Windows 10, Skylake & Thunderbolt 3 bring the most compelling reasons to upgrade in a long while

Bob O'Donnell

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Staff member

win10 intel skylake thunderbolt interesting pc opinion guest skylake usb 3.1 thunderbolt 3

Much of the tech press regularly overlooks PCs for wearables, smart homes, and IoT-related topics but, in the real world and to many people, PCs still matter a lot. So, this week’s news out of Redmond and Taipei (where the annual Computex Trade show is being held) are actually really important.

To wit, Microsoft finally unveiled the official release date for Windows 10 (July 29) and Intel released more details about its next generation CPUs and chipsets, which are expected in PCs shipping in August. The combination of all these technologies will lead to not only the best performing PCs we’ve seen, but also the most capable, most flexible, and most expandable as well.

The combination of all these technologies will lead to not only the best performing PCs we’ve seen, but also the most capable, most flexible, and most expandable as well.

Windows 10 brings back the Start Menu and melds it together with elements of Windows 8 that really were useful once you got used to them (such as Tiles), while adding fascinating new extras like Cortana, Windows Hello for biometric authentication (e.g., log-in with your fingerprint, face or eventually, eye), and better integration with other Microsoft services (OneDrive, Xbox, Skype, etc.) The net result is a genuinely better OS both Windows 7 and Windows 8 users should be quite happy with.

Intel’s Skylake CPUs are expected to bring better battery life for notebooks and 2-in-1s, greatly improved graphics performance, and support for faster DDR-4 memory. More importantly, the companion chipsets launching with Skylake are also going to enable several key new system-level capabilities including wireless charging (although, initially, with a hit to notebook thin-ness) and the introduction of Thunderbolt 3.

Now admittedly, most people lost interest in PC connectivity standards a long time ago, but Thunderbolt 3.0 looks to be a big change because it brings together the new USB type C connector along with significantly expanded capability and throughput. Specifically, the 40 Gbps data transfer rate of Thunderbolt 3.0 will support up to two daisy-chained 4K displays (as well as external storage) and up to 100 W of electrical power over a single cable.

In fact, Thunderbolt 3 also supports both USB 3.1 (and earlier standards) as well as PCI-Express and DisplayPort, all over that same reversible USB Type C connector. At long last, we have the one connector to rule them all. What that means is we’ll start to see PCs with several USB type C connectors, and we’ll eventually be able to connect them to just about any PC peripheral imaginable (and a few we haven’t been able to imagine). In the interim, yes, we’ll have to likely deal with dongles, but a better choice will be docks that have a Thunderbolt 3.0-enabled connection to a PC on one side, and just about every other PC connector available on the other.

One of the new capabilities this new connector enables is the ability to add an external graphics card to a notebook or small desktop PC. The speed of the connector, support for PCI Express, and new drivers from AMD that can enable hot plugging or unplugging all work together to bring this new capability to life.

Of course, to get all these new capabilities—particularly biometric authentication and Thunderbolt 3.0 support—will require new hardware, in addition to Windows 10. However, starting this fall, I think we’re going to have some of the most interesting new PCs and some of the most compelling reasons to upgrade we’ve seen in a very long time. And, for a lot of people, that really does matter.

Bob O’Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting and market research firm. You can follow him on Twitter . This article was originally published on Tech.pinions.

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Sorry.
No matter what others think about W10.
THIS is not a reason for an upgrade, if one has a choice.
Stay away from -remote host,-cloud centered OS.
Take your hardware and host your stuff by yourself.
Do not accept crippled OS (what unfortunaly OS X (since making iCloud a default location for files, belongs to).
 
I'm using here a PC assembled in July 2013, with Windows 8.1, 32GB of RAM, Samsung 840 Pro SSD-s, nVidia 780 GTX, which performs better than I need for most of tasks. Everything this article lists would make a small incremental change, also one I have no practical need for.

You would need a PC 3-4 year old for the new hardware and software to make a compelling reason for an upgrade.

The only good reason for an upgrade is to go for 4K, because Windows 10 supports it better than Windows 8.1. The rest is isn't very interesting.
 
Sorry.
No matter what others think about W10.
THIS is not a reason for an upgrade, if one has a choice.
Stay away from -remote host,-cloud centered OS.
Take your hardware and host your stuff by yourself.
Do not accept crippled OS (what unfortunaly OS X (since making iCloud a default location for files, belongs to).
I don't think pushing the newest aspects of your business (cloud features) cripples an OS. If you had no choice, that's a limitation. But lets not pretend that everyone does or wants to manage backups on their own.
 
