It’s the big day for Microsoft, and after almost a year of testing, the replacement for Windows 8 has arrived. We say “good riddance”, but is your computer really ready to make the move?
Let’s do this in alphabetical order, because while Australia doesn’t have quite the breadth of computer manufacturers as other parts of the world — we are a fairly small country, you know — there are quite a few companies selling machines to our 25-30 million people, starting with…
Acer
Acer has been dabbling with tablets and two-in-ones longer than most companies with the exception of maybe Asus, and so we’re expecting to see some pretty solid and quick compatibility for its array of touch-friendly and less touch-friendly machines.
While the company hasn’t said much to us in an official capacity regarding Windows 10, a quick glance to the Acer customer support section reveals that Acer is taking a fairly generic approach to making sure your computer is good to go.
Specifically, it’s pointing you to the Microsoft solution, whereby you click the little Windows icon in the Windows 8 task bar after the latest updates have downloaded, which will pull up the “Get Windows 10” app.
When that’s done, click the menu icon on the left-hand side and select “check your PC”.
It’s nice to know that Acer is pretty confident in its hardware selection over the years that it shouldn’t have any driver dilemmas, so if you do have problems after a Windows 10 migration, feel free to tell Acer.
Asus
Another of the companies that has spent heaps of time fiddling with the convertibles — hey, it practically invented the hybrid “let’s store all the tech inside the screen and throw a battery in the keyboard” concept that everyone has used at one point — you have to expect Asus is ready to go with Windows 10.
You’d expect that, anyway.
On launch day, Asus told GadgetGuy that “some hardware/software requirement apply” for Microsoft’s upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10, specifically citing that “feature availability within the upgrade may be dependent on hardware compatibility”.
What that means is that while you can update existing Windows computers from Asus, you may find some features won’t work. We’re not sure if this relates to specific drivers that need updating, which Asus should no doubt provide updates for on its website, or whether this is just in relation to all the neat things Windows 10 can do not necessarily applying to every Asus computer.
That said, it sounds like based on this comment, any Asus should be able to make the jump this week, though if you’re at all concerned, wait for the Asus website to provide more information, because as of the time of publication, it lacked a Windows 10 section to refer to.
Dell and Alienware
Dell and Windows go together like butter and toast, because like Toshiba, the company has been producing Windows machines for pretty much its entire life, building some of the more interesting and performance based computers you’re likely to see in the laptop and desktop world.
It’s not just Dell doing this, either, with Alienware — Dell’s gamer-centric brand — synonymous with gamers that rely on Windows and graphic-heavy components to let them play the games at the right settings, while also get some work done, all with a healthy glow from the lights Alienware machines are set up to emit.
So with so much reliance on Windows, you have to wonder where Dell and Alienware are on Windows 10’s launch day.
According to Dell, new computers are pretty much ready to go with Windows 10, some of which even have Intel’s “RealSense” technology for visual login via Windows Hello.
But older computer aren’t really mentioned, and while we’re trying to get a comment and a support page out of Dell and Alienware on the topic, the current suggestion that’s looking best for owners of these computers is to head to the Dell or Alienware support page and find out if new drivers are needed before they make the jump.
It is more than likely that owners of these computers can run the Windows hardware check, too, but Dell does make some of its own hardware, so given that there are so many models out there from this manufacturer, we’d check with support before making the jump so you don’t risk any chance of your computer not working.
Windows 10 would probably work, but it’s just safer this way.
UPDATE: Dell chimed in a couple of hours after we went live with the story, with one of its people telling us that you’ll definitely want to check the Dell page before updating.
“For those looking to upgrade their existing operating systems to Windows 10, we will be making drivers available through our support website,” said Jeff Morris, General Manager of Dell’s End User Computing for Australia and New Zealand. “In the coming days we will be adding more information around upgrading your Dell system to Windows 10.”
HP
There’s good news if you own an HP laptop, because the company has apparently been working with Microsoft to make sure the roll out is timely and reliable.
“Working closely with Microsoft we designed all our 2015 products to be ready for Windows 10,” said Paul Gracey, HP’s Business Manager for the Personal Systems Category.
“As a result, customers who purchased or plan to buy a 2015 Windows PC from HP should have a smooth transition to Windows 10.”
That means recent releases like the HP Pavilion X360, Spectre X360, HP Omen, and HP Elite machines are all good to go, some of which should happily handle the Xbox One streaming and Cortana microphone pick-up, so you can speak to Cortana when she does eventually roll out to Australian computers (we’re a beta country).
But what about with computers from before 2015? After all, if you purchased a Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer from a few years ago, you’d still like to know that you’re covered.
HP tells GadgetGuy that “eligible PCs from our 2013 and 2014 portfolio can upgrade to Windows 10”, and that “the necessary drivers for these devices to run Windows 10 are on both Windows Update and available through HP.com.”
As for if you have something a little earlier, HP says that “customers with qualifying PCs from 2012 or earlier, running Windows 7 should be able to upgrade to Windows 10, but capabilities like battery life and processor performance may not be the same as those with more modern hardware”.
There’s a practical go ahead, people. If there are any problems, you might want to head to the HP website to find new drivers.
