Laptop

[sprayermick]

I will shortly be in the market for a new laptop (I do not want a tablet) I did want one with a built in DVD writer if possible but have been told by many people to stay away from anything with Windows 8 on it because they tell me that various software/programs that I have and use alot on my laptop now (running XP)
will not be compatible with Win 8 can anybody advise?

[sunny-dave]

Win 8 is certainly 'different' - the look and feel are more like a phone than a PC (at least until you get it sorted to your own preferred layout).

Any new laptop will be running (at least) Win 7 unless you are prepared to wipe it yourself and go back to XP. Anything that will run on 7 will also work on 8 (at least in my experience), so there is only the look/feel issue to consider.

As regards 'backwards compatibility' I've actually got stuff to run on Win 8 that had been useless since I moved from XP (never did get it to work on 2000 or the horrible Vista).

[hc4361]

Run this on your current laptop - it should tell you which programs won't work.

Look at that program's website and see if their is an update.

[hc4361]

Forgot the link

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/upgrade-to-windows-8

[sprayermick]

Thanks to everyone who answered, you have been a help.