Sorry.
No matter what others think about W10.
THIS is not a reason for an upgrade, if one has a choice.
Stay away from -remote host,-cloud centered OS.
Take your hardware and host your stuff by yourself.
Do not accept crippled OS (what unfortunaly OS X (since making iCloud a default location for files, belongs to).
I don't think pushing the newest aspects of your business (cloud features) cripples an OS. If you had no choice, that's a limitation. But lets not pretend that everyone does or wants to manage backups on their own.

Completely agree, also if someone believes that this a reason to upgrade that is their opinion. I don't see how it is crippling the OS.
 
Sorry.
No matter what others think about W10.
THIS is not a reason for an upgrade, if one has a choice.
Stay away from -remote host,-cloud centered OS.
Take your hardware and host your stuff by yourself.
Do not accept crippled OS (what unfortunaly OS X (since making iCloud a default location for files, belongs to).
This makes no sense whatsoever.
Windows 10 is not a remotely hosted OS, and it isn't a clouud-centered OS either. The only cloud feature it has is OneDrive integration, which you have the choice not to use if you're so inclined. You don't even need a Microsoft account to begin with, since 8.1 creating a local account is simple.
Also, saying an OS with basically the same features as its predecessors, plus optional cloud integration, suddenly becomes "crippled" is just absurd.
Finally, stop trying to shove your nonsense opinions down other people's throats. There's nothing inherently bad about cloud services. I use the OneDrive integration, along with its Android app, and it's a great feature. If I want to make a file accessibly anywhere I am, I just need to drop it into the OneDrive folder. And it's also the easiest way I have of moving files between my laptop and my phone.
 
Bob Odonnel, claiming the world will truly be a better place with the release of Windows 10. Thanks for your opinion but I completely disagree. I could care less about "Tiles". Truly useful? To who? Seizure inducing tiles, useful? I removed them all from my Windows 10 start menu. Biometric security? For home users? Why? Is hiding porn that important? Who cares. You offer "Live Tiles" and Biometric security as reasons to want to upgrade to Windows 10? LOL. OMG. If I were Microsoft and you were working to promote our products I would fire you for failure.
Compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10 over Windows 7 as of Build 10130? Absolutely NONE. Other than, maybe ITS NEWER and IT BOOTS FASTER oh and if you can get it free, might as well.

But it's still take it or leave it for me. Sorry.

Skylake is worth getting half excited over. Windows 10? Meh! It's just not that big a deal.

When you reach the virtual pinnacle of perfection, which Windows 7 does, there aren't many places left to go, except sideways, which is where Microsoft has been going for a long while now.
 
They should be focusing on the OS and Hardware flowing data through with most optimized performance. Also optimize for gaming *cough* DirectX.
 
Bob Odonnel, claiming the world will truly be a better place with the release of Windows 10. Thanks for your opinion but I completely disagree. I could care less about "Tiles". Truly useful? To who? Seizure inducing tiles, useful? I removed them all from my Windows 10 start menu. Biometric security? For home users? Why? Is hiding porn that important? Who cares. You offer "Live Tiles" and Biometric security as reasons to want to upgrade to Windows 10? LOL. OMG. If I were Microsoft and you were working to promote our products I would fire you for failure.
Compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10 over Windows 7 as of Build 10130? Absolutely NONE. Other than, maybe ITS NEWER and IT BOOTS FASTER oh and if you can get it free, might as well.

But it's still take it or leave it for me. Sorry.

Skylake is worth getting half excited over. Windows 10? Meh! It's just not that big a deal.

When you reach the virtual pinnacle of perfection, which Windows 7 does, there aren't many places left to go, except sideways, which is where Microsoft has been going for a long while now.

We know you hate Windows, but I think the big deal is being made because of the timing of all 3 things together. Thunderbolt 3.0 sounds like the biggest advance in peripheral technology since USB, and to have it come out next to a Windows release AND an Intel release means it's the best time to upgrade in a while.
 
"Windows 10 brings back the Start Menu and melds it together with elements of Windows 8 that really were useful once you got used to them (such as Tiles), while adding fascinating new extras like Cortana, Windows Hello for biometric authentication (e.g., log-in with your fingerprint, face or eventually, eye), and better integration with other Microsoft services (OneDrive, Xbox, Skype, etc.) The net result is a genuinely better OS both Windows 7 and Windows 8 users should be quite happy with."

