So far I have tried Windows 8 on desktops, tablets and Netbooks and the latest device I tested it on was my relativity old HP TouchSmart iQ500. The TouchSmart is a 2007 model that originally shipped with Windows Vista and has since been upgraded to Windows 7, a couple of months ago the hard disk crashed so when the Windows 8 Release Preview came out I fitted a new hard dive and installed Windows 8 on it.  

The Windows installed process gets better and better with each release and Windows 8 is great, a couple of questions about location and away it goes. It found every driver it needed for the TouchSmart, I didn’t have to manually install and drivers. Even the correct video and touch screen drivers where installed.

The TouchSmart has 4GB of RAM and has a Intel Core 2 Duo and feels incredibly snappy with Windows 8, I can safely say that it runs much better than Windows 7 did and the Metro UI makes so much sense with a touch screen. Because the screen resolution runs at 1680 x 1050 it means you can snap apps to a column on left or right, and swiping from the left to select and snap the app works very well.

Here the Metro version of IE is running along side the Sky News app.

One thing I still don’t like with Windows 8′s Metro UI is the desktop application shortcuts that get added to the start page. I know you need them but they don’t sit well along side the Metro apps, I suppose this is something we are going to have to get used to while Windows transitions to the metro UI,

In the desktop mode the touch optimisations work better than in Windows 7, the on screen keyboard works better than Windows 7 and so does the press and hold action.

So overall Windows 8 on the old Touchsmart works very well and bodes well for the “proper” Windows 8 tablets and all in ones. It’s great that old hardware works so well and actually works better with Windows 8 than previous version of Windows.

Bring on the final version!