5 ms·

My Dell Venue 8 Pro is pretty fantastic at near that price point and is a full desktop OS. Granted its a tablet and not a full Laptop but its a great piece of h

• andybak 13y ago
  I'm sure it is but how will it run after 6 months of use by a non-technical user. The 'Windows half-life' kicks in and most Windows PC's I've ever seen have been almost unusable after a year or so of such usage.
  • pmelendez 13y ago
    Until four months ago I was running windows 8 on my 5 years old laptop with no problem. I upgraded it with 8.1 just because I wanted to try it and still I hadn't seen the first problem, so in my experience that "windows half-life" isn't more than a myth.
    • kunai 13y ago
      Only if you're willing to keep your computer well-maintained. Most users don't. The Registry is an outdated piece of junk, but thankfully Microsoft has made it less intrusive in Windows 7, and is making moves away from it with 8/8.1. It gets so clogged and filthy over time – like a vacuum cleaner's air filter - that loading application defaults takes ages. This is, however, less of a problem on newer operating systems.
    • georgemcbay 13y ago
      As someone who has used Windows (though not solely Windows) for a long time I'd say the "half-life" (like the much joked about instability and constant crashes) is something that used to be true but hasn't been true for quite a long time now. Despite the terrible reputation it has, Vista is where Microsoft really started turning it around in a big way when it comes to stability, security, etc. (XP/Windows 2000 was obviously good too for moving the consumer OS to the protected NT kernel, but things really picked up in the subsequent releases). My current Windows desktop system is running Windows 8.1 after in-place upgrades from Win7->Win8->Win8.1 (in place Windows upgrades being another previous no-no that now pretty much Just Works) and it still feels as zippy as the day I first started using it, despite having a hard-drive full of large RAW photos, videos, music, etc, and many dozens of apps installed, uninstalled, reinstalled, etc over the years. All that being said, I own two different Chromebooks and I use them as mobile development systems running crouton and I really like them a lot and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone who isn't pinned to Windows due to other app constraints like needing Photoshop, Lightroom, games, etc.
      • venomsnake 13y ago
        It is sadly true. There is cruft accumulating on the OS. Of course with Sandboxie and the likes it is becoming easier to keep your windows install in mint fresh condition. The problem with Windows is usually third party crapware that people always install. Or comes preinstalled by the vendor. If you keep that in check you could last a long time before doing a re install. But most non tech savy users ... have trouble with that. Malware is getting more and more sophisticated in its ability to trick person to install it.
        • nogridbag 13y ago
          I'm curious if this is still true if you only install Metro applications. Any idea?
          • venomsnake 13y ago
            In that case the PC can be used only as a paperweight. And they are pretty eternal.