Windows 7 yea or nay?

[dessiato]

I know that there are a lot of arguments for other operating systems, but I was wondering if it is worth downloading and using Windows 7 on my netbook. I use the netbook as a back up machine and travel with it so thought that having a common OS would be easier than confusing people with other OS.

What do you think?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Windows 7 is supposed to be a bit better for battery life. I'm guessing you're using XP?

TBH I'd stick with XP, the advantages to upgrading are real but small.

 

[dessiato]

I am using XP but need to do a re-install since it seems to have some issues at the moment.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

There's no way i'd do it if I were looking at retail prices on W7, maybe if you were getting a family upgrade pack or some sort of student deal. It's a nice OS but not worth the money imo.

 

[subversplat]

W7 is great. I've got it for P&P but I'd have definitely bought it in the pre release sale. I know a few peeps here bought more than one copy, maybe you could appeal to their good nature

 

[Sunray]

Windows XP is starting to look antiquated. Its nearly 10 years old FFS!

Windows 7 is very much worthwhile. It supports all the modern hardware out of the box.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Other than SSDs i'm struggling to find anything XP doesn't support as well as W7 does. The move to 4k on HDs will remove it's ability to handle anything you throw at it, but it's going to take a couple of years for that to become commonplace.
XP's time is not yet done!

 

[magneze]

XP is faster than 7. I've not used Vista but apparently 7 is faster than Vista. For a netbook I'd stick with XP or go for Ubuntu or something.

 

[grit]

++Windows7

 

[GoneCoastal]

Ex Vista user here now on Windows 7 & liking it

 

[ericjarvis]

The basic rule is this. NEVER install an MS operating system until Service Pack 2 has come out.

 

[Sunray]

Other than SSDs i'm struggling to find anything XP doesn't support as well as W7 does. The move to 4k on HDs will remove it's ability to handle anything you throw at it, but it's going to take a couple of years for that to become commonplace.
XP's time is not yet done!

I use both for work and XP is shit. Its creaking at the edges. It still requires you to have the SATA driver on floppy disk to install ffs.

I love all the new features of Windows 7, from the ability to pin to the task bar, each programs last files used list, the super complex search facility, the new task bar with its clever use of transparency to find windows, even the new calculator has a super useful programmers option. The favs in the list at the side is amazing. It all looks so much nicer.

When I go back my heart sinks. Its 10 years old and it shows. OK it works but its like going back to windows 2000.

Technology is about progress, sitting just because it 'work's' is like the old Arsenal team under George Graham, they might have won 1-0 but fucking hell they were boring as fuck to watch.

 

[Sunray]

The basic rule is this. NEVER install an MS operating system until Service Pack 2 has come out.

Pussy

I've had Vista RC1 on my machine and then the full Vista install and then W7 rc1 and now the full W7 release and the only flaw I've had with either was Vista had some networking issues. That was it. Never blue screened, never crashed, just worked and worked really well.

I refer you to my post about George Graham's Arsenal.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I use both for work and XP is shit. Its creaking at the edges. It still requires you to have the SATA driver on floppy disk to install ffs.

I love all the new features of Windows 7, from the ability to pin to the task bar, each programs last files used list, the super complex search facility, the new task bar with its clever use of transparency to find windows, even the new calculator has a super useful programmers option. The favs in the list at the side is amazing. It all looks so much nicer.

When I go back my heart sinks. Its 10 years old and it shows. OK it works but its like going back to windows 2000.

Technology is about progress, sitting just because it 'work's' is like the old Arsenal team under George Graham, they might have won 1-0 but fucking hell they were boring as fuck to watch.

Floppy SATA? Christ, how old are your motherboards? Then again if they aren't broke, why fix them...

Change is bad. Is it worth £70+ for the upgrade copy, the hours to install and find drivers and the time needed to streamline it so it runs happily on a netbook? I doubt it.

 

[grit]

.

Change is bad. Is it worth £70+ for the upgrade copy, the hours to install and find drivers and the time needed to streamline it so it runs happily on a netbook? I doubt it.

I did 30 minutes for a clean install and didn't have to install one driver. YMMV

 

[ohmyliver]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-notebook,2485-6.html

those benchmarks suggest you'll get better battery life with 7, but worse performance.

 

[Sunray]

Floppy SATA? Christ, how old are your motherboards? Then again if they aren't broke, why fix them...

Change is bad. Is it worth £70+ for the upgrade copy, the hours to install and find drivers and the time needed to streamline it so it runs happily on a netbook? I doubt it.

Windows XP does not come with SATA drivers unless you hack the disk to include them. You need to press F8 in the install sequence and have them on a floppy disk and a floppy is all XP will read them in from, no usb stick. Who has a floppy drive these days?

 

[paolo]

Pussy

I've had Vista RC1 on my machine and then the full Vista install and then W7 rc1 and now the full W7 release and the only flaw I've had with either was Vista had some networking issues. That was it. Never blue screened, never crashed, just worked and worked really well.

