Windows 10?

Player 2

Hi folks,

My gaming laptop could do with a spring-clean, and I'm debating whether to upgrade it from Windows 7 Pro, to Windows 10 while I'm at it.

My graphics card(s) are DirectX 11 compatible, so, I'm not sure if the touted Windows 10 + DirectX 12 features are even of any use to me.

Other than that; has anyone tried it?
Are there any compatability issues with older games?
Have there been any performance boosts; or, am I likely to actually see a dip in performance?

Specs below:

Intel Core i7 Processor 940XM(2.13Ghz,8MB cache)
8192MB (2x4096) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel
512GB (2x256GB) Solid State Drive Raid 0 "Stripe" Dual HDD
Dual CrossFire 1GB ATI GDDR5 Mobility Radeon HD 5870


Let me know if any of you guys have tried it!

5uspect

I'm running it on my PC and it runs fine. I had a few issues with games not working through the various early builds but nothing major. It's currently stable and boots fast.

It appears to be mostly complete under the hood and now they're polishing the UI, which IMHO is like polishing a turd at this stage. MS really need to start fresh instead of heaping layers of failed UI experiments on top of each other. They've borrowed heavily from OS X (again) with their desktop switcher and new sloppy Settings menu, while keeping the Control Panel, yes it still has multiple places to change different things. Tiles have been relegated to a somewhat resizable Start menu (which isn't near as nifty as the one available in a previous build).

So as a gaming platform it's fine, which is all I use Windows for nowadays anyway. As a modern OS it leaves a awful lot to be desired.

J_E

I think that's the main issue really, upgrading what is an outdated base. I suppose they are afraid to completely reinvent it from the ground up unless it causes major incompatibilities - OSes like Windows are extremely complicated and rely on a lot of things to not mess up.

Robert ninja

If they just brought DX12 to W7 (the largest gaming OS on the market ffs!) we wouldn't have to care about any of this. So frustrating.

EoinHef

Robert ninja wrote: »

If they just brought DX12 to W7 (the largest gaming OS on the market ffs!) we wouldn't have to care about any of this. So frustrating.

Windows 10 will be free if you upgrade in the first year and all you have to do is wait,when its ready,make the jump over to it. Its not even released yet. You can wait for a full year of improvements before deciding to make the jump. More than fair IMO.


Could be a lot worse,they could be charging €80-120 for OEM/Retail versions of Windows 10 to get the benefit of DX12.

Robert ninja

The fact that it's free makes me want it less. If you're not paying for it then there's something fishy going on (when it comes to non-open source corporate stuff). I've read that the 'free upgrade' comes with beta agreements. They also transmute your W7 key into a W10 one making it a funk to go back... not to mention W10 locking your system from even accepting other OSs.

If they could charge you for it they would but they know just as well no same person would. I think it's MC's desperate attempt to stay relevant (in this part of the industry) in the face of other free competitors. I think they were crapping their pants when Valve did nothing but non-stop SteamOS promotion and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulkan_(API) started making noise. I noticed the distinct lack of mention of any of this as soon as the giant ad known as E3 rolled around. Not a word of it because MC had presence... awkward.

DX12 is not just windows only it's W10 only... quite unappealing to me, honestly. The only real draw for me with DX12 (and Vulkan) are the possibilities with using one's hardware in a whole new way. I read some good things about dual-GPUs being a lot more viable to the point of even combining VRAM instead of mirroring the weakest link... although that's all speculation as far as I've read and I'm not tech savvy enough to go into the detail about any of it.

EoinHef wrote: »

Could be a lot worse,they could be charging €80-120 for OEM/Retail versions of Windows 10 to get the benefit of DX12.

That's hardly the worse thing that could happen. That's pretty much what they've always done... I'm used to that. The worse thing that could happen for me as a gamer is that truck loads of new games are DX12 only (and therefore W10 only). So far it's looking that way for some of the games I really had my eye on like Killer Instinct. The only way I can stomach that kind of malarkey is if the cross-play with Xbox One users (a HUGE deal for fighting games) is as responsive as it would be with XBO>XBO or PC>PC. With performance like that I'll probably have a W10 on some HDD happily. Anything less is, "Why bother?" from a gaming standpoint.

Would still like to hear more people chime in who've actually got hands on with the OS, though. As critical as I am of it, I'm still all ears for user experience and findings... mostly in regard to its interface, gaming performance, privacy and user-empowerment.

Grumpypants

I really like it but I'm coming from the terrible 8.1 rather than 7. It's fast and intuitive, I've not encountered any issues with it and would not be in a rush to roll back.

jumbobreakfast

Robert ninja wrote: »

The fact that it's free makes me want it less. If you're not paying for it then there's something fishy going on (when it comes to non-open source corporate stuff).....

There's definitely going to be some sting in the tail with Windows 10 being free (the first one being that Home edition users cannot postpone updates). Other stings might show up later once Win 10 has bedded in although they have denied that there will be a subscription fee. Perhaps we'll be paying for modules?

Robert ninja wrote: »

I read some good things about dual-GPUs being a lot more viable to the point of even combining VRAM instead of mirroring the weakest link... although that's all speculation as far as I've read and I'm not tech savvy enough to go into the detail about any of it.

