Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro

I recently purchased an MSI WS60 workstation laptop for my engineering degree. I have Windows 7 Pro on my current laptop and the WS60 comes with Windows 7 Pro downgraded from Windows 8.1 Pro.

What are the pros/cons of having a CAD laptop running Windows 8.1 Pro? I feel like the laptop is going to be more optimized for the newer OS, but I have heard of issues when upgrading from Windows 8 to 8.1 so upgrading from Win7 to Win8.1 might be much worse.

The MSI website only has BIOS and driver support for Win7. Will they eventually have support for Win8.1?

With Microsoft stopping support for Win7 in January 2015, I don't see how keeping Win7 installed will be good in the next year or so.

Should I keep the Windows 7 installed or should I upgrade to Windows 8.1?

 

Honestly, it all comes down to which UI you are most comfortable with.

 

Stick with Windows 7. It'll be supported by M$ until at least 2020, longer if Vindows Nein! also flops.

Windows lifecycle fact sheet - Windows Help

 

As with all new UI that I come across, I will become familiar with it.

I'm asking more for software or efficiency benefits; like faster boot times or power-saver modes (better battery life), etc.

My only experience with 8.1 is my dad's desktop which I rarely used, so it will be fairly fresh to me.

 

Windows 7 is inherently more stable and compatible with a greater range of software. There are a lot of quirks and bugs with Windows 8 that only manifest themselves after you've used it for a long period of time. Never had them on Windows 7, ever. The Windows 7 UI and UX lend themselves to a more productive workflow. Even something as simple as Aero Glass and Aero Flip 3D are incredibly useful all the time. Important factors to consider on a machine where you'll be getting real work done.

No obvious performance differences between the two. Windows 8 default shutdown and boot are faster because it's hibernating not shutting down. Just get an SSD for Windows 7.

 

For me Windows 7 gives me 10% higher benchmarks in every single benchmark, be it SSD Benchmarks or Graphics benchmarks. Added to that, it's an OS with 0 quirks! It just works perfectly and is very mature. Windows 8.1 is not bad after you have modified it heavily (like a start menu app, disabling metro crap, etc.) but why would you want to reinvent the wheel to make your OS look and act normal? Get 7 Pro, a REAL Computer OS! not some cartoony metro tiles OS that was built for tablets and should've never been available for PCs in the first place

 

Even after going through the extra work to make Windows 8 more like Windows 7, some things are still irreplaceable.

 

Even with Windows 9 M$ knows it has to become less about touch and more about the desktop. In the end even they are giving you the answer, took them long enough to realize this.

 

This has got to be a joke. "Upgrade"? What "upgrade"?? Nobody in his right mind would "upgrade" a perfectly good workstation-class machine to the abomination that is Windows 8.x

Microsoft effed up a lot more than just the UI in Windows 8.x: Crippled desktop search functionality, no persistent Volume Shadow Copies anymore, and more. On the other hand, there are no, absolutely none, performance benefits you would get from Windows 8.x over 7. Even those much-hyped boot times, of questionable relevance as they are, are pretty much identical on modern hardware. If you want to save a bit of battery life, then simply cripple the Win7 UI in the same way the Windows8.x UI is stripped down, and you'll see no real-world difference. In short, there are zero benefits for professional use, but lots of drawbacks. Sticking with Windows 7 is really a no-brainer in this case.

Oh, and as was mentioned before Windows 7 is supported at least until 2020, and potentially much longer than that, if Windows 9 is the same dud as Windows 8, which is what I expect.

Exactly.

 

Well you can't say absolutely none on the performance benefits. There is with non numa CPU's but this is arguable. While there is a 10%, at minimum, performance increase on non optimized single threads from the scheduler in Windows 8 there are arguments. This in that the AMD Bulldozer patch for Windows 7 does increase performance 5% over stock then just leaving another 5% increase for Windows 8 over Windows 7. The other part of the argument is that the Windows 7 scheduler should have been changed well before even the release of Windows 8 for non numa CPU's.

 

People *think* Windows 8 boots faster but it doesn't all there is to it is it skips some services and drivers until you get to the desktop then it starts to load them.

Many times, when I boot to my Win 8 desktop when I had that crap installed, I would have no WIFI until I wait for like 30 secs or so then the WiFi will come on magically.

When Windows 7 reaches the desktop, everything is readily available for use. Windows 8 just makes an illusion of booting faster but in fact, you will get a non functional desktop until everything has loaded.

 

Some CAD/CAE software may not install on 8 (usually less popular one), and older versions are more prone to this. Those with java based installers are WORSE. There are workarounds, some are not that pretty but, yea workarounds.

In daily use scenario, I like windows 8 desktop over 7 desktop, minor improvements, but nice to have.

 

Guys if I can suggest ; STAY AWAY FROM Windows 8.1 it is BIG MISTAKE from Microsoft !!!! It can literally destroy your PC !!
It is actually designed only for desktop PC bcos there are generic HW which doesn't need specially corrected drivers ...
I had this problem on my ultrabook below pic
I just clicked update to 8.1 in win store and this happened
Or even I had 8 and it updated updates automatically and after restart it said update failure reverting ...

If I can suggest STAY AWAY from 8.1 and in 8 carefully update updates... !

 

Yes that's a very typical scenario from a crippled OS. For all my clients that come to me to fix their Windows 8 laptop, after doing the Windows updates I ensure to Disable the nag to update to 8.1 because 8 and 8.1 are 2 different OSes with a lot of driver incompatibilities. So if one doesn't update their Bluetooth/Wifi/etc drivers beforehand, they will get that screen as above.