[xdude]

@ikk157

I don't think its a good idea to run Windows 10 in Laptop which has only 2GB RAM. But it's strange why your friends laptop is slow. Was it a clean installation or upgrade from Windows 7 ?

@jagathks

OFC it won't be a resource hog on a pc with i7 4th Gen prossesor and 16GB RAM. That machine can manage Windows 10. But how does it run on your old Core 2 Duo PC with 2 GB RAM ?

[jagathks]

@xdude, as i already mentioned, i used Windows 8 on my old PC NOT windows 10, however my old machine is not running anymore, its been dismantled almost 3 years back. Now it's just a piece of hardware laying unused.

[ikk157]

@ikk157

I don't think its a good idea to run Windows 10 in Laptop which has only 2GB RAM. But it's strange why your friends laptop is slow. Was it a clean installation or upgrade from Windows 7 ?

@jagathks

OFC it won't be a resource hog on a pc with i7 4th Gen prossesor and 16GB RAM. That machine can manage Windows 10. But how does it run on your old Core 2 Duo PC with 2 GB RAM ?

The laptop originally came with windows 7, and it ran just fine, not the best. I upgraded it to 8.1 for him and it ran amazing! As soon as windows 10 came out I upgraded it for him and things went downhill from there. Sure it’s an old laptop, but the specs are still quite reasonable.

As for the 2GB RAM laptop, ironically it wasn’t the lack of RAM that made it almost unusable. It’s the crappy single core intel atom along with the insanely slow HDD (I’ve considered upgrading it to an SSD, but to get to the HDD I literally need to pry it open, not comfortable with that whatsoever. And it’s ram is insanely easy to access, a single screw would let you lift the keyboard off exposing an opening to the RAM stick. However I was made aware that it doesn’t support anything more than a 2GB RAM stick, so it’s already maxed out.)

[deanhills]

The laptop originally came with windows 7, and it ran just fine, not the best. I upgraded it to 8.1 for him and it ran amazing! As soon as windows 10 came out I upgraded it for him and things went downhill from there. Sure it’s an old laptop, but the specs are still quite reasonable.

Aha!  I worked with Windows 8.1 on a new laptop a few years back, and had a really good experience with it.

So wonder whether one could then upgrade one's Windows from Windows 7 to 8.1?  Support for 8.1 ends in 2023.  

My hard ware on which I have Windows 7 is still OK.  But for me it's common sense that since the hardware is old by current standards (desktop dated 2014 and laptop dated 2012), that I may find compatibility issues with a Windows 10 upgrade.

[ikk157]

Aha!  I worked with Windows 8.1 on a new laptop a few years back, and had a really good experience with it.

So wonder whether one could then upgrade one's Windows from Windows 7 to 8.1?  Support for 8.1 ends in 2023.  

My hard ware on which I have Windows 7 is still OK.  But for me it's common sense that since the hardware is old by current standards (desktop dated 2014 and laptop dated 2012), that I may find compatibility issues with a Windows 10 upgrade.

2023 is still quite a long time from now haha! And I highly recommend upgrading both of your desktop and laptop to windows 8.1. My laptop dates back to 2008, it didn’t run the best with windows 7 starter (an extremely light striped-down version of windows 7). However, after I’ve upgraded it to windows 8.1 it now runs quite smoothly. Obviously something with terrible specs would struggle to run moderate to heavy programs, but the Windows 8.1 experience in itself seems to be quite good compared to windows 7. 

I advise you to upgrade as soon as you get the time. A clean install would yield even better results (just obviously take a backup of anything important).

[deanhills]

2023 is still quite a long time from now haha! And I highly recommend upgrading both of your desktop and laptop to windows 8.1. My laptop dates back to 2008, it didn’t run the best with windows 7 starter (an extremely light striped-down version of windows 7). However, after I’ve upgraded it to windows 8.1 it now runs quite smoothly. Obviously something with terrible specs would struggle to run moderate to heavy programs, but the Windows 8.1 experience in itself seems to be quite good compared to windows 7. 

I advise you to upgrade as soon as you get the time. A clean install would yield even better results (just obviously take a backup of anything important).

Thanks for the feedback @ikk157.  Looks like I'll be going for Windows 8.1.  Pity though as I really like Windows 7 very much.  Between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, and my dated hardware, I guess Windows 8.1 will be the better of the 2.

I agree, better to do a clean install of Windows 8.1 instead of an upgrade.  Yesterday I checked the "Windows Anytime Upgrade" in Windows 7 - and of course that feature disappeared when Windows 7 support came to an end in January.  Just as well though.  I agree - clean install is always the best.

I'm now checking where I can get a cheap license for Windows 8.1 Professional. Looks like I may have to get two separate ones for the laptop and desktop.

Do you know whether updates for Windows 8.1 can be turned off in the same way as with Windows 7 - i.e. the option to choose not to have them automatic? I'd like to do it the same way as with my Windows 7 Professional.  Not automatic, and opting to choose which updates I want to download and install.

@xdude So have you changed from Windows 7 yet, and what Windows are you on now?

[tryp4vps]

@deanhills I would suggest you may want to install Windows 8.1 on a separate harddisk as a free trial version first, before you actually go to buy a license.

And I would doubt if it is really a good idea to buy Windows 8.1 license now. Windows 8.1 extended support will end by January 10, 2023, so you will only get less than 3 more years support from now.

[sagher]

My experience about Windows 10 is much better then Vista and windows 8 and 8.1, and 8.1 is worst for me. windows 10 is my second choice after windows 7 professional. some shortcuts and interface is more convenient then win 8. win 10 app store access is better. easily found all drivers. even some very old hardware i have easily installed.
one thing is corona help. so you can turn it off for better and fast browsing.
start menu interface is much better and easy then windows 8
The edge browser is take a good place in browsing race.

[xdude]

@deanhills

I had a quite a week. I decided to install Windows 7 again. I found this ISO which has 3 versions of Windows Standard, OEM and per-activated. Most importantly he stocked all essential updates like security updates and other things upto January 2020. Weeding out all BS updates. Plus .NET Framework 4.8, DirectX End-User Runtimes and last version of IE. ultimate deal for someone who want to install Windows 7. So I have downloaded it and started creating bootable USB with Rufus. Since then whole thing started going down the hill.

After falling to do with 3 USB drives I finally did get it done using a real Kingston 16GB drive. I used 2 fake 32gb drives and Rufus gave me an error in middle of the process. So then I started formatting the PC. Next problem started there. Installer refuse formatting the drive and installing OS saying partition was MBR and it needs GPT, whole different drama about this installer, 64bit OS and something. Anyway I forgot I can change the partition to GPT right there. So I cancelled the installation and tried to make another installer using another ISO I have. it was older one from 2018. That didn't go well. rufus couldn't get it done and then that USB driver stopped working properly. Then something wrong with OS i was using too. I mean PC was not booting in to Windows. So I had to use a Windows 7 DVD to install Windows 7 again. That copy was from 2012. Without updating the OS I couldn't even get virus guard running. Anyway somehow I used it for 5 days and today created another UBS installer. Going to install again later today. If I go missing for another several days that means I'm in trouble again. lol

[humanpuff69]

my experience isn't great . mainly because of the bloat that the operating system has . it is extremely laggy on low end computer and on a higher end one it eat lot of ram and the worst of all windows 10 hate slow hdd . it constantly getting 100% disk for no reason

the partial solution is to debloat the windows 10 install . it will remove most of bloatware but it is still heavy

another problem is the privacy problem . it can also be solved with the debloat because the debloat also remove telemetry . but most people will get their data sent to microsoft . including keypresses