Buying a new laptop

[jocoyn]

Jan 31st if you bought a win 7 computer after a certain date is my understanding Only one OS on the computer at a time. (You can do two OS's with partitioned disks and all but I was just going to save the disk, run it and load the service updates after the bugs are worked out-and I don't know if you can have a win 8 and a win 7 partition anyway....you could make an XP partition on win 7, because there are still business programs that will only run on XP)

[Mr & Mrs Kirkley]

I meant Windows 7 and Windows 8 on 2 different disks. That way when I do try Windows 8 if I hate it I have the option of uninstalling it and reinstalling Windows 7.

[jocoyn]

Ah. Creating a restore image - I am not expert on that but I think it can be done. Not so with Vista but who wants to keep on and on with Vista? (Though, honestly, it is ok a few service packs down the road - I never felt compelled to go out and upgrade though it would be nice save a system image like you can in win 7)

[Liesje]

Windows 8 is barely different than Windows 7. I've used Windows 8 Pro for almost three months now (I get all Microsoft OS' through MSDN) and don't use it any differently than I used Windows 7. If you aren't sure about compatibility, then I'd stick with Windows 7 if you know that works fine and just wait. If upgrading from XP or Vista, then go straight to Windows 8. At this point with XP not having been supported by Microsoft in over a year and being a 12 year old operating system I would put effort into upgrading and compatibility than trying to patch Windows XP and keep it going.

[jocoyn]

Oh..the XP we have is corporate stuff I have zero control over that stuff; I don't even have admin rights on my own computer-and some things are locked so that admins can't change them either; things we can change on our personal computers..

They are working towards fixing XP since it has a finite lifespan, but it is all GMP software regulated by the FDA and software validation out the yin-yang. When you get into the guts of stuff I don't know. I know Oracle is also added on my computer for some of the programs I use. But laptops are expensive for thousands of employees and the current ones have to be replaced before they can upgrade the OS. I am sure there are other companies out there dealing with this.

[Liesje]

We have the same problem (I work in IT for a private college). Last year we finally said we are not creating or maintaining another XP image so if people want to keep it they can but we can't support it. That kick in the pants (being told they can't call the HelpDesk for every little thing) was just what they needed to go back to their vendors and come up with a workable solution. I believe the only computers we have left that still *must* have XP are machines in science labs hooked to equipment costing upwards of $50K apiece that were originally funded by grants (so there's no way to update, since I work for a private college and we're already in the midst of a financial scandal). These XP machines we no longer touch, we just give the lab manager an XP disc.

For any OS we create our own "images" which we install over the network, so the Windows 7 image we use gets distributed with all the device drivers used by the laptop and desktop models we use; they are not replaced in order to install a new OS.

[jocoyn]

That is pretty much how they do it. Then non standard-software gets added - some is limited distribution due to per install licenses. When we did a bunch of very specialized use laptops I recall row of row of them being burned in and imaged then some QC checks we had to do on each computer (It was a big project so many hands on deck who had enough requisite QA training (me, I reviewed the paperwork) and QC training (for the techs).

I spent two days having IT send me SMS pushes to install software that should have been put on before the laptop shipped. Oracle, for example, not so large but it did not fare will under an SMS push and we had to log me in and install directly from an IT server.

FWIW I have spent many years writing end user qualifications for medical devices interfaced with computers (so standard design and image are critical because you run the full sequence of tests on one system and a lesser check, mainly configuration parameters and equipment hardware performance on others.) and that is not design validation but end user - so mainly testing for user errors, database overloads, communication protocols, verification of user defined parameters and PQ runs etc.)....but what is inside the box....well, to me it is a "black box".

[CelticGlory]

I actually miss XP, it was so much easier to manually fix my own problems if I ran into any. With Vista and Windows 7, I find it harder to find where the trouble is. I know they said with Windows 7, you are able to use the old files from Vista, but it's not letting me open the files. I write fanfiction and I have a lot of stuff on there that I need.

[marksteven]

My Hp was really starting to crap out today. Went to best buy and looked at 3 laptops with touch screen windows 8 and the Macbook Pro. I came home with the Macbook and wonder why i waited so long to buy one.

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by CelticGlory

I actually miss XP, it was so much easier to manually fix my own problems if I ran into any. With Vista and Windows 7, I find it harder to find where the trouble is. I know they said with Windows 7, you are able to use the old files from Vista, but it's not letting me open the files. I write fanfiction and I have a lot of stuff on there that I need.

What kind of files? What is the file extension?