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Windows 8 and the Y500 -Your opinions please folks!


4REAL

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Ok

I have heard soo much about Win8 being one big pile of s**** (from gaming buddies) and how windows 7 is sooo much better??

(personally i think that after XP they have basically been refining a forensics tool capable of tracking your every move lol)

So, how does Win8 fair on the Y500 in your experience??

is the first thing to do, is format and do a fresh clean install of Win7? i have never used 8 so cannot comment..

My Y500 sli comes tomorrow and before i ''move in'' i'm wondering whether to start from scratch and

1) Upgrade the bios to v 2.02 and Mod

2) Pull the HDD and install Win7 on msata

3) Format the slow 1tb drive for storage..

What are peoples thoughts on this?? Any << useful lol ><useful lol="">> comments greatly appreciated :) </useful>

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Ok

I have heard soo much about Win8 being one big pile of s**** (from gaming buddies) and how windows 7 is sooo much better??

(personally i think that after XP they have basically been refining a forensics tool capable of tracking your every move lol)

So, how does Win8 fair on the Y500 in your experience??

is the first thing to do, is format and do a fresh clean install of Win7? i have never used 8 so cannot comment..

My Y500 sli comes tomorrow and before i ''move in'' i'm wondering whether to start from scratch and

1) Upgrade the bios to v 2.02 and Mod

2) Pull the HDD and install Win7 on msata

3) Format the slow 1tb drive for storage..

What are peoples thoughts on this?? Any << useful lol ><useful lol="">> comments greatly appreciated :) </useful>

You should give Windows 8 a try, since it's already installed, and generate your own opinion. Personally, I was able to look past the interface for the most part. What had me switch back was all of the driver conflicts I was dealing with... but, I'm using hardware that a normal user wouldn't (JTAG reader's and such). There were also so many bugs. It wasn't playing nice with XBMC. It's also so restrictive that you have to jump through hoops if you're an "advanced" user, and want to do more than surf the web, install games, and check your email.

As far as installing Win7 on the mSATA... If you're referring to the 16GB mSATA drive that it comes with, you will not be able to do so. It's not large it. It's intended use is as a cache drive only.

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I stuck with Windows 8. I'm using StarIsBack and that cured all my headaches with the new UI. I've had no software and driver incompatibilities; everything that worked in Windows 7 previously is still working fine in Windows 8. Navigating around the OS definitely feels a little snappier overall than Windows 7 and the thing boots like it's on an SSD LOL even though I have slow-ass 5400 RPM HDD. Seriously the fastest Windows boot I ever seen. I have not done head-to-head benchmarks but gaming performance feels similar to Windows 7, if not a little better since the OS footprint is lighter.

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I dont very much like windows 8, I use windows 7 explorer to disable the metro ui and bring back the windows 7 start button. I wouldnt go back to windows 7 though because Windows 8 uses almost half the resource, Just modify windows 8 if you dont like the style.

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I dont very much like windows 8, I use windows 7 explorer to disable the metro ui and bring back the windows 7 start button. I wouldnt go back to windows 7 though because Windows 8 uses almost half the resource, Just modify windows 8 if you dont like the style.

What is "windows 7 explorer to disable the metro ui and bring back the windows 7 start button?" I have never heard of that program. If you're referring to ex7forw8 that has been deprecated and StartIsBack is the (much better) replacement. They were both made by the same author.

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Hey 4REAL,

I just got my Y500 with 650m SLI a few days back, and I was in the same predicament as you. To stick with Windows 8 or not.

I gave the OS a try for a few days, but it was just too crappy, no matter how you look at it. Apart from the slick apps in the Modern UI screen, I could not find another reason to stick with it. Everything is so confusing, and things you would expect to be at some place are not (for instance, look at the control panel or the wireless connection part).

So I opened up the lid, installed a 120gb mSATA SSD to be used as my OS drive. Remember you would probably need to boot once into Windows 8 after installing the SSD just to be safe and create its partition from there. You should partition it as MBR (and not GPT) in the Disk Management Screen, because for some reason my OS would not install on a GPT Partition once booted from the OS Setup.

Once that is done, you should boot into the BIOS and change the boot mode from UEFI to Legacy Compatible, and from UEFI First to Legacy First.

Since I had a system with SLI too, there was no Optical ROM, so I made a bootable USB with Windows Setup on it. Make sure to make that USB the first boot device by putting it at the top of the list (using F6).

Once you boot using the USB, you have 2 options.

1) Simply Install the Windows on your SSD and later format your 1TB in Windows (Easier way)

2) Format the 1TB disk from windows setup using DISKPART in command prompt window

If you face any issues or need any help, do let know :)

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I stuck with Windows 8. I'm using StarIsBack and that cured all my headaches with the new UI.

