Touch Screen Laptops and Windows 8

I am using my mom's new laptop while visiting and I feel like an elderly person being confronted with new-fangled technology! I have a regular laptop at home with Windows 7. I am really close to yelling at someone to get off my lawn. Has anyone switched to one of these? How long did it take you to get used to it? It just feels incredibly foreign. I am thinking of buying a new computer while I am here, but I am scared that I will never learn this system. I am so used to a start screen and the traditional organization of folders. All of these apps and menus seem kind of counter-productive. Shouldn't it begetting simpler?

Full disclosure: I am sleep deprived, jet-lagged and missing my family. Maybe my brain is just not functioning.

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Updated On: 2/17/14 at 07:12 AM

That would be optimal, but the price difference there is a big deal. I think if I have my own, I can figure out the hacks to get it to where I need it. I like using the touch pad for navigation, as it's what I am used to, and for the life of me, I can't figure out how to turn it on. lol The touch screen annoys because of the fingerprints.

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Trent, will this be available by update? The only reason is this is a time-sensitive purchase. If I buy it while visiting the US, I can just take it back with me, no questions asked. If I were to order it and ship it, it would cost me at least 25% more in taxes and import fees. If I were to try to buy it at home, it would cost twice as much. Since I still have to file US taxes for the rest of my life, I figure I can take advantage of a few perks while visiting.

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My computer Dude--he travels to my house on a skateboard, but charges more per hour than I do--advised me to order both devices with Windows 8, but configured them both with Windows 7 environments--start button, folders, etc.

Neither device is touch-screen enabled, so I can't comment on whether this solution is applicable--or desirable--for such devices, but it does mean that I have no compatibility issues with programs that require Windows 8 and that both devices can do their 3 AM automatic updates without leaving me a blizzard of warning messages that I am falling behind the rest of the universe (unlike the fine folks at Apple, who take every opportunity to tell me that my failure to update my iPhone iOS makes me a social deviant, responsible for the downfall of Western Civilization).

Best of all, I get to live a few more years in my retrograde comfort zone.

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You aren't the only one having problems. My mom got a new computer with Windows 8, and she hates it. I feel terrible too because I have been able to help her with certain things in the past on older editions, but some of it is foreign to me on that. I am hoping my computer holds out for me t see what Windows 9 is like or to find out if they are just going to keep continuing to make disasters similar to 8.

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Apple. Apple. Apple. If you can find a way, I urge you to come on over to our side.

I use the desktop icon on the bottom right of the home screen, and use that - it is close to windows 8. I either put or there is folder shortcut on the task bar, and the experience is closer to windows 7 - I never bothered to put a the start bar hack in, but I know others who have. Putting the PC/folder icon in the task bar has let me search easier, and am getting used to going to the top or bottom right corner to shut it down.

It was annoying, but I am getting used to it. What a mistake to combine a traditional PC with a tablet operating system.

Note, I also use a mouse, and not the touch screen component.

Love the Metro interface on my Nokia smartphone; hate it one of my Win 8 laptops which is not touch-enabled.

I've spent the past 15 yrs or so developing Windows desktop apps and lemme tell ya, most major enterprises have been slow to upgrade their existing stock of Win 7 desktops and laptops to Win 8. Could you imagine the training burden associated with an upgrade for several thousand employees?

I've been loyal to Microsoft but imho Win 8 is FUBAR. Companies have tons of exiting line of business apps that have to be tweaked to latch onto those fuggin' tiles that make up the Metro interface. Switching from the Metro interface to the classic one to launch legacy apps is still too cumbersome even after the Win 8.1 upgrade.

What works well on touch-enabled smart phones & tablets does NOT necessarily meet muster for use on a desktop or laptop with only a keyboard & mouse for I/O.

What was Microsoft thinking? I seriously hope the company releases two separate versions next go round...one with the classic interface for legacy devices and another for rigs with the latest and greatest gear. If not, consumers have a ton of open source alternatives to pick from.

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