Windows 8 haters have already labeled the new OS as the second coming of Windows Vista, but those who can contain their bile know that Win 8 is likely to be far from the performance-sucking, driver-breaking Windows Vista in its pre-SP1 days.
To find out how Windows 8 compares to the lithe Windows 7, we took an Asus P8Z77-V Premium board; inserted a Core i7-3770K, a GeForce GTX 690, 8GB of DDR3/1866, and an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD; loaded up Windows 7 Professional SP1; and ran our benchmarks. We then took an identical Vertex 4 SSD, loaded up Windows 8 Professional, and reran our benchmarks. We used the same beta 304.79 GeForce drivers for both and the latest beta drivers available from Asus for our testing.
The verdict? We expected the scores to be nearly identical, and for the most part they were. As Windows 8 is built on the foundation of Windows 7, we didn’t expect a quantum shift here, but we did see some performance differences. The most glaring difference was in PCMark 7, where Windows 8 produced significantly faster scores in the creativity and computation tests.
Why such a huge difference? We suspect it’s the result of changes to Windows Media Foundation in Win 8. Windows Media Foundation is Microsoft’s replacement for DirectShow, which was implemented in Windows Vista. 3DMark 11 also showed a difference, but in Windows 7’s favor, by a smaller percentage, in the physics and combined score. The difference there is likely due to some efficiency with the Bullet Physics engine that FutureMark uses in the test. More importantly, the graphics score is the same between operating systems, which tells us there should be no difference when gaming in Windows 7 or Windows 8—at least on Nvidia hardware.
Windows 8 includes native USB 3.0 support, and we saw it smoking the stock Windows 7 USB 3.0 performance by a hefty margin. Our Asus board, however, includes a Turbo mode, which puts it within striking range of Windows 8. USB 3.0 performance on Windows 8, for the most part, is pretty awesome, though.
The rest of our tests were mostly a wash except in two interesting instances: Cinebench 11.5 and X264 HD 5.0.1. Both are multithreaded like mad, and both show about a 5 percent advantage in Windows 8. This could quite possibly be a sign of the improved scheduler in Windows 8.
Check out what we hope to see in SP1 for Windows 8 in our "What we hope to see in Service Pack 1" story.
To sum up, Windows 8 performance is generally the same as Windows 7, with a performance edge in anything that uses the Windows Media Foundation and likely anything that is heavily multithreaded. USB 3.0 is also markedly improved. We do note the issue with Bullet Physics in 3DMark 11, but we don’t think it’s a very serious issue. So all you haters better find something else to hate on.
Microsoft has simplified the editions and prices of Windows 8—at least compared to how the company initially segmented its first batches of Windows 7. However, folks considering an upgrade won’t want to delay for too long, as Microsoft is also offering early birds a significant discount on Windows 8.
Windows 8, in total, will arrive in four versions: Windows RT, the ARM version of the OS that comes preinstalled on supported devices; Windows 8; Windows 8 Pro; and Windows 8 Enterprise.
If you’re already running Windows XP, Vista, or 7, you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39 until January 31, 2013. That’s just for a digital download; retail copies will cost $69 until the deadline, when the Pro price will then bump to $199. There’s no word, as of this article’s writing, how much Windows 8 (standard version) might cost.
Still, compare that to the pricing scheme for the three major versions of Windows 7 currently on the market: $119 for Home Premium, $199 for Professional, and $219 for Ultimate. To Microsoft’s credit, the company did offer similar discount pricing for Windows users shortly after Windows 7’s 2009 launch—a final cost of $50, $100, and $219, respectively.
Playing on price is Microsoft’s answer to the inexpensive upgrades Apple enthusiasts have enjoyed for years now. It also might just be Windows 8’s ticket to increased adoption rates in the face of Metro’s heavier criticisms.
As mentioned, Windows 8’s Metro isn’t the simplest of interfaces to navigate—especially if you’re stuck on a good-ol’ keyboard and mouse. However, there are still a few tricks you can use to streamline and customize your way through (or around) Microsoft’s “tablet” portion of the OS.
For starters, make sure you fire up Windows’ Default Programs app—found by typing “default” into the Metro UI—and use it to set Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Player as the default apps for all file types they can open. This allows you to bypass the annoyance of jumping into Metro Photos or Video whenever you click on a related file in File Explorer.
If you want to avoid Windows 8’s app management entirely, don’t pin your most-used apps as Metro tiles; pin them to your taskbar. The bottom of your desktop screen might get a little cluttered, but at least you won’t have to hunt down your apps within Metro.
