Dell XPS One 27: Can An All-In-One Make Us Love Windows 8?

[flong777]

Wow some people are talking like Windows 8 is the forerunner of Armageddon.

I really appreciated the poster that actually had an all one posting. He's right there are some obvious advantages to a touch screen and they will be in the future. Just look what the touch interface did for the iPhone. I agree that a lot of people (including myself) are commenting and they have never owned a 27" touch screen. I actually think it would be kind of cool.

The desktop will integrate some kind of touch interface in the future. Whether it will be with Windows 8 is still in question.

 

[Matsushima]

Touch screens are useful for mobile devices, I have to agree with that, but it is still impractical for a desktop. And of course Windows 8 will be better than Me or Vista.

 

[MichaelSP]

I've been using windows 8 now for about 4 months since building a desktop and deciding to install 8 onto it. Since, I have upgraded my laptop from 7 and enjoy the experience on both. Both have very fast boot-up times and just some minor tweaks around the otherwise 'Windows 7' experience. (Such as the way the cursor has a slight sticking point moving between screens and the taskbars now go across different monitors without a separate application.) I loved Windows 7 and though 8 would be a failure. However, I think part the reason it has a slow adoption rate (for power users perhaps) is simply that it is not very different from 7. It really is more of a service pack. Desktop is all still there! And I don't have touch input on either device.

 

[belardo]

Its ugly, MichaelSP. And not buying Windows8 is the BEST way to drive the point home.

Going Linux and other NON MS-OS is also great to show MS their stupidity.

From other websites (even NON computer sites), MS-PC sales have dropped 14%. Win7 market share has still gone up since the release of Win8. When Win7 hit the market, Vista market share has been dropping since day 1. Windows8 has already shown to have accelerated the death of Windows. When companies like Dell & HP are struggling to stay in business and others like Samsung and Asus are moving over to Android/ChromeOS... the writing is on the wall.

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]daglesj[/nom]Holy crap guys, just install a Start Button if you need to, set your default apps to the Desktop ones and its 99% the same as Windows 7 but a bit quicker and a little more secure.[/citation]
[citation][nom]RobAC[/nom]I use Class Shell to get my Win 7 start button and menu back.[/citation]
Better solution... why fracking bother at all then? Then the only real difference is:
Win8 Pros =
Faster Powerup (hybrid), but many with Win7 can simply put their PCs to sleep. Mine wakes up in 1-2 seconds. SSD bootup is 20 seconds (LinuxMint boot up with a HD is about 25 seconds)
TaskSwitcher : ooooo... as nice as it is.... its not what 99% of us run every day.
File copy window : great, we get a graph and a pause button... wow!
Return of the UP button in explorer: thanks...

Is all that really worth $100~200 to "upgrade" over Win7? No!

Win8 Negs: Metro, hiding the start button (its still there), crappy UI design, crappy UI skin job, lack of vision, lack of respect, lack of support, from MS. high price to pay when all most people DO is browse, email and facebook.

Since killing Win8 off the notebook and putting LinuxMint on it ($0 Free)... my wife hasn't said a single peep about it. Nothing. She knows little about computers. As long as it works... it doesn't matter.

Microsoft Windows simply does NOT MATTER anymore for 99% of the people.
The only things that are really tied to MS-OS are: intuit software, Adobe software and those guys should really look at Linux for the future.

 

[belardo]

Goodbye Tomshardware: Been visiting this site for over 10 years. Have made over 16,000 posts here.
Seen some good, some bad... some stupid things here. Been going down hill for quite a bit lately and the latest change with their end-user blogging system pretty much ends it. Why bother? If you don't want people to use your blogs with responses, just rip it out all together. When the system fails more than it works, its bad. When you can no longer QUOTE people, its bad.

Other websites know how to do this: theregister.co.uk is among the very best. There is of course Anandtech and Dailytech that are better than the old and new system used at TomsHardware. For "the authority of tech", it sure doesn't seem like it.

Last month, when you (Toms) censored and blocked people from responding to the article in which AMD changed their logo and such - because every one of us was MOCKING AMD.... as silly logos do not make a CPU faster.... that was a first. I considered leaving the site then... I'm sure some have left.

