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maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
anyone know if i can install windows 10 on this thing without driver issues and be able to revert back to 8.1 if i dont like it?

Does it have a USB port - if so you can create a recovery USB. Then you can revert back. Also see if there's a recovery volume, just hit Windows-R , then type diskmgmt.msc. You'll see all the volumes.
 

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
Does it have a USB port - if so you can create a recovery USB. Then you can revert back. Also see if there's a recovery volume, just hit Windows-R , then type diskmgmt.msc. You'll see all the volumes.

It's does have a USB port, I created the recovery USB. I'm considering windows 10 but haven't made up my mind yet. Not sure how stable it is yet.
 

Billy95Tech

Suspended
Apr 18, 2014
540
61
Today I picked up a Nextbook 10.1 2-in-1 tablet. It comes with a keyboard with a built in trackpad. It runs full Windows 8.1 and actually has a very crisp and responsive touch screen. This baby packs 32GB of built in storage, microsd slot, and 1GB RAM which you would think is slow but is not. Grand total for this tablet? $179!!!!! I bought it at Walmart but it's also available on Amazon. This is comparable in specs to other convertible tablets on the market that costs $100 more. I don't think there is a better deal than this on the market at the moment.

One big advantage with this over a Surface is that you can actually use it on your lap! It doesn't require a kickstand to stand up because the keyboard has a strong hinge mechanism that you attach the tablet to.

Just wondering how does this Windows 8 tablet perform with only 1GB of RAM?

And can it handle very heavy demanding tasks like Video editing does it lags up and crash or is it just for basic stuff like browsing the web, watching videos?
 

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
Just wondering how does this Windows 8 tablet perform with only 1GB of RAM?

And can it handle very heavy demanding tasks like Video editing does it lags up and crash or is it just for basic stuff like browsing the web, watching videos?

It's only for basic stuff. I've returned that tablet for one with 2GB ram. You can definitely feel a difference.

----------

From what I've read, the OS itself is pretty solid, but the new stuff in there has a tendency to be flaky.

Yeah I'm running it on a VM on my Mac first to test it out, it's definitely still a little flaky.
 

lowendlinux

macrumors 603
Sep 24, 2014
5,460
6,788
Germany
Just wondering how does this Windows 8 tablet perform with only 1GB of RAM?

And can it handle very heavy demanding tasks like Video editing does it lags up and crash or is it just for basic stuff like browsing the web, watching videos?

Why you you do that on a tablet?
 

Billy95Tech

Suspended
Apr 18, 2014
540
61
Why you you do that on a tablet?

You(anyone) can do it on any tablet even the Android tablets and Ipads!

I have a 11.6 inch Windows 8 tablet Acer Iconia W700(I5 Core) and i make Youtube videos on it and it is great. :)

If i was doing it on a 10 inch Android tablet or Ipad then i would still be fine making Youtube videos on them because they have power to be able to very heavy demanding tasks like video editing now unlike couple years ago.
 
Last edited:

Mcdevidr

macrumors 6502a
Nov 27, 2013
793
368
Serious?

I don't think the market for 1gb ram windows tablets is making Pixar movies. Whatever the tablet can handle its never going to be labeled HEAVY.
 

Renzatic

Suspended
Yeah I'm running it on a VM on my Mac first to test it out, it's definitely still a little flaky.

I just got through installing it on a 6 year old middle of the road 2GB laptop. My first impressions?

It's fast. This laptop was struggling with Fedora 21, but with Windows 10, it flies. The fact the OS was built to scale well across an entire spectrum of hardware really shows.

Even the install was quick. It looks and acts like Windows 7 when you boot off the thumb drive, but not even 7 minutes later, I was in the initial "we're setting everything up for you" stages. In ~15 minutes, I was on the desktop, setting everything up.

Running Metro apps in windows is nice. I might actually find some use out of them.

Cortana is in the "neat, but not very useful as of yet" stages. I tried the same queries I first used with Siri back in the day, and it wasn't able to pick any of them up. Like if I say "what's the weather going to be like this week", it'll search Bing with "what's the weather going to be like this week", rather than spitting the info back at me. Instead, I have to just say "weather" before it'll pop up with a "it's 45 degrees out and sunny" with a little notification showing off the next 5 days.

I don't like the new titlebars. They look cheap with the overly large min, max, close buttons. I'm pretty sure they're just placeholders, so I'm not too concerned about it.

The Task View is a GODSEND! Expose and virtual desktops! It's what I've always wanted! It's very obviously and shamelessly OSX-like in its presentation, but I don't care. The only thing that'd make me like it better is if I'm able to map it to a hot corner.

