Windows 10 - Maybe not for some older machines - Revisited
Back at the end of March - I installed Windows 10 Tech Preview build 10043 on my daughters HP Pavilion dv6t laptop.
It was a pretty horrible experience - the update itself took several attempts to even complete and when it did the end result was a mess. So I wiped it and went back to Windows 8.1.
I decided to try again with the most recent 10130 build to see if there were any improvements. So here is the good the bad and the ugly...
The good - yes Windows 10 did install okay via FastRing install over Windows 8.1 with no issues. But that over what was a clean install of Windows 8.1 back at the end of March.
The bad - Even though this dv6t runs a Core i3 V2 with 6GB of RAM and an Intel 525 SSD - it doesn't run that quickly. If doesn't do networking well either - very slow activating WiFi and doing simple tasks like getting DHCP Addresses. Switching from wired to wireless is also poor...
The ugly - The Synaptics touchpad support. Right after the Windows Install completed - I installed Google Chrome and launched it. All touchpad movements were jerky and then I started getting a wierd zooming action when ever I swiped up. All of a sudden you'd go from 100% size to 300% size and have to slowly mouse over and click back to 100%.
I tried removing the Synaptics driver entirely and just using basic PS2 Mouse but it was tremendously slow and unresponsive. I then ran Windows Update and it reloaded a newer driver than was available on Synaptics site. After a few minutes in the Synaptics control panel and basically turning off everything feature I got some basic touchpad functionality.
But I think this is going to be the issue with Windows 10 and that is OEM support for older hardware. Many OEMs buy components like touchpads from companies like Synaptics and then sometimes tweak the firmware and/or customize the default driver - HP is notorious for this. The challenge then is when you install a newer OS and there no updated drivers are available from HP. But what is weird about this is that the dv6t runs Windows 8.1 very well.
So yeah I'm dumping on HP a little here - but it will be the same with every major PC brand.
Unless the device you are planning on upgrading is very straight forward and can run on the drivers provided by Windows update - don't expect a seemless experience from the Windows 10 upgrade experience. I think this will be especially true with BIOS. Many consumer oriented devices don't get nearly the level of BIOS updates / support that enterprise devices do - so many are not ready for Windows 10.
I've been lucky with my Desktop machine in that it always finds and loads all the correct drivers and has never had a problem with the Windows 10 upgrade process. But my tablet is another story. While it has found drivers okay - the upgrade process has until build 10130 been messy...
MS is pounding their chest a little saying there will be 1 billion Windows 10 devices in a year and they are already pushing "reservations" for Windows 7 & 8 users via Windows update.
A word to the wise here. Unless you've been working with the Previews for months on end and understand how it loads on your device AND have very good backups of your data - I do not recommend upgrading to Windows 10 immediately. If like me with certain devices you've experienced device challenges then you may never have a good Windows 10 experience.
I think this approach that MS is taking is playing with fire. While MS has certainly improved the "inplace upgrade" process with Windows 10. I can guarantee you that a lot of folks are going to have a miserable experience who have older machines.. Best practice for years with MS is always to do a clean install from DVD then reinstall all your apps, restore data, etc...
MS will certainly publish recovery options - but as soon as word gets out of people going back to their previous OS - Windows 10 will be just as damaged as Windows 8 was. I can see the headlines now...
So I am allowing my daughter to run Windows 10 for a bit and see if she likes it or hates it.. but I have a feeling I'm going to be taking her back to Windows 8.1
It was a pretty horrible experience - the update itself took several attempts to even complete and when it did the end result was a mess. So I wiped it and went back to Windows 8.1.
I decided to try again with the most recent 10130 build to see if there were any improvements. So here is the good the bad and the ugly...
The good - yes Windows 10 did install okay via FastRing install over Windows 8.1 with no issues. But that over what was a clean install of Windows 8.1 back at the end of March.
The bad - Even though this dv6t runs a Core i3 V2 with 6GB of RAM and an Intel 525 SSD - it doesn't run that quickly. If doesn't do networking well either - very slow activating WiFi and doing simple tasks like getting DHCP Addresses. Switching from wired to wireless is also poor...
The ugly - The Synaptics touchpad support. Right after the Windows Install completed - I installed Google Chrome and launched it. All touchpad movements were jerky and then I started getting a wierd zooming action when ever I swiped up. All of a sudden you'd go from 100% size to 300% size and have to slowly mouse over and click back to 100%.
I tried removing the Synaptics driver entirely and just using basic PS2 Mouse but it was tremendously slow and unresponsive. I then ran Windows Update and it reloaded a newer driver than was available on Synaptics site. After a few minutes in the Synaptics control panel and basically turning off everything feature I got some basic touchpad functionality.
But I think this is going to be the issue with Windows 10 and that is OEM support for older hardware. Many OEMs buy components like touchpads from companies like Synaptics and then sometimes tweak the firmware and/or customize the default driver - HP is notorious for this. The challenge then is when you install a newer OS and there no updated drivers are available from HP. But what is weird about this is that the dv6t runs Windows 8.1 very well.
So yeah I'm dumping on HP a little here - but it will be the same with every major PC brand.
Unless the device you are planning on upgrading is very straight forward and can run on the drivers provided by Windows update - don't expect a seemless experience from the Windows 10 upgrade experience. I think this will be especially true with BIOS. Many consumer oriented devices don't get nearly the level of BIOS updates / support that enterprise devices do - so many are not ready for Windows 10.
I've been lucky with my Desktop machine in that it always finds and loads all the correct drivers and has never had a problem with the Windows 10 upgrade process. But my tablet is another story. While it has found drivers okay - the upgrade process has until build 10130 been messy...
MS is pounding their chest a little saying there will be 1 billion Windows 10 devices in a year and they are already pushing "reservations" for Windows 7 & 8 users via Windows update.
A word to the wise here. Unless you've been working with the Previews for months on end and understand how it loads on your device AND have very good backups of your data - I do not recommend upgrading to Windows 10 immediately. If like me with certain devices you've experienced device challenges then you may never have a good Windows 10 experience.
I think this approach that MS is taking is playing with fire. While MS has certainly improved the "inplace upgrade" process with Windows 10. I can guarantee you that a lot of folks are going to have a miserable experience who have older machines.. Best practice for years with MS is always to do a clean install from DVD then reinstall all your apps, restore data, etc...
MS will certainly publish recovery options - but as soon as word gets out of people going back to their previous OS - Windows 10 will be just as damaged as Windows 8 was. I can see the headlines now...
So I am allowing my daughter to run Windows 10 for a bit and see if she likes it or hates it.. but I have a feeling I'm going to be taking her back to Windows 8.1
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