Windows 8 laptops, Yoga2?

[jephotog]

I am in need of a new laptop. I know a macbook pro would be a good choice they meet all the parameters i am looking for but feel a

need to keep it on the PC family to go with my desktop. After Vista I am Leary of new Windows platforms, unfortunate W7 is becoming

impossible to find on new computers.

 

Things I want in a new computer.

Light and compact

6+ hours of battery

High res wide gamut screen

8mb ram

Ssd HD

 

I would appreciate any feedback from W8 users on their experience with LR and Photoshop. The one computer I am now looking at is

the Lenovo Yoga2, anyone use this for photography? I don't plan on using it as a tablet much I just really like it's looks and specs. I

wish it was ruining W7 pro.

 

http://www.engadget.com/products/lenovo/yoga/2-pro/?

[peterbcarter]

<p>I use w8 with no issues. It's proven to be faster and leaner than w7. What you want is to spend $5 (or what ever it is now) for Start8. This app brings the start menu back to windows. All your software should work fine.</p>

[EricM]

<p>When it was released, I tested W8 on an old W7 laptop and loved it so much, that I quickly replaced the my other two W7 computers with W8. W8 is faster, quicker to boot, and more secure. The new search and folder options are fantastic. Don't worry, you should love it :)</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>After hearing so many good reports about Win8 speed on laptops I'm regretting not taking advantage of last year's cheap upgrade offer. My Win7 laptop was purchased within the eligibility time frame for the cheap upgrade, but I hesitated because of reports that we couldn't go back to Win7 if we changed our minds. (Probably not an issue anyway - at worst I could have just clicked the Lenovo's emergency button to return to factory defaults.)</p>

<p>Anyway, this low end Lenovo laptop boots so slowly in Win7 I'm regretting not upgrading to Win8. Speed is good once it's booted, but it takes at least 2 minutes to get ready from a cold start. I don't mean just seeing the desktop, but to actually be ready to do anything useful without delays. The desktop appears within a minute, but stuff is still loading in the background so it's impossible to do anything useful, like opening a web browser, in less than 2 minutes.</p>

<p>So you may find Win8 a huge improvement in overall speed, especially on laptops with 5500 RPM hard drives.</p>

<p>Since I'd have to pay full price now for Win8, I'll probably just put that money toward a combo SSD/HD after prices come down a bit.</p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>Check your devices for compatibility. I lost the use of a perfectly good film scanner with the upgrade. </p>

<p>But yes, upgrading for $49 was kinda inviting. I did 2 machines here and there was no regrets. With the Start8, my wife didn't even notice the upgrade until I told her.</p>

<p>To be fair though, I would not have done the move if I had to go with the metro interface and Microsoft fudged when they said they put back the start button insulating the start menu.</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>Windows 8 runs fine. More stable and faster than Vista or 7. Only needs Classic Shell to restore the start button. Perhaps the next W8.1 upgrade will bring the start button back, let's hope so.</p>

[jephotog]

<p>I am very happy to hear MS got it right with Windows 8. Just a little disappointed my new desktop is stuck in W7Pro, which turns out to be inferior to 8. This computer is so fast, but now I will be wondering if I had W8 how much faster it may be.<br /> Looking forward to a new laptop. Anyone with an opinion on the Yoga 2? Any happy Ultrabook owners wanting to recommend a model for a road warrior?</p>

[Richard Williams]

<p>I doubt you'd notice any minor performance differences in upgrading 7 to 8, except for startup time etc. Windows 8 does work well once you install Classic Shell or Start 8, and register all your filetypes to non-Metro applications. But I'd hate to use it in the default configuration!</p>

[JeffOwen]

<p>I have just bought a Toshiba Portege Z930-151 running in Windows 7 pro 64bit. The boot up time is a matter of seconds. It is very lightweight (~1.1 Kg) and so far does everything I require. I use Photoshop to do all my post photo work and this machine has no problems as far as I am concerned.</p>

[philfx]

<p>Depending on your needs, check out the Asus tab/laptop options if you want more portability.</p>