Scott hit the nail on the head;
DRIVERS DRIVERS DRIVERS...
If you need the "Legacy" firewire? Yikes!
I guess its doable, but if you NEED the "Legacy" driver;
chances are you won't have Win 8 drivers for your hardware anyway.
I'm guessing my FW "dies" with the move to Win 8.
Pried from my cold dead hands?
No Win 8 for me anytime soon.
Just my nickel 98...

Tom

To align with most of the comments here, my setup is working great on W8.  Very stable, fast to boot and all round a good experience.  X2a running as good if not better than Sonar 6->8.5 on my legacy hardware. I use a couple of the metro apps because of their accessibility, but most is done on the desktop.

No UI mods installed - haven't found the need for them, not even the Start Menu is missed - mainly because they messed that up from Vista on.  It was great when you could control what was actually in the Start folders (per XP), but massively irrirtating after the internal logic took over.

All in I think MS have done a pretty good job with W8.  So long as they don't kill the desktop entirely I'm happy.

LordElpus


Hi All,

I am currently running X2a under Windows 7.  However, I recently managed to acquire a copy of Windows 8 Pro before Microsoft realised they were selling it too cheap and put the price back up and I am considering installing it.

For those of you who have made the jump to W8, what's your view?  Is it worth the 'upgrade'?

I don't have a touch screen monitor and I don't want the expense of one right now - I may get one in the future but not just yet.

I don't mind NOT using the mouse too much, only when necessary - I was brought up on Unix & DOS so keyboard short-cuts work for me.

So your opinions, views please?  advantages? : disadvantages?

Thanks in advance

I too got the 14.99 upgrade, what a steal hu?
windows 8 pro for 15 bucks.
 
its awesome, youll see, just make sure drivers are readily available
its something we overlook sometimes but windows 8 is faster, much faster for me anyways.
you know me I build my own computers so I was really surprised, this has been the easiest upgrade I have ever used.
its very close to windows 7 actually.
 
even though many have complained about the star button its still there only now its called the start screen.
just press the windows key and start typing anytime you want to search for something, if you don't see it in your search results click the apps tab all the way to the right.
start button or no start button, I love it best upgrade ever.

I have yet to read where a poster has complained of Windows 8 being buggy or giving poor performance. 

Those that have an objection to it are referring to the Modern UI formally known as Metro. However once one gets past the Start screen it really is the same windows we know and love with many improvements. 

I really like it.  

BarryL


I've did a fresh install recently of win8 on my 5 year old Dell Vostro. It seems to boot to the login screen in about half the time it did with win7 and i'm on the same hardware. 

I can't comment on Sonar as that is on my desktop machine, but overall i think win8 is a smoother experience in terms of performance. You will have to get used to the new layout though, if your not on a touchscreen then it's almost a step backwards. That said, logitech do a touchpad thats recognises multi-touch gestures for windows, so possibly worth a look if a touchscreen is too expensive.

Boot speed is due to what they call "Fast Boot" in Windows 8.  It's really not a full shut down, but more of a hibernate without calling it that, so it comes up much faster.  I did run into trouble with that and the motherboard I chose, some strange incompatibility with the ACPI interface would cause it to crash at boot, then come up the second attempt, every single time.  I had to force hibernate off, which also killed fast boot.  Now it boots from cold at about the same speed as any other Windows version.  


Luckily it has no problem going into sleep mode for days and coming back instantly without any stability problems.

My pc is switched off at the wall when I turn it off (due to everything plugged into the USB ports not shutting down) but it still boots up in seconds. I can't believe it is hibernating if it has no power.

Grum.

before Microsoft realised they were selling it too cheap

Microsoft was selling Win8Pro direct to consumers with virtually no overhead on distribution via download. They sold a lot of units very fast, and most of that sale was profit. To a large extent, this was probably an attempt to break the resistance to the new look and feel and get an installed base to encourage app developers. I am sure they were hoping for positive word of mouth to push purchases as well. Notifying the public that the  "real" price was going up dramatically, and making an automated install-it-now the default/technophobe choice, pushed a lot of customers to put it on their machines in a short time window.


Remember that the vast majority of Windows units are sold already installed on computers, where the bulk licensing return is probably not much better than what they got with the intro offer. They did not even bother to market a retail new install version (instead opting for an OEM version with a modified license), because that is a very small market. Most people buy a PC with OS installed and trade up to a new computer before they upgrade. 


That said, Win8Pro at 40.00 is a real bargain, and the OS works well with most applications and is not so different in driver structure from Vista/Win7 that it will make most user's hardware unusable, unlike Vista. I have it running on my DAW with no problems. Check the drivers for your hardware, and if you can find something that works it should be fine. I would not upgrade a working Win7 machine just to upgrade, but Win8 should be fine for most users.

redbarchetta

Having said that, even when you are in the traditional Windows style UI, things have changed.  They have gotten rid of Window tool bar buttons. So, you don't have the minimize, maximize and close buttons on everything like you had in the past. Rather, you have to grab the window header and drag it all the way to the bottom of the screen.
 
 
This is for METRO apps not for the desktop.   Right clicking provides some links.  Printing from the Metro apps is WAAAYAYYY Stupid.
 
 
The desktop is pretty much the same.  No start button.   Can use add-on replacements.   Classic Shell is one. Up to date, and going.
 
 
Changing settings to use Adobe reader, Windows media player,...  keeps the focus in the desktop.
 
Running 8.5.3, X1, and 2 with windows 8 64.   After X2a and a "newer" driver for the sound card all is well.
 
There are lots of stupid bits about w8, just as there is about the Sonar X series: settings moved, lots of extra clicks,...   But it is possible to minimize these.
 
I have a number of clients who are upgrading computers and OS's for older comps. Some stuff is way better/easier. Some way stupider.
 
But no more annoying than the un-fixed bugs and stupid pieces of w7.  (Windows explorer dropping folder tree to bottom,...)  And the search interface and functionality are still as useless as with vista and 7.

 
 
(As usual: the piece-of-crap forum software refuses to work correctly)

The download upgrade works fine for reloading on the same machine, or a new computer.  Unfortunately, most users did not create the ISO and then create the DVD.

grumbleweed4162


My pc is switched off at the wall when I turn it off (due to everything plugged into the USB ports not shutting down) but it still boots up in seconds. I can't believe it is hibernating if it has no power.

Grum.

Hibernate doesn't require power like suspend does, the RAM contents are saved to a disk partition and simply reloaded to RAM when powered back up so the system state is retained.  Much faster than reloading everything from scratch.  If you've got a laptop hanging around, put it in hibernate then pull the battery, when you power it back up it should return from hibernate without error.