I saw an SSD on offer and thought "why not?"

Last month I made another jump to a SATA-III capable motherboard and SSD, and this new drive is twice as fast again as my first SSD. I made a batch script to open the whole Office suite - all open in under 2 seconds total.

Maguscreed · 10 Mar 2012

CreepinJesus said:

jimbo45 said:

the SSD's do make an awesome difference -- they REALLY DO --if you haven't tried them then give one a test -- you will be amazed.

...

I second this. I 'made the jump' a year and a half ago when my hard drive died. I saw an SSD on offer and thought "why not?"

Last month I made another jump to a SATA-III capable motherboard and SSD, and this new drive is twice as fast again as my first SSD. I made a batch script to open the whole Office suite - all open in under 2 seconds total.

No doubt the difference really is astonishing. I put it off for nearly two years and finally put my first one in this machine.
It may be the single most significant upgrade I have ever made.
There is really just no frame of reference for mechanical users as to how fast these latest ssd's really are.

Because when I say booted in about 7 seconds. I don't mean I'm just looking at my desktop I mean everything is there and loaded you click for the context it's instant you click the browser it pops right up. There isn't that horrible load lag after the desktop appears too like I got with a mechanical.