(no subject)

[some_stars]

question, because i don't trust the internet: my netbook is finally dying, and as no one sells netbooks anymore, i need to find some kind of replacement laptop that's cheap and light and not a tablet. i am very, very tablet-averse, because in my experience i can't do what i need to do with a tablet. and of course all the new cheap laptops available are Windows 8 (or Chromebooks which: NO) and Windows 8 is designed for tablets and touching and blugh. But I would really rather get a new machine than something refurbished.

So, question: how much can you use Windows 8 like a normal, non-tablet computer? my specific needs usually involve having multiple documents from multiple programs all visible on the screen at the same time. and i need a normal filing/explorer system, where i can access files on their own, not just through an app. i also want the taskbar or something like it--not having to go back to a home screen every time i want to get something that's not currently onscreen. and i would really really rather use a trackpad than touch the screen.

do i have any hope? or should i go back to looking up refurbished old laptops from before the world went mad?

Comments

[minim_calibre]

You could do that in 8, too. Just the button wasn't there, because the functionality of the button (finding programs, etc) had been replaced by the start screen. (I'm exceedingly fond of the search functionality of the start screen, but it is a bit of a learning curve, it seems.)

The button was restored for 8.1, in all its context menu glory, and there's an option (buried, and I never recall where, because I, as they say, set it and forget it) to set so you boot into the desktop instead of into the start screen.