Reply to: I want to buy a new laptop but...

[jmo21]

[Utopia Computers]

Had a look at the site and it looks really good - out of interest what was your base model?
Also, is the keyboard OK?

Stratos, which was the top one when I bought in July, don't think they had the hellfire then

Keyboard is fine

[petergriffin]

Having a hard time finding anything that doesn't have Windows 8 installed?

Novatech.

[Cliphead]

Thanks all, bought a Lenovo thingie which is fine. About to blitz it and install 7 but got a recovery partition and USB drive if it messes up.

[geoffreywhereveryoumaybe]

[Utopia Computers]

Had a look at the site and it looks really good - out of interest what was your base model?
Also, is the keyboard OK?

[CheeseSlice]

Is it REALLY up to 50%? I thought it was still a rarity. I did predict W8 might encourage touchscreens to become commonwhen it was pre-launch but thought I had been proved wrong.

Well as I have been shopping for laptops this year I've made quite a few visits to various electronic stores, and it certainly seems that way (PCW, Currys, JLewis). Not that the models on display represent the full number of laptop models available over the internet.

I think its equally the other way around. Touchscreen hardware is needed to really encourage some people to use W8, myself included. IMO the move to Win8 and touchscreens should happen at the same time. My old non-touch laptop (5 years old) remained on Win7 for that reason.

[d000hg]

Is it REALLY up to 50%? I thought it was still a rarity. I did predict W8 might encourage touchscreens to become commonwhen it was pre-launch but thought I had been proved wrong.

[DirtyDog]

Go down to PC world and compare how many laptop models have touch vs non-touch screens. I think its at least 50% now and has gained enough momentum to become a new standard. Its an obvious hardware and software evolution.

Plus if he decides to upgrade to Win 8.1 later, he'd want a touchscreen to get the full benefit.

I'm still not understanding why it would be silly to get a non-touch screen laptop. Just because 50% have them doesn't explain why it would be silly to go for a conventional screen instead.

[CheeseSlice]

Why?

Go down to PC world and compare how many laptop models have touch vs non-touch screens. I think its at least 50% now and has gained enough momentum to become a new standard. Its an obvious hardware and software evolution.

Plus if he decides to upgrade to Win 8.1 later, he'd want a touchscreen to get the full benefit.

[DirtyDog]

If you're buying a new laptop today you'd be silly not to get a touchscreen

Why?

[CheeseSlice]

If you're buying a new laptop today you'd be silly not to get a touchscreen, unless you're looking for a very cheap new laptop.
And if you're getting a touchscreen, then you really should have Win 8.1 so that you can use it properly.

If you really want to use Win 7 I should point out that your downgrade rights are provided by Microsoft, not the hardware vendor. Whether they give you the pre-installed Win7 software or DVD media and keys are another matter.

I've just got my Lenovo X1 carbon touch laptop and upgraded it from Win8 to 8.1. I'm actually getting quite fond of it. From the little experience I had of using 8, I much prefer 8.1 and the desktop is a lot more like Win 7 was, other than the obvious metro style start menu (but that's what your touch screen is for).

[Platypus]

Another vote for Lenovo

e.g. my new T430 runs Win7 fine

[d000hg]

Very true although for video/games this is more down to advances in virtualisation technology I think than pure computing power. A lot more stuff is "passed through" to the underlying hardware.

I can run realtime 3D simulation software on a Windows VM in Parallels, that runs very nearly as fast as the Mac version running natively on the same machine.

[Spacecadet]

Any well specced modern laptop will be perfectly capable of running Linux as a base OS and Windows in a VM.

I run Windows 8 and then Windows server in a VM to isolate client specific software, VPN and other crap which I don't want to install on my laptop.
I don't even realise I'm in a VM most of the time. Even videos and spotify work as if they are on a regular Windows installation.

[d000hg]

What about Win8.1 plus one of those 3rd-party start-menus if you really can't deal with change? Get all the benefits and hide the nasty new things where you don't have to be frightened by them

[jmo21]

Got my laptop here:
Utopia Computers

Mostly aimed at gaming, but mine is great for all my dev tools, vms etc, and you can pick your OS, or ask for none to be installed if you already have a copy.