Buying A Laptop

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

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Ken1943 wrote on 9/23/2015 6:45 PM:
On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

--
If you get a program like Start8 or one of the freeware ones, you can
make the start menu look and act like Windows 7. I have never used the
8/8.1or 10 "start" menu.


Ken1943

+1
And I hope I'm not out of school but I'm sure Ken is talking about the TILES menu.

Windows 8.1 is pretty close to 7, some things you might find moved around or have a minor different feel. Now that 8
is so old, there are tons of help files around the internet on making 8 more like 7, or how to grapple with the changes.

I started using it the week it was released @ $39.95 and once 8.1 was released and a 3rd party menu got installed I
adopted it and moved away from 7. I like using the tiles WHEN I want it, not forced down my throat (win10).

Old Guy wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

As important as other input devices.

It depends on the context. As long as the operating system must
accommodate desktop personal computers, it will function well with
keyboard and mouse. The most likely next innovation for desktop
computers, one that I have been using for over a decade, is speech input
and output.

It's a personal and situational preference. A touch screen is most
useful on tablets because you don't have a keyboard and a mouse.

Are you satisfied with the pointing device and keyboard on the laptop?
If not, get a touchscreen. I'm sure you can use a touchscreen
simultaneously with other input devices, so it won't hurt to get one.

On 09/23/2015 05:45 PM, Ken1943 wrote:
On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

--
If you get a program like Start8 or one of the freeware ones, you can
make the start menu look and act like Windows 7. I have never used the
8/8.1or 10 "start" menu.


Ken1943





Yep...a touch screen is not anything I'd be interested in either.


I agree that it's good to use a utility to turn the GUI essentially into
that of Win7.

Start8 is considered very good but I always install Classic Shell
because it works fine and it's free.

Old Guy wrote on 9/23/2015 6:39 PM:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

To whom?

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?

Classic Start Menu makes 8.1 look like 7.

Cy Burnot wrote on 9/23/2015 7:33 PM:
Old Guy wrote on 9/23/2015 6:39 PM:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

To whom?

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?

Classic Start Menu makes 8.1 look like 7.


AKA Classic Shell.

On 9/23/2015 6:39 PM, Old Guy wrote:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

With out any third party software you can make Windows 8.1 look and feel
like a evolution of previous versions of Windows.

There are things you must do immediately after install.

1 Set Windows to boot to the desktop in the Desktop taskbar properties.

2 There is a setting so that the charms menus do not pop up. I found it
early on and changed it If you are interested I can find the setting but
am unsure of where it is now.

3 Make sure the Desktop taskbar Property are set to save recently used
programs and files in the Jumplist

After these are correct, I have found that every thing I want to do to
the computer can be accessed by right clicking the MS Icon on the left
end of the Desktop taskbar.

Two things that can not be done from the MS Icon that could be done in
the old Start are the view the installed programs. I have found that I
like the Windows 8.1 Start menu with the icons as it is easy to read and
can be organized so all your common programs are in one place.

All installed programs can be found from the Apps menu (down arrow on
the start menu). All programs can be added to or removed from the
Windows 8.1 Start menu or the Desktop taskbar.

The other thing is that is not available in the MS Icon is the recently
used programs. I find the Jumplist (Right click on the program icon on
the Desktop toolbar) an excellent replacement for the same function in
the old start menu.

If you start using the MS Icon and the jumplist you will find you don't
need third party start buttons to make Windows 8.1 useable.

The jumplist is a disappointment in Windows 10. While the program
jumplist are still there, they have remove the recently opened folders
fo the jumplist of Fill Explorer. I got quite fond of it in Windows 8.1.

On 9/23/2015 6:39 PM, Old Guy wrote:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

As for a touch screen it depends on what you are doing. If you are
basically spending a few minutes surfing the web, or email then you may
like the touch screen.

My objections to the touch screen a

There is not the precision of a mouse on a touch screen.

You can not highlight a series of files in File Explorer as you can do
with a mouse and the shift key.

The touch screen is horrible for word processing or spread sheets.

After about an hour using the touchscreen you arms start to ache from
having to hold them out to use the touch screen. The bigger the screen
the worse this becomes.

