Windows 8 - A QUESTION BEFORE I BUY

[batema (Mark)]

It is very likely that I will purchase a new laptop today. I am heading the way of an ASUS laptop based on comments. I use photocopy cs5, K3Ccd tools, phd guiding, registax, qhy9 program EZYCAP.

IF I BUY A WINDOWS 8 MACHINE DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THESE PROGRAMS WILL WORK? I ASKED ABOUT BUYING AN ASUS LAPTOP BUT GETTING WINDOWS 7 PUT ON A MACHINE THAT. SAYS WINDOWS 8 BUT I WAS TOLD BY ASUS THAT I WOULD BASICALLY VOID MY WARRANTY.


PLEASE HELP.

MARK.

[acropolite (Phil)]

Mark, not sure if Win8 is compatible. It may be worth looking around for a runout model Toshiba, they are a better (reliability wise) laptop than Asus, plus some of the runout models have Win 8 with a downgrade option for win7.

Here's an i7 model at Harris Technology with win8 & win 7 downgrade.

http://www.ht.com.au/part/AK357-Tosh...HDD/detail.hts

[batema (Mark)]

I wonder how this is. A HP Pavilion DV7 with these stats for $1599.

Processor Type Intel Core i7
Display Size 17.3 Inch
Processor Speed 2.4 GHz
Installed RAM 16 GB
Hard Drive Capacity 2000 GB
Weight 3.2 x
Display Resolution 1920x1080

Of course Windows 8 Pro upgrade $69 the guy says will run windows 7 program.

Do I go for it???

Mark

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Mark,

I got a new Dell Inspiron 17r SE i7 late last year - never looked back. It was about $1250 with a 3 year warranty.

http://www.dell.com/au/p/inspiron-17r-se-7720/pd

They often have deals if you keep a look out

http://www.dell.com/au/p/popular-lap...n&s=dhs&~ck=mn

[pluto (Hugh)]

I have been running win8 with no problems. I use PHD with a QHY5L-II on ASCOM drivers with no problems, also QHY EzPlanetary works fine. Registax works fine. Don't know about CS5 but PS CS6 works fine for me. I have an Atik camera and have no problems with it or it's capture software. Also working for me are Startools, DSS, sharpcap, BYE and others.

BUT I've just installed the k3ccd trial and got errors, something about a driver being blocked from loading...?

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

K3ccdTools will not work. They gut does not seem to be supporting it anymore.. Shame after paying for it with the promise of ongoing updates...

[alistairsam]

Hi,
you can always run them in win7 compatibility mode. just run the detector and it'll set what's optimum for the software, including up to winxp sp2.
I've had no issues with win8.
the qhy drivers also seem to work, but just do a search for issues with qhy8 drivers. they seem to have the most trouble, but there are windows signed drivers as well.

Cheers