But this new blogsoftware is the last straw. Its bad when you cannot posts or see posts. Its bad when what used to take 1-2 clicks now takes 10+ to do the same thing... its just not worth it. Not worth my time to read either.

I'm typing this HERE, because you sure as hell can't get most postings to work on the other articles. I've tried Chrome and Firefox... My Windows7, my iPad and my Android phone.

Thanks for the memories Tom (The original Tom) and many of the people who bothered to read and share their opinions on this website.

 

[Matsushima]

I have to agree with you Belardo. PCs will slowly disappear in the next 2 decades starting with Windows 8.

 

[belardo]

Two decades? Bwahahaha... Microsoft wishes. Windows PC sales have taken a 14% dive in the last QTR since the release of Win8. Not 14% of a year, but a QUARTER (3 months). In the 90s, there used to be a dozen brands to buy at stores... now there is only: Dell, HP, Lenovo and ACER (okay, Sony, Samsung and Toshiba still makes notebooks).

I doubt Dell will survive... ACER may go because they make the cheapest computers. HP couldn't find buyers for its PC line.

I'm betting that in 3 years (2016), even if Win9 is out and has ditched Metro... the Wintel PC market will be 10% of what is today. Hopefully desktop cases will get smaller with 2 5.25 drive bays and 4 3.5 drive bays for 2/4 slotted motherboards. I'd really like the 4slot become the "big" standard and the 2 slot become the typical... as it would still allow for SLI setup... or a single game card + a tuner.

Consoles will be updated every 3~4 years, rather than 6~8 as there is no NEED to build a console from scratch like the nintendos64 vs GC or PS1 vs PS2, etc. So the PS5 will be a x4 faster version of the PS4.

Android and iOS become the dominate OS for general use. Linux becomes the OS for computer techs, MacOS becomes the OS for artists, MS-OS becomes strictly business for those who care.

 

[Matsushima]

And with both Intel and AMD shifting towards mobile technology and all-in one integration (we've already started to see graphics, memory/PCIe controllers integrated into CPUs-in the old days even cache was stored in the MB). Maybe Microsoft's trying to get rid of the PC market.

 

[belardo]

MS makes their money from two things: Windows and Office. Everything else either loses money or makes very little profit.... what Windows/Office brings in covers everything else.

 

[CTB1]

What kind of set up is employed for the dynamic computer screens we see on CSI Miami?

 

[logainofhades]

I don't think there is anything that could make me love Win 8. Metro is fugly and Win 7 does all I need it to do and does it well. Touchscreen doesn't belong on regular desktops. Sure they have their places for certain business applications, but not for home use. Tablets are better suited for touch screen for the home user. Typing on a touch screen is a pain. Makes me wish I had a Droid 4 instead of a Bionic. I miss my physical keyboard I had in my Droid 1.

 

[belardo]

(had to post here... because he new AWESOME comments software is so damn good, it doesn't work)

sorry... Off topic... I'm still leaving. The article about MC/Google was of interests.

As an owner of the Motorola AtrixHD, its almost already pure Android... its the closest thing without being a Nexus phone. But *I* do like some of the things that Motorola puts onto their phone. Such as the Circles widget and the DOCK software which gives various features to the phone as well as location/power management. AFAIK, these are removable, they are easy to disable.

Meanwhile, the at&t bloat has caused problems. There are minor differences in the body of the phone that makes the Atrix different from the Razr models. I like how the Atrix looks over the Razer. The next RazrM should have higher resolution and be available on all carriers. (Its a 4.5" screen in a body that is no bigger than the iPhone5)

But there is ONE thing I have to complain about when it comes to Motorola phones as every owner and reviewer will agree. The Camera is crap. Spend the extra $1-2 per phone and put in a decent camera with software. Even my wife's junky MetroPCS LG phone takes photos far better than my AtrixHD.

Please make sure your future phones fit the current car DOCKs, there are advantages to that... a higher likelyhood we'll buy a newer model to fit those $40~60 docks.

