Do I have to use windows 10?

[weasel65]

Hi all; Currently have an ROG G551jm and am thinking of buying the Strix Scar II. In preparation for this I have upgraded my windows 8.1 to 10 but I have to admit, I am not liking it very much. So now to the question: if I buy the scar II can I install windows 8.1 and have everything work fine, or does the laptop NEED windows 10 to function properly?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I would like to know before dropping $2K.

[panzlock]

You can install Windows 8.1, sure. But why you'd want to is what I would like to know.

[xeromist]

I would not advise it. If you buy a modern machine with Windows 10 it has never been designed or tested for 8.1. It's possible some drivers may see 8.1 as incompatible and refuse to install. You may have to modify driver packages. New games are going to be primarily tested on Windows 10. And eventually 8.1 is going to be completely unsupported so you'll have to get used to 10 sometime.

The best option would be to bite the bullet and just adapt to Windows 10. Use customization tools to fix the things you don't like.

[panzlock]

xeromist wrote:
...You may have to modify driver packages...

I ran into this problem recently with my mothers laptop after the HD failed. I swapped HD's from an older laptop with Windows 8.1 and could not update certain drivers because they were not supported on the newer laptop. Had to clean install Windows 10 to get wifi.

Why do you prefer 8.1 over 10, btw?

[weasel65]

Thanks for the replies. To answer the question of "why" I am finding that 10 is actually slower to open folders, load games (I don't have modern games, my most modern is Gary Grigsby War in the East or Trainz A New Era) and is being a pain in the bum opening RARs and Zips even with my purchased WinRAR and 7zip. But as stated, that is why I upgraded my 8.1 in preparation of the forced switch over.

If anyone knows any Win10 modding tools please let me know. Thanks.

Chris

[xeromist]

I have a recent laptop, running win10, with an SSD as the primary disk and I don't feel browsing storage is slow. Perhaps there is another process using the disk (check task manager) or there is a bad driver in the mix. A new machine would be designed and tested for Windows 10 so I don't see why you'd have any issues.

You could also make a post in the laptop sub-forum and ask what SCAR owners think of the storage speeds.

[weasel65]

Ultimate Windows Tweaker 4 gives access to lots of settings that are disabled by default, FYI. It is free.

[Psycrow]

Get use to win 10 and install classic shell
http://www.classicshell.net/

Makes ur win 10 looks like 8.1 or how you want it..i even think there is a xp style also

[panzlock]

Psycrow wrote:
Get use to win 10 and install classic shell
http://www.classicshell.net/

Makes ur win 10 looks like 8.1 or how you want it..i even think there is a xp style also

The OP's issue is function, not aesthetics.

However, after repairing my mothers laptop I found it to be more responsive with Windows 10 than her older laptop ever was running Windows 8.1. The old laptop having a 4C/4T Intel Pentium N3530 and the newer one having an 2C/2T AMD A9-9420 . The faster turbo clock on the AMD chip might be what is making the difference, here, along with DDR4 RAM. So not sure why Windows 10 would be operating less efficiently on the OP's PC. Maybe settings or a component drawback.

[weasel65]

So I dug up the specs for Scar 2 and every component has 8.1 drivers, so when I get it I will try a downgrade. Last night I decided to play a game, a game which never game me a bit of trouble in 8.1, but took me an hour to get working in 10 after I had played it the night before. Does compatibility mode ever work, doesn't seem so to me.

I do find 10 is slower with just about everything, and it is a fresh install with new partition, which I always do when installing to make sure no left overs are left behind from the previous system. Don't misunderstand, I don't dislike 10 because of that, I mean we are talking 1 second vs 1.5 second for example, I just find the programs I run, which are older, work much better in 8.