Wow, where to start? Tiles were only useful if you spent more time looking playing around on the start screen than using the actual desktop. Trapped on the start menu they serve no purpose whatsoever - they'll only be seen while users do what they've always done with the start menu, I.e. launch programs. On the *desktop* tiles could potentially make great replacements for the gadgets of yore but Microsoft keeps ignoring the thousands of request for such a no-brainer feature. As for the rest of this "genuinely better OS" (according to the writer and pretty much nobody else) how does removing lots of useful and attractive features improve the UX in any way, shape or form? And who really cares about biometrics or the rest of the junk Mr. O'Donnell touts as meaningful to the average user? Check the various Windows forums if you want to see what users are really clamoring for (hint: it ain't the return of the charms bar). Metro has been universally rejected and Microsoft is backtracking towards a more traditional Win7 experience with every new build of Windows 10. The author of this piece might want to check in with actual users of previous Windows versions, Microsoft itself and reality in general before presenting his wishful thinking as anything more.
 
Bob Odonnel, claiming the world will truly be a better place with the release of Windows 10. Thanks for your opinion but I completely disagree. I could care less about "Tiles". Truly useful? To who? Seizure inducing tiles, useful? I removed them all from my Windows 10 start menu. Biometric security? For home users? Why? Is hiding porn that important? Who cares. You offer "Live Tiles" and Biometric security as reasons to want to upgrade to Windows 10? LOL. OMG. If I were Microsoft and you were working to promote our products I would fire you for failure.
Compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10 over Windows 7 as of Build 10130? Absolutely NONE. Other than, maybe ITS NEWER and IT BOOTS FASTER oh and if you can get it free, might as well.

But it's still take it or leave it for me. Sorry.

Skylake is worth getting half excited over. Windows 10? Meh! It's just not that big a deal.

When you reach the virtual pinnacle of perfection, which Windows 7 does, there aren't many places left to go, except sideways, which is where Microsoft has been going for a long while now.

We know you hate Windows, but I think the big deal is being made because of the timing of all 3 things together. Thunderbolt 3.0 sounds like the biggest advance in peripheral technology since USB, and to have it come out next to a Windows release AND an Intel release means it's the best time to upgrade in a while.

You must be the Queen of England using the royal "we" like that. Meanwhile the actual "we" (I.e. everyone but you) agrees completely with the fellow you quoted and (pathetically) attacked.
 
Wow reading the comments is fairly comical.... sounds like a room of 50+ year old IT people arguing about Windows XP and how they will never change.

I wonder how many people have used Windows 10 and comprehend the possibilities of what this article actually means. Everything above is what consumers have been asking for and now it has been delivered we complain.

Guess haters gona hate
 
As for the rest of this "genuinely better OS" (according to the writer and pretty much nobody else) how does removing lots of useful and attractive features improve the UX in any way, shape or form?
Oh, let me guess! You're mad that Microsoft removed the glass effects, drop shadows, glass buttons, 3D icons and the rest of the skeuomorphic nonsense, and you want it back, aren't you?
There is no conceivable way someone could be this irritated with Windows 10 other than that. Now that the start menu is back in there, and you can remove all tiles and never have to deal with them if you're so inclined, Windows 10 is better than Windows 7 is every way. The only reason you could conjure to complain is "I don't like the flat style".
It's a good thing that your personal opinion, or that of a handful of agitated forum users, is not relevant to a product that will be released worldwide to a vast market. Microsoft should not take steps backwards in interface design just to satisfy your tasteless desire for skeuomorphism. You're not getting your glass effects back, just accept it, or choose another operating system if proper interface design with high signal-to-noise ratio bothers you so much.
 
Microsoft should not take steps backwards in interface design just to satisfy your tasteless desire for skeuomorphism.
Microsoft should not put themselves in a position where they find themselves needing to take steps backwards. Anything in binary can be written to satisfy all, MS has failed in presenting an OS that satisfies all. And as long as MS continues to remove features they will continue to create chaos in consumer's minds. And here you are getting in the way telling everyone they should except what comes all because it is new, labeled as innovation. Innovation should not be dictated to the masses, if that is not what they want. MS backsteped because they pushed something that was not excepted, plain and simple.
You're not getting your glass effects back, just accept it, or choose another operating system if proper interface design with high signal-to-noise ratio bothers you so much.
I was once told, no I take that back I was told several times MS was not going to give the Start Menu back. Take your BS crystal ball back to where you bought it, I don't believe it works.
 