One of our favorite tricks allows you to bypass having to jump into Metro from the desktop to run Metro apps. Make a shortcut on your desktop and type this in for the item location: %windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}
Your shortcut will pull up Windows 8’s Applications window, which will let you launch Metro apps directly from the desktop.
For a more intense Metro transformation, check out the third-party app Classic Shell (classicshell.sourceforge.net). Not only can you bring the long-lost Start Menu back into Windows 8, but you’ll also be able to boot directly to Windows 8’s desktop instead of its Metro UI. Additionally, you can also completely disable a number of portions of the Windows 8 Metro UI: Hotspots, the Charms Bar, etc.
Windows 8 also includes a number of useful tweaks within its Group Policy Editor, including the ability to bypass Windows 8’s lock screen for faster logging-on. It won’t spare you from Metro, but it’ll at least help you get to your safe and friendly desktop even faster.
Windows 8's Applications window is the sure-fire way to launch Metro apps without first haivng to jump into Metro
While the new Metro UI will be what catches your attention in Microsoft’s latest OS, there’s actually far more under the hood that offers tangible performance benefits.
Windows 8 brings native USB 3.0 drivers to the mix, so no longer will you have to hunt for USB 3.0 drivers after your clean install. Even better, USB 3.0 performance is greatly increased with the native Microsoft drivers, too.
Windows 8’s implementation of Direct2D—the API for hardware-accelerating text, bitmaps, and other UI elements—offers a huge leap in performance over Windows 7 by relying on DirectX 11.1 to accelerate 2D graphics. Other improvements include 60 percent faster decompression of JPEGs and PNGs and techniques to make graphically intense chores drink less power.
DX11.1 offers fairly innocuous changes from DX11, with the most noticeable being support for enhanced 2D graphics acceleration. DX11.1 also officially adds stereoscopic support, improved memory management, and better management of tile-based rendering for low-power applications.
We already know that AMD says Windows 8 will give its Bulldozer cores an uptick in performance, thanks to an improved scheduler that can deal with AMD’s core design, but it’s apparently also a bit faster on Intel parts. See our performance analysis on page 32 for more info.
This applies more to the Metro side of the fence, but instead of Metro apps staying open and sucking up RAM, Windows 8 will suspend the applications to disk when not in use and also let the OS reclaim RAM easily. Even desktop apps, though, can be individually suspended or have components suspended when physical memory is running low.
Even though Microsoft is planning to put the full version of Windows 8 onto its upcoming Surface tablet, the company realized it would also need a stripped-down version to run on ARM tablets and cell phones, so it has created Windows RT to handle those duties. Windows RT, which stands for Windows Runtime (we know, the name is horrible) is designed to run one thing and one thing only—apps from the Microsoft store. That’s all it will do, just like how an iPad or Android tablet only lets you add or remove applications. There will be no desktop, no file explorer, or any other trappings of a traditional Windows environment. Think of it this way: Imagine if Microsoft yanked Metro’s tile-based interface out of Windows 8 and created an operating system out of it; that’s Windows RT in a nutshell.
Now before you go getting your jimmies rustled, consider this: Using apps is all a tablet is designed to do. You’ll have an app for your email, web browsing, e-books, and so forth, so you should be able to accomplish most of what you can do on today’s tablets on a Windows RT device. You’ll even be able to be mildly productive, as Microsoft is bundling a free version of its ubiquitous office suite, tentatively named Office RT. And though you’ll surely be able to download some sort of media player, Windows Media Player will not be bundled with Windows RT. Hopefully, VLC will come to the rescue.
What can’t you do in Windows RT? You won’t be able to install whatever Windows software you have lying around, so put that USB key away for now. If it’s not in the Windows 8 store, you can’t install it. Good news, though—Maximum PC will have an app, so you can read all about the latest hardware anywhere you take your tablet (we won’t ask where that is).
Granite
September 14, 2012 at 5:26pm
The way I see it, Win8 is the bridge to the future when the keyboard and mouse will be gone. We will, instead, use touch, voice and motion to interact with our systems. Personally, I'm eagerly looking forward to this future. For the time being, however, I won't get Win8 for my desktop. I DO intend to get a Win8 tablet.
lordfirefox
September 14, 2012 at 8:09pm
Desktop gamers don't use touch screens to play games. So I don't see touch-screens as the future. PC gamers already have the best interface for playing games. The keyboard and mouse. A touch screen is nothing more than a gimmick like the Kinect sensor for the 360.
brentrad
September 15, 2012 at 3:13pm
I don't agree that mice are going away, but I also don't agree that touchscreens are a fad. I think they can coexist, and I predict they will for the foreseeable future. There's some things that are just easier or better with touch, and there's a lot of things that are easier with a mouse.
