Windows 8 Pro Review

The first day it was available, I bit the bullet and purchased Windows 8 Pro for $39.99.  I had had the preview version for the past few months so I did know a bit about how to operate it.  Most of my testing was to ensure applications that are critical to me like Quicken, Microsoft Office etc would run.  Also, I want to purchase an Intel based Surface Tablet when it is available in January.   Also, I wanted to see if Windows 8 was useable by seniors that I work with in our computer classes.

Upgrade Assistant Sample

I was not confident enough to install Windows 8 over the top of my current hard drive.  I purchased a new drive and had installed my critical applications on it.  Now it was time to install.  I went to the Microsoft Store online and started the download.  The download first checked and reported the thing that I would have to be concerned with.  It gave me the opportunity to uninstall a few things that were not important to me and pointed me to the developer’s site for Windows 8 versions of applications that would have to be installed after Windows 8.  The 2GB Windows 8 downloaded, installed and was up and running in less than an hour.  I downloaded the programs from Lenovo (I have a Lenovo T520) that the Upgrade Assistance pointed out and spent the next hour testing all the critical apps.

Now for the disappointing part - my printer driver for my HP J4680 didn’t work but to HP’s credit they had the Windows 8 driver ready to go on their website.  This was NOT pointed out in the Upgrade Assistance report.  After downloading another 350MBs, I had the printer and the related applications up and running.  

Skype worked but there was a Skype App on the Microsoft Store.  I uninstalled the one I had and installed the new app just in time to get a call from my daughter.  Damn, the camera didn’t work!   So, after a quick trip (online of course) to the Lenovo support site I downloaded a new camera driver – another 150MBs.  Skype with video is now up and running.

iTunes isn’t that critical although I do use it.  I haven’t tried it yet but I understand from the internet that people are waiting for a Windows 8 version.  I’ll report on this later.

Now for my biggest disappointment, I use Intel Wireless Display with a Netgear Push2TV (PTV1000) to watch video from my laptop.  I also use it to connect to a projector when I am teaching.  The Upgrade Assistant said only that I had to download and install the new version from the Intel web site.  After almost a full day downloading and installing software from Intel, I finally got the computer to recognise the Pust2TV but when I attempted to connect I saw –    

I have the software setup now and this should only cost me another $100 or so.

Finally, the Lenovo T520 I use, does not have a touch screen and using the keyboard to navigate is at best clumsy.   One thing I didn’t expect to happen is that the system hung on me 3 times, over 2 days, to the point that I had to shut it down with the power switch.  I suspect Microsoft will fix this shortly.

In conclusion, I do like Windows 8 and expect to like it even more when I get a Surface Tablet in January or February.  The senior citizens, I teach have simple needs.   Mostly, they use Email, Skype,surf the web and play the odd game or two .  I think they will like a tablet version.