This is still the best description I've seen regarding Directx 12:
http://forums.littletinyfrogs.com/460524

TheDoc

I had planned to go W10 on launch day, but after just going through re-organising my SSD's and HDD's, I'm going to hang off for a few months. The free upgrade is eligible for a year, so I'll just see what the story is down the line.

At the moment it's a big "not arsed going through fresh install"

J_E

I don't really believe it's free. I've heard shady talk about it being a partial trial version and you have limitations compared to a paid version... There is nothing wrong with my Windows 7 and I am fairly sure they are going to find it as hard to get rid of as XP.

Skerries

Robert ninja wrote: »

That's hardly the worse thing that could happen. That's pretty much what they've always done... I'm used to that.

yeah they tried to get people to change to Vista by having DX10 on it and making Halo 2 DX10 only

jumbobreakfast

J_E wrote: »

I don't really believe it's free. I've heard shady talk about it being a partial trial version and you have limitations compared to a paid version... There is nothing wrong with my Windows 7 and I am fairly sure they are going to find it as hard to get rid of as XP.

I don't think that's true, MS have made it clear that there is no difference between paid and free upgrade versions. If you have a home version of Win 7/8 then you get the home version of Win10 and the same for the Pro version.

They will make money out of tying most people into their ecosystem by having to register for a Microsoft Online account and having their Store in your face when you login - you may be able to bypass the MS account like in Win8 and you should be able to hide Store nonsense too but casual users probably won't bother.

They won't lose much money from people upgrading for free (I think Win 8 upgrade was only €30 initially but a lot of people didn't bother so making it free will encourage more people to jump). The free Upgrade should guarantee a much bigger market share on launch than Win 8. When it comes to upgrading to Win10.x then you won't have to update but there may be very enticing features that will encourage you to. I can't see them doing this in the first 18 months though.

If you play games then you will probably want to upgrade to Windows 10 to squeeze more juice out of your system when the DirectX 12 games come out.

Kiith

I've moved this across, as it's more suited to the OS/ Windows forum.

Bayberry

J_E wrote: »

I don't really believe it's free. I've heard shady talk about it being a partial trial version and you have limitations compared to a paid version... There is nothing wrong with my Windows 7 and I am fairly sure they are going to find it as hard to get rid of as XP.

You can believe bull**** form people who have a practically religious dislike of Microsoft, or you can read Microsoft's own words, and the words of people who write about this kind of stuff for a living.

If you upgrade a machine that has a valid Win7/Win8 license to Win10 between July 29th 2015 and July 28th 2016, there will be no charge, and that Win10 license will be valid for the supported lifetime of the hardware that you upgraded.

That's it, plain and simple. There are no ifs and buts about it. The benefit for Microsoft is simple - in the long run they don't want to see mutiple overlapping versions of their OS in use, as you saw with XP/Vista/Win7/Win8 in the last couple of years. Developers aren't taking advantage of some of the features in Win8 because it didn't get a big enough part of the Windows market, so users weren't enticed to upgrade, so you had a vicious circle. By making it both easy and attractive to move current customers to Win10, Microsof hopes to make it a more compelling platform for developers, which will make it a more compelling platform for users, etc, turning the current vicious circle that's holding Win8 back into a virtuous circle that will drive Win10 forward. The "store" model might become an important revenue stream for MS too in the future, but developers don't need to go that way if they don't think it makes sense for them - native "desktop" programs are still fully supported.

The advantages for users are also obvious - they'll be able to take advantage of new technologies as they become available, because the software that they use will be upgraded to take advantage of the new technologies, because the developers will know that the market can take advantage of these new technologies. The "Store" model will allow ordinary users to keep their apps up-to-date with security patches, something that just doesn't happen today.

Obviously, hardware limitations will still apply (that's what's in it for the hardware manufacturers ).

Of course there will be aspects of this that some people don't like, but you don't need to magic up some dark conspiracy theory to see why it makes sense for Microsoft to move in this direction. The "free" upgrade won't cost Microsoft much - relatively few people paid for upgrade versions in previous cycles. The hardware manufacturers may lose out on an an upgrade bump, but in the log run, they need a re-invigorated Windows market going forward to have any future at all.

EoinHef

Personally agree with the above,they see the likes of Apple users all using the same OS and the advantages that can bring. Its all about MS trying to get most users onto the same OS,and it has been that way since they announced it. That has been their plan from the begining,with the free upgrade being seen as the best way to achieve that

Capt'n Midnight

If you don't like the terms and conditions you can send a letter to

Microsoft Corporation
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-7329
USA

That address again , One Microsoft Way. An address and a philosophy.


This means that Microsoft will join most unix/linux distributions in allowing people to use the latest and greatest version without penalty. Yes there may be pain but at least you won't be in the situation where you have to pay to upgrade to the latest supported version to fix problems as has happened so many times in the past.

To be blunt if you have a computer with Vista or XP or older that can't be upgraded the best advice is to back it up now before the hard drive has a mechanical failure due to old age. Seriously. Get a copy of Disk2vhd. Untick the option for VHDX and dump an image to an external drive. This means you can then use virtual box or similar to run the image on a new computer.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee656415.aspx


Yes I will be upgrading everything I can to Windows 10. But no, I won't be doing it in July because as with every Microsoft update it's better to wait until the first major patches or at least until the general sentiment is that all is OK.

starlit

The free upgrade for windows 10 is to be due the end of july.