Oh another thing... how about some sort of converter tool to keep the phonebook clean, merges and removed the at&t phonebook which messes up everything.

Really, does anyone from at&t and Verizon really bother with those carrier branded GPS/crapware?

 

[Matsushima]

Faster boot times... Bah! I have a SSD on Windows 7 and it takes 5 seconds!

 

[flong777]

Faster boot times... Bah! I have a SSD on Windows 7 and it takes 5 seconds!

What have you done to get your SSD boot time to 5 seconds. I have optimized my SSD and my Vertex 4 takes about 20 seconds to boot.

 

[nwai2208]

'Dell trades blows with the 27" iMac at its $1,600 price point, selling for $200 less and including a touchscreen display, while Apple gives you GeForce GTX 660M graphics and more memory. Those subtleties are probably less important to most folks than the fact that Dell keeps you in the world of Windows, while Apple shifts you over to OS X'

That's not correct. Bootcamp allows you to install and boot from Windows natively on a Mac. So you have the freedom to switch between the two. But you cannot do that on Dell, that's the problem

 

[Oscarcharliezulu]

Soooo touchscreens have been around for ever and never took off for pc's for good reason. Tried windows 8 on laptop, disliked it so much replaced with Apple Mac, which is great though I'd have to say win7 is still the best UI experience. My mac with win 7 would be the best combination of hw and sw .

 

[logainofhades]

Soooo touchscreens have been around for ever and never took off for pc's for good reason. Tried windows 8 on laptop, disliked it so much replaced with Apple Mac, which is great though I'd have to say win7 is still the best UI experience. My mac with win 7 would be the best combination of hw and sw .

You do realize that mac uses the same hardware as a normal PC now right?

 

[Ko Zhi Yi]

Keyboard & Mouse doesn't help much on Windows 8, let alone touch screen. If you don't know how to use shortcuts, then you are probably not using Windows 8. Currently using Windows 7 on my desktop computer, never looked forward nor back.

 

[ithurtswhenipee]

I could see something like this being a good Photoshop/Illustrator platform if it could be used with a digital pen as a tablet interface. In fact I think the test numbers were favorable in the Adobe Creative Suite tests. Outside of that - this would be a horribly inefficient way to use a desktop computer.

 

[logainofhades]

Keyboard & Mouse doesn't help much on Windows 8, let alone touch screen. If you don't know how to use shortcuts, then you are probably not using Windows 8. Currently using Windows 7 on my desktop computer, never looked forward nor back.

I keep my shortcuts to a minimum. I don't like a lot of clutter on my screen.

 

[Matsushima]

I could see something like this being a good Photoshop/Illustrator platform if it could be used with a digital pen as a tablet interface. In fact I think the test numbers were favorable in the Adobe Creative Suite tests. Outside of that - this would be a horribly inefficient way to use a desktop computer.

No no no. Imagine drawing on a VERTICAL screen with minimal grip without something to rest your hand on. And even then the monitor would be moving a little.

 

[Matsushima]

Faster boot times... Bah! I have a SSD on Windows 7 and it takes 5 seconds!

What have you done to get your SSD boot time to 5 seconds. I have optimized my SSD and my Vertex 4 takes about 20 seconds to boot.

Well... It's close to that, around 10-15 seconds max, but you get the point. Boot times of Windows 8 can be matched by adding a high-performance drive.

 

[mkrafftsf]

Just purchased the XPS. Trying to install two additional monitors. Dell says it is not possible with the 2700 with only one HDMI out. Would love to learn more about your comment "we've been using it since last year and navigate around it fairly smoothly, particularly on multi-monitor configs that circumvent that interface almost entirely."

 

[jal281]

as a owner of this dell for the last 4 months (thank you costco) I feel that most of the comments are being made by those who don't own one yet.

I am slowly adapting to the touch screen, but for most of my "office" type work find it easier to use the mouse. The tiled screen has required a learning curve that reminds me of my first experiences with dos and fortran. I made the effort back then and benefited from the effort. I kinda expect to find the same to be true of the dell and windows 8.