Thx for the tip, I've installed it and it is PURRRFECT!!!!! :D

As for windows 8, well apart from that annoyance, everything feels right to me, and the learning curve is ok.

Game wise it seems to run all the games ok, so not complaining, and driver wise, I have no problems in my Y500 as of yet, and no drivers crashing...sweet :)

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I love Windows 8 AND my Y500. People who complain about a "learning curve" are complaining about their unwillingness to open themselves to change. The speed increase is quite noticeable, and it's pretty. :)

If you forceware the graphics drivers to 310.90 you can easily overclock your graphics to 1150/2300 and run games at much higher FPS.

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People don't like the change because Win8 is supposedly designed for touch devices. Personally, I think the Modern/Metro UI is superior to the desktop for a lot of tasks; the problem is that the app ecosystem is practically empty and a lot of companies refuse to do in-house development for the Modern interface. As a result you get a lot of third-party apps that are either downright useless or absurdly expensive -- and companies don't seem to be cracking down on users developing paid versions of their free services. If you can find the diamonds in the rough, though, you can use Modern as a lightning-fast interface, and with Windows Blue (supposedly) in the works the experience should get even better.

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I tried to force myself to use Windows 8 when i got mine......needless to say that 3 days later i have 7 on there. Little side note - Just put in a crucial 256gb msata ssd in this sucker today and use my 1tb to store lesser used programs and games and this is like a whole new beast, blows my i5 desktop out of the water as far as responsiveness except for the 650m sli vs 660ti can't quite hang there. But for $200 upgrade well worth it imo.

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I find that both have their uses so really you could play with Windows 8 for a couple weeks and if you don't like it, wipe the HD and go back to Windows 7.

I like the concept of Storage Spaces among other things but as I said, stick it out with Windows 8 for now. They'll be pushing an update later this year that'll hopefully appease those who like the old layout more.

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I got my Y500 last week. I tried to use windows 8, but one of the first dialog boxes that popped up made me drill down a couple levels to do what I needed. That was all it took for me to dislike Win 8. I had also ordered the Crucial 256Gb SSD. So I pulled out the old hard drive to try to save battery power, and installed Win 7 onto the SSD. I like it a lot now and it boots in about 11 seconds. The only issue that I am having is that the trackpad does not seem to recognize gestures. I use a mouse with it most of the time though so it doesn't really bother me all that much. I read there is about 20Gb of bloatware installed on the machine when you get it. That is another reason to install Win 7. I'm glad I did it.

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I didn´t really like win8 the first couple of days but after I installed "NoTilesPlease" (free, let´s you boot directly to desktop) and "start8" (few bucks, old startmenue/button), it´s running really good, I don´t mess around this time, I want to see if win8 still slows down so much after a few months like win7 and I really like the fast boot speed of win8, downside, my student key for cinema4D is always wrong in win8 (win8 only!) and android ADT doesn´t want to recognize devices and win8 seems to have some wifi problems sometimes (reboot ftw) ... as long as i don´t need to see this ugly metro ui it´s okay for now ... let´s see how it behaves in a few months ... maybe there will be already a windows 9 or whatever, cheers

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I love Windows 8 AND my Y500. People who complain about a "learning curve" are complaining about their unwillingness to open themselves to change. The speed increase is quite noticeable, and it's pretty. :)

This is exactly how I feel. I actually like Win8 on my Y500 so much that I updated my 2 desktops. The speed and cleanliness of the UI is really the best part. The Metro start screen doesn't bother too much anymore. I actually tried using Win7 and the traditional start menu again recently and had a hard time getting used to it again.

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Windows 8 is much much better than Windows 7 once you have managed to handle that baby. Go with Windows 8. Don't change back. Read some tutorials on how to use the new functions in windows 8 and you are set to go.

thats what i did. im happy with windows 8. inbox driver support is also much better for me.

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After reinstating the "proper" start button (StartIsBack) I am perfectly happy with Windows 8 and will not look back. (even though I don't care much for the flat looking windows)

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Oh and for the record:

I like the speed of Windows 8. It is a lot snappier than Windows 7.

Also, as a developer, I am beginning to enjoy programming in C++/CX for creating Windows 8 apps (Visual Studio 2012).

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Thanx for all your replies guys :)

I was finding Win 8 thoroughly annoying and knew nothing of ''starisback'' (wish i had just to test) anyways i stuck in a Crucial M4 256 Msata and installed Win7 ULT on that and then formatted the 1tb drive as storage. It really is performing incredibly slick, booting to usability in just 10 seconds!

I could see where they were coming from for the new 8 interface, but it seemed a bit clumsy to me.. and seemed to be all over the place!! The only thing im stuck with now is trying to mod the bios as am falling at the first hurdle and cant even seem to make a bios backup!!! :(

I'm normally pretty good with cracking and flashing but canne seem to do it!! Was looking forward to unlocking this baby aswell...

