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[Siquo]

So, I've just been told that I'm an ancient relic for using an 11-yr old OS (Win XP). Maybe it is time to upgrade. Maybe not.
It's been so long since I even contemplated a new OS that I really need advice on this.

I heard Windows 8 is nice for touch-screens. As it happens, a week ago my current 4yr old main monitor suddenly has failing pixel-columns (two lines so far, that stopped working), so I'm kind of in the market for a new one. Is a touchscreen monitor even available or useful for a desktop? (Note my 8yr old secondary monitor still works flawlessly).

What to choose? I'm even willing to buy the OS (which would be a first), if it means that it "just works".


Hardware specs:
Intel i7, 6Gb RAM, 64 Gb SSD for the OS, (and a 1Tb disk for the rest), ATI Radeon HD 48XX something.

What I use my machine for: Gaming, Programming (C++ mostly, some webdevelopment and other stuff), Medium-heavy Video-editing, some light Photoshop stuff.
What I play: everything. High-end FPS to ascii games like DF, oldies like planescape:torment and the newest games that come out.

[miauw62]

Well, i recommend windows 7, i only really use it for gaming but i generally dont have any problems with it.
It's inuitive, steam has a nifty menu if you pin it to the taskbar and the taskbar can be placed at just about any place.

You'll have some problems writing to certain locations like program files unless you ditch UAC tough, wich is easily done from the control panel (or you could just programs that need it as administrator, but, for example, using notepad++ from the context menu wont work if you set the .exe to admin).

[werty892]

You should Probably get windows 7, Cause windows 8 is for touchscreens and touchscreens are really expensive gimmicks your not gonna use based on what you do on you computer. You might want to get a new monitor, but not a touchscreen one.

[Knight of Fools]

Thirding Windows 7. It's not too different from XP, and worth being able to use the extra RAM. Besides, XP is up next for having its support dropped. Windows 7 has Vista to buffer it before it becomes obsolete, and by then Microsoft might have something worth upgrading to.

Windows 8 looks like nothing but a marketing gimmick for people that like fingerprints on their screens. An expensive upgrade for very little return.

[Silent_Thunder]

Isn't the rule to sjip every other version of windows? XD 98 (pre SE) NT/200. Vista, I'd wager 8 is in the same boat.

But no seriosuly, I'd reccomend XP. Just make sure you're getting one that's 64bit as opposed to 32.

[Tellemurius]

yes get the version that is the least supported of any xp version

[rutsber]

I'll agree with the suggestions for Windows 7. As for touchscreens, I would advise against it. In my opinion it would be a novelty at first, but an annoyance later on. Just pretend that you have a touchscreen and see what it feels like to reach out to your monitor as opposed to your keyboard in mouse. Depending on your setup, that could get pretty tiring after a while. I was messing around with one in a store one time, and it didn't seem that good. It was just cool because touch screen devices weren't as prevalent as they are now.

[gimlet]

I would never get a touchscreen for desktop use.  For one thing, fingerprints on my viewing area, yuck!  Expensive.  Only available at crappy resolutions.  And who the hell wants to take their hand off the mouse/keyboard, move it all the way to the screen, touch something, then have to move it back to actually type in search terms or whatever?  Holy crap I'd be screaming in rage by the 3rd time I had to do that.

Win 7 looks like the new least-hassle harbor, just read up a bit on its annoyances.  Like don't install stuff in Program Files unless you *want* its iron-fisted nanny protection secretly preventing you from making simple changes like you used to.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Touchscreens are the biggest gimmick of our future, till we get holographic projector screens [and find a way to keep everyone from going blind from using touch-screens 2-3 feet away] it's useless for us people who use computers for actual reasons.

I'm using 7 now since it's atleast possible to disable all the extra horseshit MS does to it's operating systems. It runs better than vista, and its supported unlike XP so people who use real computers nowadays are running low on options. I bet in 4 years we'll all end up switching to Linux just to be able to use something that isn't a gimmicky wannabe touchpad.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

XP is falling out of date these days. I use Vista and it's still fine, but of those three options you should probably go for 7.

Also, good monitor touchscreens are lazer fields, not pressure activated, so no screen smudging.

[Forums User Meat Wizard]

Go with 7 - either way you go, it'll break a lot of your old games, but 7 has been around for long enough now that the most popular ones have had workarounds figured out.

Don't get a touchscreen. They're great on phones, tablets, and POS systems, but you're honestly not going to be using it more than a mouse on a day-to-day basis. If you're going to get something 'extra' on a monitor, get 3D support, because that shit is cool as tits and tonnes of games are supporting it.

[Haspen]

I has XP for 10 years, works fine for me :v

Also I would need better PC before upgrading to Win7, though.

[stabbymcstabstab]

I've had a XP for about 6 years, they aren't that out of date but you should get a 7, from what I understand its more user friendly the 8.

[Muz]

Lol, definitely don't get XP with those specs. XP is just not designed for today's computing power. I think they have poor support for multiple cores too.

7 is really good. I absolutely hated Win Vista, even installed Ubuntu to play Windows games, because it was easier to play with an emulator than to use Vista. But 7 fixed all of those problems and has a lot of great UI features that puts it even above a Macintosh. For example, you can use Windows Key + Left arrow to make your screen take the left half of the screen. Very useful for split screen programming and copying values.

They put a lot of love into Windows 8 too. It runs everything a smartphone can, meaning you can play games like Fruit Ninja. My brother claims that it's very good and that he wouldn't switch back to 7.

Don't need a touchscreen. Remember that MS is good at riding trends, like how they integrated Internet Explorer into the file browsing system, and didn't break either. It will probably take a lot of getting used to, but I haven't heard any complaints.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Microsoft is good at riding trends, but when they screw up, they screw up bad. Need I remind you of the Red Ring of Death, release day Vista, or the Windows 7 hard-drive erasing error?

Though, on the topic of Vista, most if not all of its problems were eliminated in the two service packages Microsoft put out for it.