On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.


It all depends. See below.


How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?


Although most people don't realize it, Windows 8 and 8.1 come with
*two* interfaces. You can use either or both, going back and forth
from one to the other if you want to: the Modern/Metro Interface and
the traditional Desktop Interface. The Modern/Metro interface is the
default, and that's unfortunately what most people think is the only
choice. It's the tile interface, the one for which you should
preferably have a touch screen.

Microsoft has done a terrible job, in its advertising and
documentation, at making people realize they have a choice.

The traditional Desktop Interface is almost identical to Windows 7's
interface; the biggest difference is that there is no Start Orb to
click to bring up the Start menu. But note that you can get the Start
Orb back by using one of several third-party programs, either free or
very inexpensive (Classic Shell at
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ and Start8 at
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/; my personal preference is
Start8, but they are both very good). And going from one interface to
the other is very easy; there are several ways, but simply pressing
the Windows key is perhaps the easiest.

I now run Windows 10, but when I ran Windows 8, I ran it almost
exclusively with the traditional desktop interface, and with Start 8
installed. If you were to look at and use my computer, you might have
a hard time realizing that it's not Windows 7.

On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

--


If you like Win7 and you buy a new laptop with 8.1 on it just
immediately upgrade it to Win10 and you will have Win7 back for all
practical purposes.

On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.


It's not important to me. Both my laptop and my desktop have
touch-screen. I still prefer to use the keyboard.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

I prefer W7. After trying W8 and W10 I went back to W7.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software for Windows http://www.npsnn.com

EasyNN-plus More than just a neural network http://www.easynn.com

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 15:39:59 -0700, Old Guy
wrote:

I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.


It all depends. See below.


How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?


Although most people don't realize it, Windows 8 and 8.1 come with
*two* interfaces. You can use either or both, going back and forth
from one to the other if you want to: the Modern/Metro Interface and
the traditional Desktop Interface. The Modern/Metro interface is the
default, and that's unfortunately what most people think is the only
choice. It's the tile interface, the one for which you should
preferably have a touch screen.

Microsoft has done a terrible job, in its advertising and
documentation, at making people realize they have a choice.

The traditional Desktop Interface is almost identical to Windows 7's
interface; the biggest difference is that there is no Start Orb to
click to bring up the Start menu. But note that you can get the Start
Orb back by using one of several third-party programs, either free or
very inexpensive (Classic Shell at
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ and Start8 at
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/; my personal preference is
Start8, but they are both very good). And going from one interface to
the other is very easy; there are several ways, but simply pressing
the Windows key is perhaps the easiest.

I now run Windows 10, but when I ran Windows 8, I ran it almost
exclusively with the traditional desktop interface, and with Start 8
installed. If you were to look at and use my computer, you might have
a hard time realizing that it's not Windows 7.

Maybe I'm one of the few: prior to installing Windows 10, I used
Windows 8 and then 8.1 on my desktop with no touchscreen and never had
used Start8, Classic Shell, or anything else like it. I booted to the
"Start Screen", not the desktop. I liked Windows 8 a lot and had no
complaints. I would go back-and-forth between the two interfaces
continually.

On 23/09/2015 23:39, Old Guy wrote:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?
I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?


For some people Touchscreen is not very important. It is nice to have
but not life or death situation.

As to Windows 8.1, you won't even notice it that it is different because
you will get used to it. It is like any technology, for the first few
days it is all new and you have to learn new ways of doing things but
after about one week, you'll get used to it and it will come naturally
how things are done.

On 23/09/2015 23:39:59, Old Guy wrote:
I found a laptop I can afford and it has Win 8.1 but no touch-screen.

So how important is a touch-screen.

Not at all IMO, get a cordless mouse.

How similar to Win 7 is Win 8.1 ?

Install Classic Start Menu, boots to the Desktop everytime. You
wouldn't know that it was 8.i installed. I've been using 8/8.1 like
this since it came out and bought another desktop with it last week.

I can deal with Win 7 OK but not sure about Win 8.1 ?

Believe me once you have Classic Start Menu installed you will wonder
why you ever worried.

--
mick

So Windows Media Player is there?
I use that every day for hours on end.

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