Windows 8 for Photo Editing

[Mike]

Have any of you tried using Windows 8 for photo editing?

I've been trying out Windows 8 for a while now, and while part of me thinks it's a disaster for desktops, I'm willing to give it a shot.

Forgetting everything except photo editing, there are a lot of potential advantages for using Windows 8:

• According to what I've been told, the computer never bogs down as more and more applications are installed, removed, etc.
• The OS can be re-installed any time, with no change to what's on the computer.
• It's more efficient, so even older computes run faster
• Computers boot up more quickly
• It's designed around touch screens, which should open up a whole new way of working on images.
• It will work just as nicely on tablets

It's only available right now as a 'beta', but if you have a spare computer sitting around, you might want to try it out. I can post my "how to" notes here if anyone is interested.

[Scott Martin]

Unless I am forced to upgrade I will ride out Win7. I would still be using WinXP but I was forced to upgrade because of the memory limitation, it would only give about 4 & I wanted 16megs. The Asus board I built with for Win7 will take 32megs so if I upgrade anything it will be adding more memory.

[Mike]

I doubt Microsoft will force anyone to do anything.... and I think a whole lot of people will stick with Win-7 for a long time to come. Win 7 just seems so much more business-like, but despite the "glitz", Win-8 seems to have speeded up my test computer - the more I use it, the more things I find that have been improved.

I think you meant gigs, not megs, yes?


One of the reasons why I upgraded from my previous laptop was that with my D2x, the comptuer was far too slow using Photoshop, despite having 4 gigs of RAM. Now that I've got it fixed up using Win-8, I'll re-install my copy of Photoshop, and see how well it performs.

Another reason I got fed up with the previous laptop was that it took an eternity to boot up, even to where I was ready to run Photoshop. At home, that's usually no big deal, but when I was in a hurry, despite everyhing I knew how to do to speed it up, I always found myself getting frustrated. Now, the Win-8 laptop boots up faster than any computer I own!

[Scott Martin]

"I doubt Microsoft will force anyone to do anything"

I know they won't silly, you know what I meant.

Right now I can't complain about the speed here at home, and I am a speed junky. Yes, I meant gig's not megs, sorry. I just added another larger SSD to the system, 240gig Muskin, Speedy! My older 90gig SSD is now serving as a place to hold the LR catalogs & cache as well as scratch disk for Photoshop.

[Mike]

Yep, I know.... just finished reading how the new Microsoft Office won't run on older versions of Windows. Apparently it only works on 7 and 8. Also, I wanted more memory on my previous PC, but 3 gigs was the limit with 32-bit systems, so I had to go for a 64 bit computer. I expect in the next few years, many/most of us are going to have to get new displays, once a touch-screen becomes as essential as a mouse. One way or another, I keep finding myself "forced" to do something. Years ago, it didn't feel that way. Back then, it was a whole "system" that got replaced by something completely different. As in 8" floppies became 5 1/4", then 3", then Zip disks, then (for me) Jazz drives, then CDs, and finally DVDs. They'll get replaced too, sometime soon.......

What I meant when I wrote "I doubt Microsoft will force anyone to do anything" is the thought of most of the computing world either migrating to this bizarre new interface (takes a lot of getting used to...), or sticking with the well-accepted Windows 7. I'm curious how long Windows 7 will continue to be sold?



For me, I think my goal right now is to try to make Windows 8 "work" just like Windows 7. I want to keep the interface from 7, but get all the behind-the-scenes advantages from 8.

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SSD.... Now that you've got the SSD drives, can you give an idea of how much it speeds up photo editing? Let's say you're working on a five meg file, doing the work you normally do. If before you spent say, 15 minutes to complete an image, how much less time might it now take you with the SSD's? Or, is the main thing less time "wasted" waiting for something to save or load?

My gut feeling (just a guess) was that I should start with using an SSD for the "C Drive" for the operating system. Now I'm not so sure. Any advice?

[Pete.A]

Mike- I have an lightroom library saved to an SSD. Loading/ saving files is virtually instantaneous I think the only lag is due to the ancient laptop Im using to run lightroom. (this is my work 'puter, and it has been deemed "perfectly fine" by our IT dept )

Using an SSD for your C drive would speed up the whole system (think Macbook Air). Check out www.crucial.com for SSD info/ pricing.

[Mike]

Instantaneous..... I wish I could say that. I'll look into the SSD option. Thanks!

[adyhooper]

Microsoft offers photo editing application totally free including various effect like Vintage, painted and so many other. Photo Monkey Application is very easy to use in the Windows 8. Windows 8 phone are also provides lots of photo editing applications such as PhotoForge 2, Camera+, ComicBook, Filterstorm, Dermander, Slow Shutter etc.

[Rugspin]

Here is the difference between PC and Mac. New Windows 8 will be 150.00+ New Mac os 29.00 + I pay for it once and load it on all my computers. Also iphoto for those who don't use lightroom or aperture is pretty decent right out of the box.
The best part is you wont need anything Microsoft ever again. Buy a Mac and you wont look back.

[Mike]

I went to the local Apple store a month or so back, and looked into the computers. To me, the prices were astronomical. I can't even begin to think of getting one. Once you do pay that much money, then you get things like the operating system updates for very little.... but I'm reading that the upgrade cost from an old version of Windows to Windows 8 will be only $40.

From http://www.techradar.com/us/news/sof...etails-1088425

Microsoft will offer Windows 8 upgrades for just $39.99 (around £25) for anyone using an existing product. The offer will be open until January 31 and after that the OS will cost a higher price.

If you're currently running Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP on your PC or laptop you'll qualify for a downloadable copy of the top-level Windows 8 Pro for the knockdown price. You will also get Media Center as an additional free download.

A Windows 8 upgrade assistant wizard will walk you through the process. Microsoft says the upgrade process as easy as possible and will also extend to buying a physical disc in store, although that option will cost $69.99 (around £45).

New Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs will be available to buy and upgrades will also be available starting in October. Windows 8 will be available in 109 languages across 231 markets worldwide.

Apple makes a very nice computer, and a lot of people are very enthusiastic about it for photo and video editing. For me, it's financially much better to buy the bits and pieces and assemble my own computer, just the way I want it - or to buy a used one from a friend of mine who upgraded every year.