I am so tired of Microsoft Windows

[Irvrobinson]

Finally, I get to use my laptop again. Windows 8 Pro had it locked up for over eight minutes for some unknown reason. This happens episodically, about twice a week. There's no apparent reason, I've checked, or at least tried to. The disk drive is hit at 100% utilization, CPU utilization is between 90 and 100%, and apparently Microsoft's geniuses didn't study process prioritization and multiprogramming in computer science school. Funny, multiprogramming doesn't trip up the spell checker. This sort of thing never happens on the Mac with Mountain Lion I use for work. If I didn't need Windows for some special apps I use I'd ditch the HP laptop for a Mac. Microsoft is lost.

 

[fuzz092888]

You can't run parallels or something like that? So far every program I've tried with parallels has worked perfectly, but then again I'm not using super specialized software.

 

[TheWarrior]

^ what he said...

I ditched PC back in 06 and haven't looked back. My iBook G4 still makes a great little interweb browser, original battery AND hard drive! People gripe about the cost of Apple products, but find me a base model Dell that'll keep up after that many years!

 

[Irvrobinson]

You can't run parallels or something like that? So far every program I've tried with parallels has worked perfectly, but then again I'm not using super specialized software.

The automotive apps I use have special drivers that Parallels might not like, and the vendors are very specific about the native hardware. For example, one cautions against USB 3.0. For that reason I keep my HP laptop around. When you're futzing with ECM firmware you don't want to take chances.

 

[Adam]

I have PCs and Macs. Both have their pros and cons, and neither is perfect. I haven't had much issue with Windows since XP came out. I have XP, Vista, and 7 machines (nothing with 8, though - haven't heard great things about it).

As for hardware longevity, my 2006 MacBook battery swelled (apparently a known issue, but no recall or anything), and Apple wanted something like $130 for a new one. I bought one off of eBay, and it swelled, too. My Mom's MB Air has had fan issues, hard drive issues, and the hinge cracked (Apple was awesome and fixed the hinge for free). My Dad's MB hard drive was going bad and needed to be replaced. Both my parents and I baby our gear. I'm not saying that Apple gear is junk, btw. I happen to like Apple gear, but it's not necessarily any more robust than PC gear.

I think that a lot of it comes down to which gear people like, and how much leeway they'll give it. For example, if you favor Macs and not PCs, then whenever a PC does something wrong...it sucks, but whenever a Mac does something wrong, you tend to just move past it. The reverse is also true for folks who favor PCs.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I think that a lot of it comes down to which gear people like, and how much leeway they'll give it. For example, if you favor Macs and not PCs, then whenever a PC does something wrong...it sucks, but whenever a Mac does something wrong, you tend to just move past it. The reverse is also true for folks who favor PCs.

Not true in my case. My surliness is non-discriminatory. The three Macs we have owned have been pretty much flawless. Of course, they ought to be, at about 150% of the price of comparable PC hardware. Well, admittedly, that's a little unfair. Apple monitors, displays, and packaging are so superior to anything in the PC world it does make a difference. I was just at Fry's looking at the latest 27" LG monitor, and it doesn't look anywhere near as good as my 27" Apple monitor. Of course, the LG was $268 and an Apple is still $999 (or $1900, wrapped around an all-in-one computer), but if you want the best quality I suppose that's what it costs.

 

[fuzz092888]

I definitely agree. My Apple monitor is head and shoulders above anything else I could have gotten. Probably not the best for gaming, but since I don't do that all is well

 

[Adam]

My surliness is non-discriminatory.

Hee, hee.

I'm glad that you've had such great luck with Macs. My parents, unfortunately, have not had quite as good of luck. Even more unfortunate IMO because I'm the one who bought them. That MB Air was $1800 because it was the original. The MB Pro for my dad was a relative bargain at around $1200. I also got them a Time Capsule for (I think) $500 that turned out to be a piece of junk, as evidenced by their experience and the large number of negative reviews online. By comparison, the ~$450 HP desktop that I used for years and then gave to them never had any issues that I know of.

However...they love the Macs. Love them. I think that it might just be because they are laptops that they can move around, but regardless - they love them.

I'm also very happy with mine. My 2011 MB Air is a great machine. The Mini that I just recently bought is now outstanding, but it came with a defective HD that was WAY too loud - a big downer when buying a computer with a price premium. I just swapped it out for an SSD and moved on, rather than go through the hassle of seeing an "Expert" at the Apple store about 30 minutes away. I'm using the Mini right now. Dead silent now, and that's what I love about it.

There are things about Mountain Lion that I like better than Windows, and some things that I like less. Some of that is just what I got used to (using CTRL instead of COMMAND, for example), but I also think that each OS has advantages/disadvantages compared to the other.

 

[lsiberian]

HP laptops are known to have overheating problems due to poor engineering. Get an ASUS instead. I have 2 works pcs and 2 laptops with great performance on Windows 8. I have an HP laptop that overheats and sucks.

I am quite certain that Microsoft has some of the best software engineers in the world. It would be a dream to work for them. Only the very best programmers I knew got into Microsoft.
You could not get a job their if you didn't know processor utilization. Legacy support is what keeps them back in a lot of ways. They made such good development tools in the 90s that they still have to support them today. They still make the best development tools on the planet IMO.

What Antivirus are you running? Is it AVG? If so remove it. AVG is known to cause processor loads.

 

[Irvrobinson]

HP laptops are known to have overheating problems due to poor engineering. Get an ASUS instead. I have 2 works pcs and 2 laptops with great performance on Windows 8. I have an HP laptop that overheats and sucks.