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Thanx for all your replies guys :)

I was finding Win 8 thoroughly annoying and knew nothing of ''starisback'' (wish i had just to test) anyways i stuck in a Crucial M4 256 Msata and installed Win7 ULT on that and then formatted the 1tb drive as storage. It really is performing incredibly slick, booting to usability in just 10 seconds!

I could see where they were coming from for the new 8 interface, but it seemed a bit clumsy to me.. and seemed to be all over the place!! The only thing im stuck with now is trying to mod the bios as am falling at the first hurdle and cant even seem to make a bios backup!!! :(

I'm normally pretty good with cracking and flashing but canne seem to do it!! Was looking forward to unlocking this baby aswell...

Too bad. With StartIsBack I like Windows 8 as much as as Windows 7 and it's faster. Best $3 I've ever spent.

If you have problems flashing you should post your issue in the sticky thread. Sounds like you have the Error 104 issue and the solution is in that that thread.

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Too bad. With StartIsBack I like Windows 8 as much as as Windows 7 and it's faster. Best $3 I've ever spent.

If you have problems flashing you should post your issue in the sticky thread. Sounds like you have the Error 104 issue and the solution is in that that thread.

Hi octiceps,i think im missing something as i just cannot use fptw64 to backup bios.. so cant move on from that 1st thing in the list.. youve done the bios mod haven't you? do you have to run fptw64 in dos from boot or something?

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Hi octiceps,i think im missing something as i just cannot use fptw64 to backup bios.. so cant move on from that 1st thing in the list.. youve done the bios mod haven't you? do you have to run fptw64 in dos from boot or something?

No you just double click fptw64.exe and it creates your BIOS backup as a .bin in the same folder. What happens when you do that? Does a black command prompt open and then close instantly? Is there an error text file created?

EDIT: Disregard the above instructions; I wasn't thinking clearly. Right-click on fptw64.exe, click Properties, and select 'Run as an administrator' under the Compatibility tab. Then double-click backup.bat, click Yes on the UAC prompt, and it will generate the BIOS backup as a .bin file in the same folder.

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EDIT: Disregard the above instructions; I wasn't thinking clearly. Right-click on fptw64.exe, click Properties, and select 'Run as an administrator' under the Compatibility tab. Then double-click backup.bat, click Yes on the UAC prompt, and it will generate the BIOS backup as a .bin file in the same folder.

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I just bought the Ideapad Y500 about a month ago, the 59359559 version with the SLI'd 650ms, 16GB mSata cache and 1TB drive. I've also post-ordered the ultrabay DVD-RW for occasional writing/reading tasks. I love the overclock-ability, SLi and the overclockable LCD panel on this. 96hz is visible smoother and better for gaming than the stock 60hz giving better FPS for v-sync on and less tearing for v-sync off.. Its bang-for-the-buck factor is huge. Unfortunately in Canada from Lenovo it comes with the hated English-French keyboard, but through retail it comes with (my) preferred U.S. English keyboard.

I removed the 1TB 5400 RPM drive and replaced it with a 1TB Seagate SSHD and installed the drivers from Lenovo's web site. I have gone back and forth between both, usually just backing up certain data to an external or network when I need it sync'd between the two "installs", opening the notebook and re-installing the other drive.

Windows 8 is ok, it just is better with a touch screen. I have been using it on a tablet like the Surface RT versus a PC or laptop and it's like night-and-day. I think they rushed it out the door a little too much and it needs a bit of an "expert mode" toggle. For example, some Wifi stuff could be more streamlined (like handling of hidden networks) and the upgraded driver security, while needed, can be a PITA with some drivers even "Win8 ready" ones. On this laptop, Windows 8 does run really well though.

I would have liked the initial start menu to be a docked or configurable start menu so that we can separate out a part of the screen for desktop style and Metro style. When you get a "legacy" app Win8 will switch to desktop mode anyways, while stuff coming from the MS Store is usually Metro-friendly, so a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde.

My issue right now with this laptop is that SLi with the 650ms is a bit flaky under Windows 7. Cold boot, both adapters appear, and warm boot, only the first one does.

Edit: Thanks octiceps, the v2.02 BIOS worked great and three re-boots later we're good to go!

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My issue right now with this laptop is that SLi with the 650ms is a bit flaky under Windows 7. Cold boot, both adapters appear, and warm boot, only the first one does.

Make sure you're on BIOS V2.02 or, even better, the unlocked 2.02. Info is in the sticky at the top of this forum. 2.02 is supposed to fix the SLI issue under Windows 7. You can check what version you are currently on by tapping F2 during POST.

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