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The Windows Incident – Day 0

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Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#81

Post by [deleted] »

dingdingdang wrote: post #19
cabirum wrote: post #18

What did you expect from a $250 device? Or, what did you expect from an 8″ 1200x800 tablet with just 2gb ram and 32gb ssd which comes with a full Windows OS, instead of Win RT? Some phones have more powerful hardware than that. It's not Microsoft's fault that Asus decided to sell a cheap, untested, poorly-built device. It's your fault, as a tech-savvy customer, to buy it.

OP explicitly states that the machine was part of Microsoft's "Signature Device" program and as such MS certainly has a responsibility for allowing these hardware specs onto the street. Nonetheless, I totally agree with notion that I would personally never have been caught in that situation due to being able to read tech specs and having internalized rough idea of Windows performance in relation to hardware setup...

[deleted]

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#82

Post by mikeash »

wvenable wrote: post #13

I had a similar experience with my Asus Zenbook Prime ultrabook. I noticed that the very loud fan was running a lot faster and more frequently than it should. I checked the power settings and minimum processor state was 100%. I changed it to a more reasonable number and all was good. But 10-15 minutes later the fan would come back on full blast because that setting has been reverted back to 100%! Every time I reset i…

> The stock trackpad driver

Why is this even a thing? Why is the trackpad not simply a compliant USB HID device that can be recognized by the standard OS install? What the hell are PC manufacturers doing?

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#83

Post by Gracana »

izacus wrote: post #49
gmac wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not as simple as: all Apple products are perfect and all Windows laptops are terrible. But the chances of your Apple hardware having a horrible fault, in my experience, are very significantly lower. And if it does have a horrible fault, it almost certainly won't be a stupid and maddening one caused by a third-party driver.

So chances are that 2000-3000$ piece of equpment have less faults than 300$-3000$ piece of equipment? The problem with your argument is that you're doing a comparison of vastly different hardware and target markets. Lumping all Windows manufacturers and their laptop series into the same basket causes disenginous argument which is sadly perpetuated by Apple marketing. Doing a relevant comparison like Apple 13" MacBook…

I have one of the new thinkpads at work, and (off the top of my head) the screen can be bent in and out considerably with a light push of the finger, and it has an incredibly rattly/wavy/cheap plastic strip of buttons above the keyboard. I don't think their quality is what it once was.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#84

Post by Gracana »

mikeash wrote: post #82
wvenable wrote: post #13

I had a similar experience with my Asus Zenbook Prime ultrabook. I noticed that the very loud fan was running a lot faster and more frequently than it should. I checked the power settings and minimum processor state was 100%. I changed it to a more reasonable number and all was good. But 10-15 minutes later the fan would come back on full blast because that setting has been reverted back to 100%! Every time I reset i…

> The stock trackpad driver Why is this even a thing? Why is the trackpad not simply a compliant USB HID device that can be recognized by the standard OS install? What the hell are PC manufacturers doing?

Even Microsoft's mice and keyboards don't work when you first plug them in, Windows has to spin its wheels and "install a driver" (which it notifies you about) before they will work. If you're online with Windows Update, your computer will then offer to download some sort of control center for your mouse and keyboard. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#85

Post by mcintyre1994 »

wfjackson wrote: post #42
dingdingdang wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP explicitly states that the machine was part of Microsoft's "Signature Device" program and as such MS certainly has a responsibility for allowing these hardware specs onto the street. Nonetheless, I totally agree with notion that I would personally never have been caught in that situation due to being able to read tech specs and having internalized rough idea of Windows performance in relation to hardware setup...

OP is mistaken. The signature designation only implies that it's free of pre-installed crapware and junkware. If one wants a real Nexus like device(branded Google), then Surface is their friend(made by MS). >as such MS certainly has a responsibility for allowing these hardware specs onto the street And then get sued by the DoJ and split up by a court. Thanks to the antitrust ruling, MS cannot force anything on the OE…

Surely Microsoft can choose which devices they put some signature branding on, and which ones they choose to stock in their own retail stores though? They can't control the hardware running Windows but they absolutely should control be aware of what their 'signature' on an OEM device implies.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#86

Post by mikeash »

nogridbag wrote: post #79
easytiger wrote: post #16

There is so much stuff in Windows 8 that I have no idea how it got out of the building. Really incomprehensible. Clearly a cancerous culture in Microsoft ala BlackBerry letting small but insane design choices out the door

I stepped into the Microsoft store yesterday - they had the Microsoft band front and center and it lured me in. Every time I go into the store I keep saying "this is cool!" at every station. But I still find myself struggling with the usability of Windows 8. The final station I stopped at in the store was the HP Sprout PC which uses a digital projector mounted on top of the monitor to project a virtual touch screen i…

I'm always amazed at how crappy Microsoft stores are. Oh, they're pretty and welcoming and there are always happy people playing games in there (often the employees, because they have nothing to do), but nothing works. I go to actually try out a device and the games won't run because they need me to log in to some MS service, the machines aren't connected to WiFi, or stuff is just locked up....

And how much do you want to bet that they just can't figure out why the Apple Store across the corridor is packed from open to close and theirs is a relative ghost town.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#87

Post by Brian-Puccio »

wfjackson wrote: post #78
msh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft sold it as a signature device, so it's just as much their fault.

Again, all it means is that it's OEM crapware free.

So if the OEM didn't install anything aside from a completely standard (albeit old) Windows 8 install, then this is Microsoft's intended behavior of Windows? What else would cause any issues with the OS out-of-the-box aside from OS problems if the OEM didn't add anything?

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#88

Post by mikeash »

wfjackson wrote: post #78
msh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft sold it as a signature device, so it's just as much their fault.

Again, all it means is that it's OEM crapware free.

It's Microsoft's fault that this is all it means. "Signature" could (and IMO should) mean that they've worked with the OEM to ensure everything works well and stuff is up to date. If Microsoft decided that Signature just means "slightly less crappy than usual" then that's their own fault.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#89

Post by ANTSANTS »

Too wrote: post #2

Consider yourself lucky you even got windows 8 installed. My lenovo laptop, with a big fat windows 8 sticker on it and win 8 screaming all over the purchase page, came with windows 7 preinstalled. Win 8 came with a bunch of dvds inside the packaging, the laptop does not even have a dvd-player.

They did you a solid.

Re: The Windows Incident – Day 0

#90

Post by gamblor956 »

Too wrote: post #2

Consider yourself lucky you even got windows 8 installed. My lenovo laptop, with a big fat windows 8 sticker on it and win 8 screaming all over the purchase page, came with windows 7 preinstalled. Win 8 came with a bunch of dvds inside the packaging, the laptop does not even have a dvd-player.

You can download Windows 8 free online, and enter into the serial on the CDs when it comes time to register.

(Windows 7 was the first Windows OS that was fully installable from a downloaded or USB-stick copy.)

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