Windows 8 Consumer Preview writeup

I'm gonna hop on the update train and see what's in store for Microsoft's new operating system. I'll give an in-depth perspective and screenshots of useful features as I find them. Anyone else gonna try it out?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

Install Notes:

Spoiler:

First Impressions:

Spoiler:

Technical errors and bugs in Windows 8:
"In order to make an Omelette, you gotta break a few eggs"

Spoiler:

Conclusion: (to be added)
Conclusion:
Windows 8 Consumer Preview is loaded with tablet-rich features and functionality that even desktop users can get a handle on. While I do miss the traditional start menu, I have found a few things to help you familiarize yourself with the new interface. Let's get to know the new Startscreen:


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As we can see, the new layout is pretty much like any traditional build of Windows as we have come to know. We can see the usual things like Games, a photo viewer of some sort, a calendar, among other things. New programs that can be considered handy are weather, messaging, and a store for Windows Apps. I won't touch too much on these apps, but as you can see, there's a nice blend going here. But let's say we want to seperate this blend...


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As you can see, you can rearrange apps in your start screen much like you would rearrange icons on your desktop. The downside is that your categories are unlabled, so make a mental note for future reference as to what goes where if you're mixing it up a little. As a side note, I wanted to get some form of a traditional control panel up. By right-clicking anywhere on the background of the start menu, I found this:


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When you click on "All apps" a traditional control panel of sorts comes up, allowing you to view installed apps, tweak system settings, and various other trinkets of interest. If you're not entirely sure where to find something in the new layout, you can always begin typing the name of something. Let's take for instance that I wanted to find the Control Panel to adjust power settings. I began typing, and this popped up:


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Pretty cool huh? At this point, I began running around my system, setting up various things, and getting the environment to visually look the way I wanted it to. I started poking around a little, and found that on your taskbar, the developers left a small gap between the left of the taskbar and the first icon, allowing you to put your mouse there. Lo-and-behold a small window appeared, giving me a miniature startscreen. As I messed around with the image to see if it did anything, I right-clicked it, and this menu came up:


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That's right! A miniature control panel! I have to say, it's a pretty brilliant way to adjust settings on the fly. No more toiling through twenty or more menus to adjust the performance of my system, but rather a few clicks, and away I go!
Previously, you could only have one resident taskbar in Vista and 7. In Windows 8, you're allowed to take more control of customization by having one taskbar per monitor. The neat part of it is that the developers allowed you to not crowd your taskbars by only showing icons in the taskbar for what applications are open in their respective monitors.


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As part of Windows 8's metro-based interface, the goal was to simplify the Windows operating system. One of the most useful features for any user would have to be the Task Manager. As I pulled up the task manager, I was sceptical about it's tiny size, but all worry went away after I clicked on "More Details".





I linked this image for size. Sorry about that.

As you can see, there's a lot of statistics in here, and for system admins, it's always nice knowing what processor you're working with, and it's insanely handy to have quick specs like processor speed, core utilization, and misc. details about the machine you're working with. I hope my write-up hasn't kept you too long, but has offered a quick, but in-depth, up-close and personal look at what we can expect out of Windows 8.



LiD's Win8 Wallpack: http://www.groundz3ro.net/win8/win8wallpack.rar

You could probably build a desktop for a lot cheaper than a laptop, for sure. The idea for Windows 8 is to have a tablet-ready operating system, and Microsoft has definitely shown that it can provide that for us. A PC is usually more powerful because there's no battery to deal with, so you don't have to save energy where you need it. Hope this addresses your question effectively.

If you would like, you can use my post and images. Just make sure you credit me at the end of your article.