I am quite certain that Microsoft has some of the best software engineers in the world. It would be a dream to work for them. Only the very best programmers I knew got into Microsoft.
You could not get a job their if you didn't know processor utilization. Legacy support is what keeps them back in a lot of ways. They made such good development tools in the 90s that they still have to support them today. They still make the best development tools on the planet IMO.

What Antivirus are you running? Is it AVG? If so remove it. AVG is known to cause processor loads.

I'm not running antivirus software at the moment, only what Win 8 provides, Windows Defender. Yeah, I know that's probably not enough, but I've been lazy. I had Norton and McAfee with Vista, and I liked Norton better.

As for Microsoft hiring the world's best software engineers, give me a break. I like their development tools too, but their applications and operating systems leave a lot to be desired in some pretty basic ways. Even in enterprise they get their doors blown off in virtualization, databases, file systems, networking... the list is long. For the size of their R&D budget I'm not impressed. One would think that at least in the PC OS market they would have technological dominance. They don't.

And if they are so awesome in basic OS kernel development, why the hell is my laptop doing what it does? With dual cores, an application, even a driver, should never regularly dominate the system. There's just no excuse. It's dumb.

 

[avnetguy]

Not true in my case. My surliness is non-discriminatory. The three Macs we have owned have been pretty much flawless. Of course, they ought to be, at about 150% of the price of comparable PC hardware. Well, admittedly, that's a little unfair. Apple monitors, displays, and packaging are so superior to anything in the PC world it does make a difference. I was just at Fry's looking at the latest 27" LG monitor, and it doesn't look anywhere near as good as my 27" Apple monitor. Of course, the LG was $268 and an Apple is still $999 (or $1900, wrapped around an all-in-one computer), but if you want the best quality I suppose that's what it costs.

non-discriminatory, seriously ? .... sorry, just doesn't read that way.
Why not compare a good quality 27" monitor, like a Dell U2713HM for example, then do a real comparison.

Also if you're looking for a stable Windows platform why are you running Win 8 Pro? Early adoption almost always has issues, switch to Win 7 Pro/32 bit and tune the OS with the many tweaks available online, probably done in less than 10 minutes and very stable.

Steve

 

[Irvrobinson]

non-discriminatory, seriously ? .... sorry, just doesn't read that way.
Why not compare a good quality 27" monitor, like a Dell U2713HM for example, then do a real comparison.

I've seen the Dell. There's no comparison. The LG is about as good as the Dell.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Also if you're looking for a stable Windows platform why are you running Win 8 Pro? Early adoption almost always has issues, switch to Win 7 Pro/32 bit and tune the OS with the many tweaks available online, probably done in less than 10 minutes and very stable.

I was on Vista, and when Microsoft offered the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $40 I couldn't resist it. Yes, I was stupid. I should have stuck with Vista, but I was hoping Microsoft had fixed some of the same operational issues. Obviously they didn't.

 

[avnetguy]

I've seen the Dell. There's no comparison. The LG is about as good as the Dell.

Was it the same model I quoted ? I saw very little difference (if any) in my comparison, so much so that I'll probably pick up the Dell when a good sale comes along. BTW, most box stores on connect via HDMI which limits the resolution and you won't see the Dell at it's full res ... just so you know.

Steve

 

[avnetguy]

I was on Vista, and when Microsoft offered the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $40 I couldn't resist it. Yes, I was stupid. I should have stuck with Vista, but I was hoping Microsoft had fixed some of the same operational issues. Obviously they didn't.

See if they'll allow you to jump back to Win7, not sure if they'll do this on an upgrade but it's worth a try.

Steve

 

[Rickster71]

Hi Irv, I'm wondering if the jump from Vista all the way to Win8 might be a bit of the problem.
Win7 seems to be a nice interim place to be while waiting for Win8 bugs to be excised.

Here's is an interesting article if anyone is interested. Mac vs. PC: Myth Busting Guide.
Mac vs. PC: Mythbusting Guide for Consumers

 

[Grador]

This really really sounds like a driver issue. Windows is quite good at at threading, and not letting single programs run away with the entire system. Drivers on the other hand can do whatever they d@mn well please. I would bet you that if you uninstall the ECM tools the system would run fine.

If I'm right you'd have the same problem on a mac if the tools were available.

Why not compare a good quality 27" monitor, like a Dell U2713HM for example, then do a real comparison.

Also this, my father's high end dell monitor could be considered a reference monitor. I've never seen an apple monitor approach it in quality.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Was it the same model I quoted ? I saw very little difference (if any) in my comparison, so much so that I'll probably pick up the Dell when a good sale comes along. BTW, most box stores on connect via HDMI which limits the resolution and you won't see the Dell at it's full res ... just so you know.

Steve

I saw the Dell in an office. I'm not sure how it was connected, so you could be correct. I know someone with one of these monitors in their home (they're a Framemaker user, so Windows is a requirement), and I'll see if I can take a look at it, just for my edification.

 

[Irvrobinson]

If I'm right you'd have the same problem on a mac if the tools were available.

The apps aren't running when the problem occurs, nor are the special devices connected, and the problem occurred before I installed the drivers. I've also discussed this with a couple of other Win users who have the same problem, but they were both HP users, admittedly. It could be a comms driver that screws it up, but with all of that disk activity I doubt it.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Hi Irv, I'm wondering if the jump from Vista all the way to Win8 might be a bit of the problem.

I doubt it. Win 8 makes you reinstall everything, and it has compatibility mode in the Pro version, which is why I chose it. Incidentally, the special apps do run just fine. The only downside was that HP didn't provide a Win 8 driver for the SD card port, so I lost that. Like most others I also dislike the Win 8 interface, but I've gotten used to it.