Product Description
Built for Business
With the new Windows, you get the best of work and play. Windows 8.1 Pro includes everything in Windows 8.1, plus enhanced features that help you easily connect to company networks, manage your devices, access one PC from another, encrypt your data, and more.
- Get to it all from the new Start screen, even your familiar desktop
- Discover popular and unique apps in the Windows Store
- Personalize with more tile sizes, colors, & backgrounds
- Do more with side by side views of apps and sites
- Access photos & files virtually anywhere with SkyDrive built-in
- Search, browse, and share more securely and quickly
- Protect your data by encrypting it with BitLocker
- Access one PC from another with Remote Desktop
- Connect to your company network with domain join
What’s new with Windows 8.1 Pro
It Plays as Hard as it Works
Windows 8.1 gives you the power to quickly browse, watch movies, play games, polish your resume, and pull together a killer presentation — all on a single PC. Now you can organize up to three apps on your screen at once in a single view.The Start Screen
Personalize your Start screen with your favorite news, friends, social networks, and apps. Customizable colors and backgrounds and four different sizes of tiles make your device as unique as you are.The Apps you Want
In addition to great built-in apps for email, people, photos and video editing – you can also download thousands of popular apps from the Windows Store, including Netflix, ESPN, Skype and Halo: Spartan Assault.Security
Stay up to date and more secure with Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, and Windows Update.Speed
Windows 8.1 starts up faster, switches between apps faster, and uses power more efficiently than previous versions of Windows, including Windows 7.Your Familiar Desktop
From the Start screen, you are just a click away from the familiar Windows desktop you know so you can do the stuff you’ve always done.Multitasking Made Easy
It’s easy to do more at once. Snap multiple apps side by side in a single view for easy multitasking.Mouse, Keyboard—and now Touch
Windows 8.1 works harmoniously with various types of devices, including touch, mouse-and-keyboard, or both. Whatever kind of device you have, you'll discover fast and fluid ways to switch between apps, move things around, and go smoothly from one place to another.Your files, Everywhere
Stay connected to your photos and important files and access them on your phone, tablet or PC with SkyDrive. By signing in with your Microsoft account to any of your PCs running Windows 8.1 and you'll immediately see your own background, display preferences, and settings.You Keep all your Files
If your PC is running Windows 7, your files, apps and settings will easily transfer to Windows 8.1 Pro.You Keep Familiar Programs
Programs that run on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8.1 Pro.Your Office. Your Way.
Experience Office at its best on Windows 8 devices. Discover new and better ways to create, edit, and browse—using a keyboard, pen, or touchscreen. Don't forget: Office is not part of Windows 8.Some features require Windows 8.1. Update available through Windows store for Windows 8 users. Internet access required; fees may apply. Don’t forget, Office isn’t included in Windows 8.
The New Windows | Windows 8.1 | Windows 8.1 Pro | Pro Pack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your PC is currently running: | Windows 7, Windows 8 | Windows 7, Windows 8 | Windows 8, Windows 8.1 |
| Great Apps built in such as Mail, Calendar, Messaging, Photos, and SkyDrive with many more available at Windows Store. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Includes Internet Explorer 11 for fast, intuitive, touch-friendly browsing. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Keeps you up-to-date and more secure with Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, and Windows Update. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Works with new and existing Windows desktop software including the full Microsoft Office experience (Outlook, SharePoint Designer and more).* | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Comes with Windows Media Player | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Provides enhanced data protection using BitLocker technology to help keep your information secure.** | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Enables you to connect to your PC when you’re on the go with Remote Desktop Connection. | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Connects to you corporate or school network with Domain Join. | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Watch and record live TV with Windows Media Center.*** | ✔ |
System requirements
- 1 GHz processor or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2
- 2 GB RAM
- 20 GB available hard disk space
- 1366 x 768 screen resolution
- DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM driver
- To use touch, you need a PC that supports multitouch
- Internet access (fees may apply)
- Microsoft account required for some features
- Watching DVDs requires separate playback software
- Windows Media Center license sold separately
** Data is protected on Windows 8 PCs and removable drives using BitLocker and BitLocker to Go.
*** Requires a TV tuner.
Product Details
- Brand: Microsoft
- Model: FQC-06913
- Released on: 2013-10-18
- Platform: Windows 8
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 5.79" h x 5.79" w x .79" l, .21 pounds
Features
- Get to it all from the new Start screen, even your familiar desktop
- Protect your data by encrypting it with BitLocker & Access one PC from another with Remote Desktop
- Access photos & files virtually anywhere with SkyDrive built-in
- Windows 8.1 Pro offers enhanced features to help you easily connect to company networks, access one PC from another, encrypt your data, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews119 of 152 people found the following review helpful.
