Windows 8 or 7 for a new T430s? Your helpful input please!

[PilotDave]

Dear ThinkPads experts,

Could you please help me decide which OS to purchase for my wife? I have been busy the past two years starting a family and have not followed the Windows 8 introduction in detail.

My wife currently enjoys her T410s running Win 7, but would like to upgrade to a clean OS and a larger HD because her machine has bogged down with whatever programs she has added and the HD has filled up with family memories. It's also a good time for her to move into Office 2013 and Adobe XI, so due to the demands on my time I am not considering investing time in cleaning up her current machine. I am only considering the T430s and the new T431s for her because she likes the T410s so much. I was surprised to see that Win 7 is still offered when configuring a new system on the Lenovo website. My wife is comfortable in Win 7 in the university environment and runs MS Office and Adobe products frequently. She does have an iPhone, but neither of us have an interest in a tablet or a laptop with a touchscreen at this time.

I wonder whether the learning curve for Win 8 will be worth her trouble (and my trouble while helping her)? I read that Win 8 is currently on par in terms of licensing with Vista, while Win 7 is the largest share at over 40% of Windows licenses. We don’t buy new laptops often. My T42 with Win XP served me well for 7 years. I don’t plan to replace my own ThinkPad running Win 7, or upgrade it to Win 8, anytime soon.

I do realize that in the fall of this year, Win 8.1 (or Win Blue) will make it possible to boot to the familiar desktop environment including a Start button. However, I am leery of Microsoft abandoning an OS platform when it starts giving them funny names: Windows Me, Windows Vista, ect …

Do you suggest that my wife migrate into the Win 8 world now hoping that MS does not abandon Win 8.1 (Win Blue) due to the unfavorable reception and relative lack of licensing share the way that it did Vista? I can just see MS attempting the shake the lethargy out of corporate IT departments purchasing decisions by introducing something altogether new. Or, should she avoid the learning curve altogether and stay with Win 7 hoping that it does not soon go the way of XP?

If we decide on Win 8 for the T430, is it worth leaving the familiar touch pad and keys of the T430s for the new Win 8 specific touchpad on the T431s (which as of this moment seems to have disappeared from the product line of the Lenovo website)?

Thank you very much for your helpful input. Best wishes for a wonderful summer!

Dave

[Neil]

Well, Windows 7 will have mainstream support until Jan. 13, 2015, and extended support until Jan. 14, 2020. So 7 will go the way of XP, but not for a long time.

Windows 8 is a newer and improved OS in many ways (not including the GUI, IMHO), and will give you mainstream support until Jan. 9, 2018, and extended support until Jan. 10, 2023. And there are currently third party apps that restore the start button, and hide the Metro GUI. And Service Pack 1 for Win8 may provide an official GUI update too.

I would probably go with Win8 if I were buying a new computer today, but installing a few apps and tweaking the GUI doesn't bother me where it might be more than you would want to bother with.

[A31]

Windows 8 over 7 now. Been using 8 on my main desktop since the end of April and temporarily went back to 7 the other week just to test something and it just felt so weird after having used 8 for a while.

I've found 8 to be more stable than 7 too.

The new UI is easy enough to get used to. Put it this way: my mother was a long-time XP user until February when I built her a PC with Windows 8 on it and gave it to her as a present. It took no time at all for her to get used to 8's new UI and she's a novice.

[pianowizard]

Aside from the drastically changed user interface, 8 is an improvement over 7 in all other ways. For some people, the new interface is not a problem (and some may even think it's the best ever), but for others, it's something they can never adapt to. I think people who are adaptive should not hesitate to go with 8. Those who can't change their old ways should stick with 7.

In this age of rapidly evolving technologies, being adaptive is a blessing. Folks who aren't flexible are stuck with old technologies or have limited options. Besides Windows 7 versus 8, another obvious example is trackpoint versus touchpad. Many people on this forum know only how to use trackpoints and so they can only choose from laptops with trackpoints. I like Win 8 and touchpads, and so I pity these people. On the other hand, I am a stubborn old fart when it comes to smartphone keyboards: I absolutely require a physical keyboard, and so I can't enjoy any of the latest and greatest smartphones which don't have one. (Those of you comfortable with virtual keyboards please feel free to laugh at me now.)