Choices are good.
Granite
September 15, 2012 at 2:29am
Gamers do use touchscreens to play games...I use them on my tablet and phone every day. PC gamers will use them too, along with voice and motion.
It's not fully developed yet...but it will be. Win8 will spur that developement. The keyboard and mouse will be ancient history.
You can either live a meager life in the past...or embrace the future.
Your choice.
blackcat77
September 14, 2012 at 4:59pm
IIRC Windows 7 got a Kick Ass rating and deserved it. Windows 8 gets a 7 with about as many negatives as positives. Metro is Fugly. Having to look at that be enough to make me hate the OS no matter if it was marginally better than Windows 7. I have had no icons on my desktop at all for years and now MS acts as if they can demand that I change that. Wrong. Windows 7 is going to be around longer and stronger than XP was and MS has only themselves to blame.
BryceBooth
September 15, 2012 at 10:25am
With the addition of the Start screen (Metro) you can still keep your Desktop clutter-free.
abowlofsoda
September 14, 2012 at 4:07pm
For the first time ever I might actually BUY a Windows OS instead of obtaining it (Early bird pricing).
Hmm.. maybe not.
jordinyc
September 14, 2012 at 4:05pm
Finally Redmond proves once and for all that Microsoft BOB was a good idea all along!
devin3627
September 14, 2012 at 3:58pm
hey guys, f*** windows media center. this is the real deal, connecting xbox live with this and you have coolest home entertainment system in your bedroom too. but im not willing to spend money on unnecessary stuff.
TheMurph
September 17, 2012 at 1:28am
I wonder how long it'll take Microsoft to integrate all of the proposed Xbox functionality into Windows 8...
loozer
September 14, 2012 at 4:28pm
Do you have TV Tuner cards? Do you have an HTPC? Do you NOT own an xbox?
No? Then stop trolling.
brentrad
September 14, 2012 at 3:41pm
I installed the Windows 8 Pro RTM as dual boot along with my Windows 7 install on my desktop (non-touch) computer. Thought I'd try it out, and I expected to hate it and just switch back. Turns out I like it a lot, and I intend to uninstall Windows 7 one of these upcoming weekends.
It probably helps that I didn't use the Start Menu all that much, and what I used it for (the Run shortcut, quick access to the Control Panel, etc.) it's pretty easy to set up alternative ways to access things. I don't use any of the Metro apps (except the Weather app, MaximumPC is right, it's pretty sweet), and I just use the Metro/Start Pane for searching for stuff.
What I really like about Windows 8 is the speed (it's just faster than Windows 7 at most things), and the extra little things they added, like the souped up Task Manager, the File Copy dialog, how fast it boots up, etc. I have an older AMD x64 x2 5200+ processor and only 2 GB of RAM, and it runs faster than Windows 7 does. Of course I do have an SSD as my boot drive, and Windows 8 was really optimized for SSDs.
So to all those talking trash about Windows 8: actually try it out before you decide it sucks. You may like it, you may hate it...but make up your own mind. Although...am I going to install it on my wife's computer? Probably not. So it's definitely not for everyone.
brentrad
September 15, 2012 at 3:08pm
Don't get me wrong, if they kill off the desktop in Windows 9, I'm outta there. I can't believe they'd ever be that stupid though. A tablet interface will never be a viable replacement for the Windows desktop for business users who have multiple apps open and sit upright at a desk all day. I think Microsoft ceded this point by showing their vision of the ideal tablet/desktop interface in the Surface tablets, with a keyboard/touchpad and available USB ports.
I have a combo tablet/netbook - an Android 4.0 Asus Transformer - and I use it docked probably 80% of the time. Can't beat typing on a real keyboard, and the dock hinge allows the screen to be supported at any angle you want, sit it on your lap, etc. I find that I never use the touchpad though - I find it's much more convenient to use the keyboard along with the touchscreen to navigate. I'd be interested to install Windows 8 on it, if it were possible, to see what it's like. We'll see if someone makes that possible some day.
SkinnyZeroOne
September 14, 2012 at 3:59pm
Totally agree with your post. It just feels & snaps faster than 7. All the rest of its annoyances can be dealt with.
I'm really interested in what's under the hood.Oh - Great review by the way MaxPC
West996
September 14, 2012 at 3:22pm
I think I am going to like Windows 8. I will give it a shot.
I see what people are saying about liking to keep their desktop clean and neat with as few icons as possible, it makes your desk top look nice. Hide all your icons in other menus and such.