And as long as MS continues to remove features they will continue to create chaos in consumer's minds.
You are greatly overstimating the importance of glass effects on windows borders and how much the generalpublic cares about them. Again, there is no chaos whatsoever about the interface in Windows 10, outside of some tiny vocal minorities that gather is some technology foruns and blogs. That's not the public that drives Microsoft's decisions, and it shouldn't be either.
And here you are getting in the way telling everyone they should except what comes all because it is new, labeled as innovation. Innovation should not be dictated to the masses, if that is not what they want.
That's what I get for discussing design with someone who has no background in the field and no idea what they're talking about. What tech people have been calling "flat design" is nowhere even remotely near to being new. The "flat design" is standard in other areas of design, specially in editorial and publishing where's it's been the norm for decades already. Digital interface design is simply the newer field, and therefore the most recent to get to the point where efficiency in visual communication and high signal-to-noise ratio become the norm, displacing frivolous visual experimentation that has no reason to be there.
I was once told, no I take that back I was told several times MS was not going to give the Start Menu back. Take your BS crystal ball back to where you bought it, I don't believe it works.
False equivalence. There isn't a widespread movement in application launchers where everybody is moving away from Microsoft-style start menus, there isn't a trend that has always existed in application launchers where all launchers eventually converge into a single kind, and there aren't standard principles of application launchers that justify what kind of launcher is the most adequate. But in visual/graphics design, there are.
 
Windows 10? Let's wait a couple of months and see what happens. (And by the way, there's probably no need to upgrade your hardware for Windows 10.)
Skylake? Maybe if you're into notebooks and 2-in-1's, but I don't really see the need when you're using a desktop with discrete a graphics card.
Thunderbolt 3.0? Nice, for sure, but why the hurry?

I understand tech-site that get their money from advertising tech-stuff want us to buy new stuff as soon as possible, but they could make it a bit less obvious.
 
That's what I get for discussing design with someone who has no background in the field and no idea what they're talking about.
That's where not only are you wrong, but you crossed a line and lost my interest in continuing the conversation. I may not have background in the field, but that doesn't mean I don't know what is possible. Good day to you, go belittle someone else! I'm not in the mood to return the insult.
 
The only reason for me to upgrade from Win7 to Win10 is DX12. I'm a gamer... I can't live without it. So, screw it. Bring on the NSA/PRISM, insecure cloud storage, pointless security mechanisms and other silly features.

Valve has lost their window of opportunity with SteamOS. The world was begging for something better than DirectX. SteamOS and Mantle looked real juicy for a while. Then Windows 10 and DX12 happened. The end.
 
Let's be honest, almost every "review" of every new version of Windows is a glorified infomercial these days. When Vista came out, tech site reviewers were singing the praises of how "revolutionary" the sidebar and its widgets would become. With W7, all that 'revolution' was quietly forgotten and focussed on how "snappier" it was compared to the sluggish & bloated Vista (which was downplayed in Vista reviews). Then when W8 was released, the Techspot review declared the Start Menu "irrelevant":-
https://www.techspot.com/article/554-windows-8-start-menu-is-irrelevant/

And now with W10, suddenly a "compelling reason to upgrade" is the return of the same 'irrelevant' Start Menu that everyone with W8 ignored Techspot's "advice" and installed Classic Start Menu anyway. If you want to upgrade because W10 has a feature you need, do so, but at least be honest about how lame & inconsistent these "reviews" (infomercials) are in general. Modern Windows "reviews" will never actually discuss a negative without trying to "frame" it in a positive light (or only retrospectively, ie, they'll only "call a spade, a spade" looking back at previous versions of Windows, never current or upcoming ones...)

The fact it's taken 3 Windows releases (plus Office 2007) for Microsoft to finally remember that hierarchical menu's (Start, application menu bars, etc) are actually incredibly efficient for accessing the largest amount of well organized features in the smallest amount of space, and feel more natural for many people to use than stuffing everything in ugly over-saturated "flat" tiles shows have much they've been away with the fairies for desktop design in recent years. Or why they were invented in the first place post Windows 3.1.