Still a big step backwards for desktops and laptopsBy Christopher M. Shatto
A lot of noise was made about Windows 8 removing the start menu, and that's problematic, but it misses the real point of why Windows 8 gets such bad reviews from so many users: nothing was added back to replace or improve the lost functionality and MANY things were added that don't seem to do anything but annoy and impede.
I'm a network administrator using Windows 8.1 because I have to in order to take advantage of the new management tools for Hyper-V 3.0. I've had a number of problems so far:
1. The Server Manager that is added by the RSAT download is nice, but everything it can do you can do with remote PowerShell commands and some things it can't do that you HAVE to do with remote PowerShell commands (or enable remote desktop and actually log into the server remotely).
2. Windows 8.1, like 8.0, still gets in your way by default even though the option is finally there to get it out of your way in some cases. For example, you still have to use local group policy to get rid of the lock screen which serves no purpose but to be an extra keystroke before you can log in. You can finally log in straight to the desktop, which is nice, but even on the "Pro" version you still have to actually set it. That's annoying enough on the consumer desktop, but for a "Professional" operating system where functionality and efficiency should presumably trump aesthetics, it's inexcusable.
3. Some things are just completely beyond understanding in their design. Press Windows Key + F to bring up "find". It brings up a nice little sidebar you can use to search for items. Do the search, though, and it starts to return results as you type, but if you hit enter (as most of us are conditioned to do when filling out form items) it brings up the results in an app that takes up the whole screen. This means you can't drag and drop a found file, for example, from it's current location to the desktop. If you right-click you get no menu like the old days, just an open to go to the file's location or copy it. But copy doesn't seems to work. If you open the file location, THEN you can copy/cut/drag and drop/etc. There seems to be no value in this change for the end user, it just adds extra steps and reduces functionality with no corresponding payoff.
4. The app "windowing" system still isn't really a windowing system by any modern understanding. You can now have more than two apps open, but it's still a far cry from the highly customizable way that older Windows programs work, which is a concern for some people. For example, it's not uncommon for me to have multiple log files open, or to have documentation open alongside other windows I'm working in.
There are a few brights spots, though. The multi-monitor support is vastly improved and it's still quicker than Windows 7 to boot and shut down. For tech professionals, the improvements to PowerShell are considerable as well.
Still, all in all, unless you must use it for some reason, it's really not worth it if you're on Windows 7. Support for 7 will last through 8's lifecycle and 8 does not offer anything worth the money. Unless you have to have it for some specific reason (like the new management tools for Server 2012, for example), just skip it and wait for the next major release of Windows.
25 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
Major MissBy cindy
Horrible interface! What complete idiot at Microsoft decided it would be a really cool idea to hide navigational buttons? What total moron decided that they would take a simple, intuitive interface and complicate it beyond all reason? And how could anyone reviewing this "brain storm" actually think it's a good idea? Go back to programming 101, guys. Get back to basics. Interfaces should be intuitive and simple. The point one update, where they put the "start button" on the desk top was reminiscent of childhood. As anyone can see, a short cut to explorer is NOT a start button. It is missing recent places, documents, control panel, etc. I am eagerly awaiting your patch that fixes this disaster.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Worst UI EverBy J. Rose
With Windows 8.1, Microsoft seems to be attempting to force everyone to work as though they're on a tablet, even if they don't have a touch screen. The UI is bizarre, with hidden menus that fly out only when your pointer reaches the edge of the screen, different modes for working with applications vs. the new "tile" widgets; the Windows key now toggles you in and out of these modes.
It's like Microsoft forgot the last thirty years of user interface design advances. The experience is more like using a graphical version of EMACS or tmux than Windows. If you expected any continuity from previous versions, you'll find what's left of the traditional Windows experience under layers of settings you'll have to track down and reset -- but there'll still be no sensible way to access applications, since they took away the Start menu and haven't replaced it with, say, an Application folder like Mac OS X has.
Additionally, Windows 8.1 eats all your previous applications; you'll have to reinstall everything -- so make sure you have all your media handy.
Finally, after installing Windows 8.1, my wife's nice Lenovo laptop started shutting off (not just hibernating!) every time the lid was closed. It appears to be sporadic, but she has lost work as a result.
Summary: an experimental OS that will make your traditional laptop or PC less useful and possibly less stable. Not an upgrade.
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