With
Windows 8, the whole experience of Windows has been reimagined. It’s designed
to work on a wide range of devices, from touch-enabled tablets, to laptops, to
desktops and all-in-ones. Microsoft’s designed Windows 8 to give you instant
access to your apps, your files, and the information you care about most so you
can spend less time navigating and more time doing what you actually want to
do. You can move between Windows 8 PCs easily and access your files and settings
from virtually anywhere. Microsoft’s made touch a first-class experience and
navigating with a mouse and keyboard fast and fluid. And just like Windows 7,
reliability and security features are built in. It’s the best of Windows 7,
made even better.
Some things
you should know before installing Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Before you
start the download, there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, this
is a prerelease operating system
The Windows
8 Consumer Preview is just that: a preview of what’s to come. It represents a
work in progress, and some things will change before the final release. This
means you’ll encounter some hiccups and bugs. One of the great things about
widely releasing a preview like this is that it gives Microsoft a chance to get
a lot of feedback through telemetry, forums, and blog posts on where Microsoft
can smooth out some of the rough edges.
Second, you
should be pretty comfortable with new technology
If you’re
used to running prerelease (beta) software, you’re OK with a little
troubleshooting, and you don’t mind doing a few technical tasks here and there,
then you’ll probably be OK giving the Windows 8 Consumer Preview a spin. If a
list of hardware specs is a little overwhelming for you, or you’re not sure
what you’d do if something unexpected happened, this might not be the time to
dive in.
As with
pre-release software in general, there won’t be official support for the
Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but if you have problems, please share them with Microsoft.
You can post a detailed explanation of any issues you run into at the Windows 8 Consumer
Preview forum. Microsoft’ll be able to look at your input, and you might
find some help from other members of the community who have seen the same
issues you’ve found. In addition, the Windows 8 Consumer
Preview FAQ on the Windows website has information that could help you out
and make the Windows 8 experience more productive and enjoyable.
And
finally, you’ll need the right hardware
Windows 8
Consumer Preview should run on the same hardware that powers Windows 7 today.
In general, you can expect Windows 8 Consumer Preview to run on a PC with the
following:
- 1 GHz or faster processor
- 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
- 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
- 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolutions
However,
there are some additional requirements to take into consideration in order to
use certain features in Windows 8. In order to use the Snap feature, you will
need a PC with a 1366x768 resolution or higher. If you want to use touch,
you’ll need a multitouch-capable laptop, tablet, or display. Windows 8 supports
up to five simultaneous touch points, so if your hardware doesn’t, you may find
typing on the onscreen keyboard and using certain controls more of a challenge.
You’ll also need an internet connection to try out the Windows Store, to
download and install apps, and to take your settings and files with you from
one Windows 8 PC to another.
For some
more information on hardware requirements, check out this post on the Building
Windows 8 blog. Also, the Windows Hardware Team tells me they plan on updating
the Microsoft Touch Mouse for Windows 8. You can read their announcement and
more info on using Microsoft Hardware mice and keyboards with Windows 8 in this
blog post.
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