The new Start menu? The one in the version I grabbed is using the latest and greatest, which is more like a scaled down version of the Start screen in Windows 8 than it is Windows 7 start menu with Live Tiles they had earlier. I like the fact things scroll vertically rather than horizontally now, but I'm rather neutral about it altogether. It's there, and it has its uses, but it doesn't blow me away with any awesome new functionality. Judging from the screenshots, I'd say I liked the previous incarnation a little better.

The new Settings app is another thing I've wanted out of Windows for awhile now. The Control Panel has become WAY too crowded, and was in desperate need of some streamlining. Settings does that. Everything's laid out logically, and is easy to find. It's more complicated than what you get on iOS or Android, but not by much. The old control panel is still in there for people who want to use it, but I don't know if MS is intending to keep it in for the final release, or if they just haven't gotten around to removing it entirely yet.

Updates? So much better, at least for now. The one thing I really hope MS does is keep at least fairly up to date ISOs available for Windows for people who need to grab one. It seems like what they're doing here, because after getting it installed, the first thing I did was head over to the update panel in the new Settings app. There were only two there. And even better, they immediately came up nearly a split second after I hit the "check for updates" button. In older versions of Windows, you'd hit that button, then wait 5 minues while it does...whatever...before giving you a list. Here, they immediately came up, then started downloading and installing without missing a beat. So much faster. This is one of the Big Deal Improvements with Windows 10, so I expect they've put a ton of work into this.

Overall, the beta seems pretty stable from what I've seen, if not altogether smooth yet. Mostly it's glitchy GUI issues. Like when I hit the Cortana O, the search bar will appear just above the taskbar, then leap to the middle of the screen, then pop back down to its original position again before opening up Cortana properly. It's a lot of little stuff like that. No huge crashes or compatibility issues (so far). Obviously everything's still a little rough around the edges, but it feels pretty solid overall.

That's it so far. Next up, I'm gonna try the new Office Touch previews and see how they're turning out.
 

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
I just got through installing it on a 6 year old middle of the road 2GB laptop. My first impressions?

It's fast. This laptop was struggling with Fedora 21, but with Windows 10, it flies. The fact the OS was built to scale well across an entire spectrum of hardware really shows.

Even the install was quick. It looks and acts like Windows 7 when you boot off the thumb drive, but not even 7 minutes later, I was in the initial "we're setting everything up for you" stages. In ~15 minutes, I was on the desktop, setting everything up.

Running Metro apps in windows is nice. I might actually find some use out of them.

Cortana is in the "neat, but not very useful as of yet" stages. I tried the same queries I first used with Siri back in the day, and it wasn't able to pick any of them up. Like if I say "what's the weather going to be like this week", it'll search Bing with "what's the weather going to be like this week", rather than spitting the info back at me. Instead, I have to just say "weather" before it'll pop up with a "it's 45 degrees out and sunny" with a little notification showing off the next 5 days.

I don't like the new titlebars. They look cheap with the overly large min, max, close buttons. I'm pretty sure they're just placeholders, so I'm not too concerned about it.

The Task View is a GODSEND! Expose and virtual desktops! It's what I've always wanted! It's very obviously and shamelessly OSX-like in its presentation, but I don't care. The only thing that'd make me like it better is if I'm able to map it to a hot corner.

The new Start menu? The one in the version I grabbed is using the latest and greatest, which is more like a scaled down version of the Start screen in Windows 8 than it is Windows 7 start menu with Live Tiles they had earlier. I like the fact things scroll vertically rather than horizontally now, but I'm rather neutral about it altogether. It's there, and it has its uses, but it doesn't blow me away with any awesome new functionality. Judging from the screenshots, I'd say I liked the previous incarnation a little better.

The new Settings app is another thing I've wanted out of Windows for awhile now. The Control Panel has become WAY too crowded, and was in desperate need of some streamlining. Settings does that. Everything's laid out logically, and is easy to find. It's more complicated than what you get on iOS or Android, but not by much. The old control panel is still in there for people who want to use it, but I don't know if MS is intending to keep it in for the final release, or if they just haven't gotten around to removing it entirely yet.

Updates? So much better, at least for now. The one thing I really hope MS does is keep at least fairly up to date ISOs available for Windows for people who need to grab one. It seems like what they're doing here, because after getting it installed, the first thing I did was head over to the update panel in the new Settings app. There were only two there. And even better, they immediately came up nearly a split second after I hit the "check for updates" button. In older versions of Windows, you'd hit that button, then wait 5 minues while it does...whatever...before giving you a list. Here, they immediately came up, then started downloading and installing without missing a beat. So much faster. This is one of the Big Deal Improvements with Windows 10, so I expect they've put a ton of work into this.

Overall, the beta seems pretty stable from what I've seen, if not altogether smooth yet. Mostly it's glitchy GUI issues. Like when I hit the Cortana O, the search bar will appear just above the taskbar, then leap to the middle of the screen, then pop back down to its original position again before opening up Cortana properly. It's a lot of little stuff like that. No huge crashes or compatibility issues (so far). Obviously everything's still a little rough around the edges, but it feels pretty solid overall.

