Gadgetory

hey guys this is Austin and today I'm here at the first look at Windows 8.1 it might sound like a minor upgrade but this latest version of Windows brings quite a few very nice changes to start with the modern UI has been cleaned up a good bit you can now change the background to match your normal desktop making it much smoother to switch between the two the live tiles are also more customizable just like Windows Phone allowing you to resize them and organize them into groups unlike before you can now actually get to a lot of settings without leaving the modern UI which should be especially helpful for tablets one of the biggest things I noticed is just how fast everything is when those eight was already snappy but a point one seems to smooth things out farther even if you're using a standard hard drive if you're just looking to quickly jump into something a new app page sorts everything out nicely a bit like how the old start menu used to work speaking of the Windows button is back personally I didn't miss it too much I mean the Windows key is a thing for a reason but it works just like you'd expect bringing you back to the modern UI you can also get access to some helpful system toggles by right-clicking it which is a lot more convenient than before in general Microsoft has done a lot to bring Windows back to being more like 7 for desktop users including giving you the option to disable the annoying hot corners one of the big advantages Windows 8 has over other tablets is great multitasking and 8.1 improves here as well allowing you to resize your apps however you like to be honest I wish Android and iOS would steal this already it really is useful Bing is also heavily integrated into Windows 8.1 and I can't believe I'm about to say this it's actually not terrible if you tap the Windows key or open up the modern UI and start typing it'll automatically start a general search for everything including apps and files on your PC it can also pull results from the standard Bing search alongside apps in the Windows Store and more do a search for a celebrity or point of interest and you get much more info which is surprisingly really helpful if you're a PC gamer Windows 8.1 also includes support for DirectX 11 point to share from the Xbox one which brings some new features for games with improvements for things like shaders as well as more performance out of AP use the windows 8.1 preview is available from the Microsoft now it's a free update to Windows 8 with the final release scheduled for later this year it's still early but it seems relatively stable if you want to give it a shot overall Windows 8.1 while not a massive update fixes almost all the major issues I had with Windows 8 and even add some useful features along the way if you're still holding out on Windows 7 it very well might be worth a look if you're interested in more feel free to check out my hands-on of the Xbox one and if you enjoyed be sure to leave this video a thumbs up and subscribe for more like this anyway guys that will catch you next time