{"id":649,"date":"2014-07-07T20:28:29","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T20:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/?p=649"},"modified":"2018-06-27T20:33:58","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T20:33:58","slug":"windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 7 vs. Windows 8.1 \u2013 Which Should I Choose?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Windows.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-651\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Windows.png\" alt=\"Windows\" width=\"640\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Windows.png 640w, https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Windows-300x140.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>Unlike many of our competitors, we\u2019re still offering all versions of both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on our desktops. Our ability to provide customizations like this is one of the advantages we have over those larger, overseas-produced brands. But that extra level of customization can breed confusion for some customers. Which OS is best? Stick with what you know or take the plunge with the newest thing? The shortcomings of Windows 8 have no doubt been greatly exaggerated, but are there real issues to be wary of?<\/p>\n<p>Those answers really depend on what type of user you are. Let\u2019s break down both options to get to the bottom of which OS is best for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Windows 7 Home Premium\/Professional\/Ultimate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Probably Microsoft\u2019s most successful Operating System ever, <a href=\"https:\/\/channelnomics.com\/2014\/07\/07\/windows-xp-migration-peaks-end-year\/#.U7rs6vldXTc\">Windows 7 is the current market share leader<\/a> by a significant margin and still our most requested OS on new builds. Windows 7\u2019s popularity stems from a few key areas \u2013 ease of use, stability, and familiarity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>Pros \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Classic Windows GUI means no learning curve even for users of older operating systems like Windows XP<\/li>\n<li>History of being stable, reliable, and secure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>Cons <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Approaching 4 years old, Windows 7 users may find themselves in the same boat in a few years as <a title=\"What XP EOL Means for You\" href=\"\/blog\/xp-eol-means\/\">XP users did earlier this year<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Does not integrate well with touch devices<\/li>\n<li>Home Premium version only supports 16GB RAM max<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>Best For <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Former Windows XP users<\/li>\n<li>Users who tend to avoid change<\/li>\n<li>Users of non-touch enabled devices<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Windows 8.1\/8.1 Professional<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Still struggling to gain traction even 18 months post release thanks to some mostly unfairly negative press, Windows 8.1 is Microsoft\u2019s latest OS. Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/review\/561-windows8-vs-windows7\/\">overall performance improvements<\/a> over 7 and usability improvements on the release version of 8, Windows 8.1 still sits at just over 12% market share for one main reason \u2013 a dramatically redesigned user interface.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>Pros \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Faster boot, sleep, shutdown times as well as slightly better gaming benchmarks<\/li>\n<li>Standard version supports 32GB+ RAM<\/li>\n<li>Simple integration with the cloud via Microsoft\u2019s OneDrive<\/li>\n<li>Intuitive and easy to use for touch enabled devices like notebooks, AIOs, and tablets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>Cons <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>New interface is intimidating for many Windows users, creating a bit of a learning curve out of the box<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>Best For <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">\n<li>Users who want to stay up to date with the latest PC options<\/li>\n<li>Users running 32GB+ RAM<\/li>\n<li>Users of touch enabled devices<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlike many of our competitors, we\u2019re still offering all versions of both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on our desktops.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Windows 7 vs. Windows 8.1 \u2013 Which Should I Choose?<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Windows 7 vs Windows 8.1. Which is better? Which should you choose? The answer depends on what type of user you are.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Windows 7 vs. Windows 8.1 \u2013 Which Should I Choose?\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Windows 7 vs Windows 8.1. Which is better? Which should you choose? The answer depends on what type of user you are.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Custom Gaming &amp; Workstation PC Blog | Velocity Micro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VelocityMicro\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-07T20:28:29+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-27T20:33:58+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Windows.png\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Covington\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Covington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Covington\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/405f14ccaa3a95f42cf3fdbc7a6db877\"},\"headline\":\"Windows 7 vs. Windows 8.1 \u2013 Which Should I Choose?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-07T20:28:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-27T20:33:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/\"},\"wordCount\":390,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Hardware\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/windows-7-vs-windows-8-1-choose\/\",\"name\":\"Windows 7 vs. Windows 8.1 \u2013 Which Should I Choose?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-07T20:28:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-27T20:33:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Windows 7 vs Windows 8.1. 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