That's it so far. Next up, I'm gonna try the new Office Touch previews and see how they're turning out.

Thanks for your review! You're making me reconsider not putting it on my tablet. :D

Do you think it will be easy to upgrade from the preview build to the official build when it's out?
 

Renzatic

Suspended
Thanks for your review! You're making me reconsider not putting it on my tablet. :D

Considering it's your goof-around tablet, I'd say go for it. The worst you can expect would be a completely wiped hard drive, but you can beat that by backing everything up all the time. :p

Do you think it will be easy to upgrade from the preview build to the official build when it's out?

No idea. I'd say its possible they'll allow people to move from the previews, to the release candidates, to the main version as the final stress test for their new upgrade system. Though the safe bet would be that they'll require you to format and reinstall once Win10 comes out proper.
 

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
Considering it's your goof-around tablet, I'd say go for it. The worst you can expect would be a completely wiped hard drive, but you can beat that by backing everything up all the time. :p

I ran into an installation problem.
"Windows can't be installed because this PC used a compressed operating system."

I looked into it, apparently Technical Preview won't install on 16Gb and 32GB devices unless you do a clean install from a USB drive. But you can't upgrade over this version of 8.1 because it's a WIMboot version. It will probably be more easily upgradable after the TP phase.
 

Renzatic

Suspended
I ran into an installation problem.
"Windows can't be installed because this PC used a compressed operating system."

I looked into it, apparently Technical Preview won't install on 16Gb and 32GB devices unless you do a clean install from a USB drive. But you can't upgrade over this version of 8.1 because it's a WIMboot version. It will probably be more easily upgradable after the TP phase.

Doing the upgrade off a thumb drive is easy as pie, provided you've got an 8GB thumb drive handy. Get the iso, then grab the Windows 7 USB Download Tool. Despite the name, it doesn't download anything, and it's not just for Windows 7. It'll create bootable Windows thumbdrives with a few simple clicks, though.
 

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
Doing the upgrade off a thumb drive is easy as pie, provided you've got an 8GB thumb drive handy. Get the iso, then grab the Windows 7 USB Download Tool. Despite the name, it doesn't download anything, and it's not just for Windows 7. It'll create bootable Windows thumbdrives with a few simple clicks, though.

I might give it a try. But it won't be an upgrade, has to be a fresh install. You can't install a non-WIMboot version of Windows over a WIMboot version.

The advantage to the WIMboot version is it takes up much less space. I definitely want to switch over to that version of Windows 10 when it's out.
 

Renzatic

Suspended
Sorry for the double post, folks.

Just tried out Word and Excel touch. If you've spent any time with the iPad (and now Android) apps at all, you'll know exactly what you're getting into here. As far as I can tell, there aren't any expansions or additions that separate it from the other touch based versions.

Surprisingly, it works pretty alright with a mouse and keyboard. Yeah, the icons are a little overly large, but not obnoxiously so. I could see it working as Office Lite, there for those who don't necessarily need the finer, more complicated details of Desktop Office, and a nice touch based alternative for the SP3 people to use on the go.

I believe the most important thing is that it finally shows off what WinRT is capable of, and works as a way to entice developers to start writing universal apps.
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,422
Sorry for the double post, folks.

Just tried out Word and Excel touch. If you've spent any time with the iPad (and now Android) apps at all, you'll know exactly what you're getting into here. As far as I can tell, there aren't any expansions or additions that separate it from the other touch based versions.

Surprisingly, it works pretty alright with a mouse and keyboard. Yeah, the icons are a little overly large, but not obnoxiously so. I could see it working as Office Lite, there for those who don't necessarily need the finer, more complicated details of Desktop Office, and a nice touch based alternative for the SP3 people to use on the go.

I believe the most important thing is that it finally shows off what WinRT is capable of, and works as a way to entice developers to start writing universal apps.

I almost said something about stylus support, but then I went and tried to use it in word. You'd think they'd have that working, with the stylus being their (Windows tablets) big selling point and everything.
 

iBlazed

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Feb 27, 2014
1,594
1,249
New Jersey, United States
Cheap IPS laptop for my wife for basic computing.

The laptop you linked to has great specs for a 2-in-1, but for a regular laptop they can do way better than that for very little more money. You're better off getting a 2-in-1 with the same specs for around $200. More versatility, same specs, similar price.
 

Mastan

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2014
33
17
The laptop you linked to has great specs for a 2-in-1, but for a regular laptop they can do way better than that for very little more money. You're better off getting a 2-in-1 with the same specs for around $200. More versatility, same specs, similar price.

Could you show me the way. TIA
 
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