That makes for a nice looking desktop, but that isn't what it is for IMO.
My desk top is a work space, just like the top of my desk. I keep it neat, my icons are bunched into appropriate groups, but they are all right there in front of me for when I need them. I don't want to hide them.
Metro seems to take that approach. I actually uses your entire desk top space and turns it into a functional space.
It will take some getting used to for sure, but I think I will like the end result.
Engelsstaub
September 14, 2012 at 3:16pm
I'm getting an OEM copy when it comes out. I give less than a shit what others are in tears about.
gmvolk
September 14, 2012 at 3:11pm
One reason I don't like "Metro" is that I prefer a minimalistic approach on my desktop. Very few icons, but everything I do need is safely tucked inside rainmeter launchers and/or the start menu(but not so much there). About the only thing on the desktop are temporary downloads or things like that. Metro just looks too cluttered, busy, ugly, insert adjective here. It's not what I want on my desktop. Not sure how this will play out on a tablet, which is where it is meant to be.
TheMurph
September 14, 2012 at 3:56pm
Same here. I like running desktop-clean. I don't know why Microsoft couldn't just let you like, dump sets of Metro icons into a single, unified pop-out group, kind of like what I can do on Android...
That would certainly help to get things a little less cluttered!
einstein1971
September 14, 2012 at 10:06pm
Murph maybe this would be a good time to write one of your infamous "year of the Linux desktop" articles. Seriously, you have a long history of being wrong. I've seen several articles on how designers are praising Microsoft's new approach. And didn't you say in an article for PC World back in 2009 (and I quote): "One of the core problems with Windows 7, which Microsoft will invariably not fix, stems from its utter similarity to Windows Vista. ". And then you said: "As for me? I think I'll go back to Vista for now..." So quit pretending, admit that for you Microsoft could have done nothing that you would approve of, and admit that you would under no circumstances give Win 8 a fair review. I have been using it since the Consumer Preview and love it. It's fast, makes sense, and very modern. At least it's something bold and not the same safe crap that the Linux and Apple fanboys keep putting out.
TheMurph
September 17, 2012 at 1:36am
Also, how many years have you been trolling this site now? Lordy. You'd think you'd get tired of it after awhile.
Engelsstaub
September 15, 2012 at 9:54pm
Actually Apple and the main Linux distros have not been playing it safe (as I assume you mean. I'm not sure how the fanboys have come to run the businesses but w/e.)
OS X has been becoming more "Windows-like" (bloated and cluttered IMO) since the release of Lion.
Fedora started using the controversial GNOME 3 UI as default, which even Linus Torvalds blasted.
Ubuntu has Unity as default. I'm certain you must have heard some of the backlash against that. (OT: Actually I don't get why Linux-users shit themselves over UI when they can just install the one they want...that's what's cool about Linux. With Windows and OS X, on the other hand, one pretty much hast to take what they're "given.")
gmvolk
September 14, 2012 at 4:43pm
On my work PC, its a cluttered mess, albeit a cluttered mess that I can still use. My home PC desktop is squeaky clean. At least with 7 or XP you have that choice. With 8, MS is slowly forcing metro on us so when we get Windows 9 we won't think twice. Yes there are ways to get rid of it, but as you said "Fear Windows 9" when we can't get rid of it anymore. Maybe someday I'll go distro hopping again. And why would you stockpile ME? I would take 98 over ME anyday!
stige
September 14, 2012 at 2:52pm
the "under the hood" improvements alone make this OS worth the upgrade.
all MS should really do to clarify the Metro / Start Menu confusion is to make the keyboard "Windows" key a toggle in stead of just an 'Open' mechanism. let us quickly get in and out of Metro just like we currently can the W7 Start Menu and I'm sure most other UI/UX quibbles will be tertiary and specific to only certain groups of people.
and, as MS is learning, you can't please everyone.
captpuget
September 14, 2012 at 2:46pm
For the very first time not only won't I be upgrading Windows on the first day I can -- I won't ever upgrade to Windows 8. I don't remotely know what MS is thinking, but this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
loozer
September 14, 2012 at 2:25pm
"Fear Windows 9." So true. Windows 8 is still windows, with "metro" attached on top. I just hope that "Metro" really isn't the future.
jonathan1984
September 14, 2012 at 11:10pm
I absolutely agree. This brave new "future" that Windows 8 is supposed to lead us to? It's not a good place for consumers or computing. It's good for giving companies like Microsoft money and control over what we do with our machines. No, no, HELL no.
Xenite
September 14, 2012 at 2:13pm
The comparison to Vista has been more about the fact it's going to bomb sales and adoption wise.
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