Windows 8 Upgrade/downgrade

[cobra kid]

I've inherited an Acer laptop from work that is running Windows 8. It's running it quite well and the laptop is fast enough after a full reset. It looks to be about 10 years old with 4 gig of RAM with an i3 processor. Is it worth risking W10 or plough on with 8? I obviously don't want to go back to W7

[randlemarcus]

Actual W8 end of life (not end of support) is Jan 2023, so you might as well see if 10 works, or give it some extra life, and bang Linux on

[cobra kid]

randlemarcus said:

Actual W8 end of life (not end of support) is Jan 2023, so you might as well see if 10 works, or give it some extra life, and bang Linux on

No idea how to do that so may try W10 or leave it!

[jackofall84]

I'd maybe pop a SSD in if it doesn't already have one and upgrade to Windows 10. I think you'll get quite a bit more life out of it then.

[Motorman74]

As mentioned above an SSD will make a world of difference to the user experience, as would upgrading the RAM to 8GB for Win10.

[eeLee]

Another vote to replace any spinning drive with an SSD. Night and day.
Pop the RAM cover and see if you have a free slot - if you do, fill it.

Download the Win10 USB creator tool from MS and do a fresh installation.

Enjoy.

[Funk]

Motorman74 said:

As mentioned above an SSD will make a world of difference to the user experience, as would upgrading the RAM to 8GB for Win10.

That's exactly what I'd do - cheap 256Gb SSD and a compatible stick of additional 4Gb will be bobbins. If the laptop runs Win 8 ok now, it'll run Win 10.

[OutInTheShed]

eeLee said:

Another vote to replace any spinning drive with an SSD. Night and day.
Pop the RAM cover and see if you have a free slot - if you do, fill it.

Download the Win10 USB creator tool from MS and do a fresh installation.

Enjoy.

Did that with my old laptop.
Bought a Win10 license for under a tenner, got the Win10 install tool on a usb stick, it's fine.

Win8 was not IMHO a good version of Windows.

[Funk]

The OP might even be able to do an upgrade from 8 to 10 still. I'd do that before changing anything else - get it to Win10 and confirm it's activated, then you can do a clean install on an SSD with Win10.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-st...

Edited by Funk on Thursday 10th November 13:51

[cobra kid]

Funk said:

The OP might even be able to do an upgrade from 8 to 10 still. I'd do that before changing anything else - get it to Win10 and confirm it's activated, then you can do a clean install on an SSD with Win10.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-st...

Edited by Funk on Thursday 10th November 13:51

I have had a go but the install tool thing won't load on it so I think I'm stuck with W8

[Funk]

cobra kid said:

I have had a go but the install tool thing won't load on it so I think I'm stuck with W8

Are you on Windows 8.1? A brief google seems to suggest you might need to be on 8.1 rather than 8 for this to work.

[cobra kid]

I went from 8 to 8.1 then jumped up to 10. All functional. Not like lightning but ok for my youngest to do some homework and browsing on. Cheers!

[S6PNJ]

cobra kid said:

I went from 8 to 8.1 then jumped up to 10. All functional. Not like lightning but ok for my youngest to do some homework and browsing on. Cheers!

To make it a fair bit faster (but still not lightning - it's an old laptop), spend £20 on a 240 / 256Gb SSD (MyMemory is a good website) and £5 on a 4Gb stick of DDR3 RAM (eBay probably) and it will transform the laptop as others have already said.

I'm posting from an i3-3110M (September 2012), 240Gb SSD and 8GB ram - perfectly fine and fast enough.

[Funk]

S6PNJ said:

cobra kid said:

I went from 8 to 8.1 then jumped up to 10. All functional. Not like lightning but ok for my youngest to do some homework and browsing on. Cheers!

To make it a fair bit faster (but still not lightning - it's an old laptop), spend £20 on a 240 / 256Gb SSD (MyMemory is a good website) and £5 on a 4Gb stick of DDR3 RAM (eBay probably) and it will transform the laptop as others have already said.

I'm posting from an i3-3110M (September 2012), 240Gb SSD and 8GB ram - perfectly fine and fast enough.

^^^This.

Now it's on W10, get an SSD and clone it, then pop it in the laptop with an extra 4Gb of RAM. If you really want to do belt and braces you could do a clean W10 install on the SSD but if the machine's running fine I wouldn't bother - the SSD clone, swap and RAM will do the job.

[eeLee]

I would avoid cloning.

Clean. Is. Good.

[Jamescrs]

Another vote for installing a SSD, did it on my Lenovo laptop and it went from painfully slow to as good as a new modern computer (for my use) I'm not a heavy user or gamer etc so results may vary.

I'm no computer expert but I watched a YouTube guide and managed to do mine with no issues.

[Funk]

eeLee said:

I would avoid cloning.

Clean. Is. Good.

It can just be a bit of a faff getting all the right drivers for older laptops to enable all the function buttons etc.

If there aren't any issues with it other than speed then the OP should be fine with cloning.

[anonymoususer]

I would be wary about just popping an 8gb ram stick in and it working
A few acers of around that age capped out at 4GB
Check it first on the manufacturers website or something like crucials website

[S6PNJ]

Funk said:

eeLee said:

I would avoid cloning.

Clean. Is. Good.

It can just be a bit of a faff getting all the right drivers for older laptops to enable all the function buttons etc.

A clean install is definitely the way forward if the user is happy to do this. To prevent driver issues on the new install, use this before removing the old drive, then save the resulting folders/files to a pen drive / memory card etc for post SSD / new Windows install.
https://www.prajwal.org/powershell-export-drivers-...

[Funk]

S6PNJ said:

Funk said:

eeLee said:

I would avoid cloning.

Clean. Is. Good.

It can just be a bit of a faff getting all the right drivers for older laptops to enable all the function buttons etc.

A clean install is definitely the way forward if the user is happy to do this. To prevent driver issues on the new install, use this before removing the old drive, then save the resulting folders/files to a pen drive / memory card etc for post SSD / new Windows install.
https://www.prajwal.org/powershell-export-drivers-...

They would also need to get hold of copies of vendor software for various settings, eg. touchpads, sound settings etc.

I don't disagree with you about the benefits of a clean installation but given the OP's position I think there's a distinct possibility they might be making a rod for their own back by doing so.