For my desktops which use applications (not "apps"), really the only serious tangible reason for me to upgrade from W7 to W10 is planned obsolescence of older DirectX versions (or basically "If you don't upgrade we'll forcibly cut you off from playing new games based on DX12 as we tried to do with DX10 Vista vs DX9 XP"). But then few reviews (or reviewers) have the integrity to come out and state the obvious these days, instead gushing over the "tiled UI" surface gloss and flip-flop excuses as to why "good" became "bad" then "good" again, when absolutely nothing changed on the desktop usability demand side of things over same period...
 
Bob Odonnel, claiming the world will truly be a better place with the release of Windows 10. Thanks for your opinion but I completely disagree. I could care less about "Tiles". Truly useful? To who? Seizure inducing tiles, useful? I removed them all from my Windows 10 start menu. Biometric security? For home users? Why? Is hiding porn that important? Who cares. You offer "Live Tiles" and Biometric security as reasons to want to upgrade to Windows 10? LOL. OMG. If I were Microsoft and you were working to promote our products I would fire you for failure.
Compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10 over Windows 7 as of Build 10130? Absolutely NONE. Other than, maybe ITS NEWER and IT BOOTS FASTER oh and if you can get it free, might as well.

But it's still take it or leave it for me. Sorry.

Skylake is worth getting half excited over. Windows 10? Meh! It's just not that big a deal.

When you reach the virtual pinnacle of perfection, which Windows 7 does, there aren't many places left to go, except sideways, which is where Microsoft has been going for a long while now.

We know you hate Windows, but I think the big deal is being made because of the timing of all 3 things together. Thunderbolt 3.0 sounds like the biggest advance in peripheral technology since USB, and to have it come out next to a Windows release AND an Intel release means it's the best time to upgrade in a while.

You must be the Queen of England using the royal "we" like that. Meanwhile the actual "we" (I.e. everyone but you) agrees completely with the fellow you quoted and (pathetically) attacked.

Sorry mate but there's plenty to be excited about with Windows 10; just because your hip little echo chamber doesn't "get it" doesn't mean laymen aren't happy with the evolution from 7 to 8 to 10.

Live tiles are a differentiation from 7 to 10 and while 8.1 allows a more seamless integration with the start screen and the desktop windows 10 will be a return to form dealing with the desktop with the option to keep or remove those live tiles. The OP has a preference and demonstrated how windows 10 was better for him than windows 7 or 8 - he's just not bright enough to figure that out.

The built in bio-metric security is more than just "hiding pr0n" - if you're developing mobile products in this day and age you have to address Apple's Touch ID. Windows 10 is made for phones, tablets, and laptops that would all benefit from a secure, easy login like the author describes. You can choose not to use it but that doesn't mean it's not useful.

Considering that this upgrade will be free for all windows 7 and 8 users there's really nothing to complain about which leaves only the excitement of a newer, better operating system for the majority of PCs/Laptops in the world.
 
I think everything here has been already said.
What I want to know from Bob O'Donnell is how do I get in on the gig? Is it per word or per character?
 
Whenever a new version of Windows coincides with the introduction of new hardware it's always seen by the media as the dawn of a new age for PC users. Windows 10 looks good and hopefully it will deliver the goods in the features department but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it, and Thunderbolt 3.0, will spur new PC purchases (especially since most people probably don't know what Thunderbolt is or how it compares to USB 3.0/3.1). If anything, Win10 will give developers a solid foundation for creating stable software and drivers since it's the last commercial release of the OS according to Microsoft and that will be a boon for PC users.
 
You must be the Queen of England using the royal "we" like that. Meanwhile the actual "we" (I.e. everyone but you) agrees completely with the fellow you quoted and (pathetically) attacked.

So you also missed the point that the article is about THREE reasons to upgrade, and you disagree with that because you don't like ONE of those reasons, being Win 10.

I agree with BigFatClown, win 7 is just fine the way it is and upgrading past it is probably inviting frustration, but if you've read any windows 8 or 10 stories on this website you'll find a wall of text in the comments from BFC talking about how miserable windows is. In fact, it's probably the only thing he ever comments on. It's such a trend, the next time we get a story about windows I'm going to post 'In before BFC trashes windows' in the comments. He's not wrong, but you notice we're not talking about Thunderbolt and Intel at all. that's all I was pointing out.
 
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