I refer you to my post about George Graham's Arsenal.

Depends on the hardware I think.

I bought a low end laptop with Vista preinstalled, and it runs like an absolute dog.

From boot, it takes about 15 minutes to stabilise and become usable. I tend to get it started, then use my iPhone until it's stopped thrashing.

Basic stuff like right clicking can take up to 10 seconds to draw the menu. Launching task manager takes over a minute. This is without it even hitting swap. Just Google Chrome running, nothing else.

It's waay slower than my lesser specced XP VAIO's, and it's actually slower than the early years Mac I had, the 512. That was in 1986, and it booted and ran from floppies.

My XP desktop machine runs like a Cray in comparison.

Sure Vista/7 is no doubt fine if you've got a decent machine, but if you're running XP on something quite basic, you might regret upgrading.

 

[embree]

I know that there are a lot of arguments for other operating systems, but I was wondering if it is worth downloading and using Windows 7 on my netbook. I use the netbook as a back up machine and travel with it so thought that having a common OS would be easier than confusing people with other OS.

What do you think?

linux

 

[paolo]

linux

Not for everyone.

Most people would prefer a Ford Fiesta, with a roof and a stereo, that they can drive away, rather than build a Caterham 7 that's a project in their garage for 12 months.

 

[Sunray]

Depends on the hardware I think.

I bought a low end laptop with Vista preinstalled, and it runs like an absolute dog.

From boot, it takes about 15 minutes to stabilise and become usable. I tend to get it started, then use my iPhone until it's stopped thrashing.

Basic stuff like right clicking can take up to 10 seconds to draw the menu. Launching task manager takes over a minute. This is without it even hitting swap. Just Google Chrome running, nothing else.

It's waay slower than my lesser specced XP VAIO's, and it's actually slower than the early years Mac I had, the 512. That was in 1986, and it booted and ran from floppies.

My XP desktop machine runs like a Cray in comparison.

Sure Vista/7 is no doubt fine if you've got a decent machine, but if you're running XP on something quite basic, you might regret upgrading.

Vista needs 2Gb of RAM. Who doesn't have 2Gb ram? My machine has 2Gb but now I am freed from the 32bit shackels, my next machine will have 16Gb ram.

 

[paolo]

Vista needs 2Gb of RAM. Who doesn't have 2Gb ram?

That's it though. Stacks of laptops were being sold without that, but with Vista preinstalled. No choice. Six months earlier, the same money would have bought a perfectly usable machine. Six months later, then same money bought you pre-configured junk.

It was a massive step backwards at that end of the market.

 

[mhendo]

The basic rule is this. NEVER install an MS operating system until Service Pack 2 has come out.

Thing is, though, that W7 is, in fact, in many ways a Service Pack upgrade to Vista. Its main purpose was an incremental upgrade rather than a full-on overhaul in the way that Vista was.

I'm not going to upgrade the OS on my XP computer, but i'm in the market for a new computer right now, and i'd definitely want Win7 rather than Vista.

 

[souljacker]

I think its pretty good. Certainly the best version of Windows ever.

I can't get COD4 or Settlers to work on it though, which sucks.

 

[dessiato]

My main reason for thinking about the upgrade is that I have one or two issues with explorer and some other minor problems with XP. I want to stay with Windows so that the few other people who will use my netbook have something that they are familiar with, at least in essence.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[thriller]

Windows 7 defo gets the thumbs up for me. Much faster and smoother.

 

[EastEnder]

Windows XP is starting to look antiquated. Its nearly 10 years old FFS!

It may have been released nearly 10 years ago, but XP/SP3 is closer (under the surface) to Win7 than it is to original XP.

For netbooks, it's got to be Ubuntu.

 

[paolo]

My main reason for thinking about the upgrade is that I have one or two issues with explorer and some other minor problems with XP. I want to stay with Windows so that the few other people who will use my netbook have something that they are familiar with, at least in essence.

Thanks for all the advice.

dessiato - You might want to say what spec (memory & CPU) your netbook is.

People saying "it's brilliant" might also want to say similar.

That way it's possible some the advice might be relevant to your hardware

 

[ovaltina]

I've got Win 7 Ultimate running on an old Thinkpad X31 with a 1.4ghz processor and 80gb hdd... It's working well but the battery life is shorter. It's a nicer operating system than XP and feels more stable but I don;t know if it's worth the cash to upgrade

 

[jontz01]

Vista needs 2Gb of RAM. Who doesn't have 2Gb ram?

Me dammit.

That's it though. Stacks of laptops were being sold without that, but with Vista preinstalled. No choice. Six months earlier, the same money would have bought a perfectly usable machine. Six months later, then same money bought you pre-configured junk.

It was a massive step backwards at that end of the market.

God yes,

Around 2 years ago I bought a cheap low-end Acer laptop just for surfing and music, it came with XP and ran fine. Two months later a bought one for the Mrs for her degree, slightly higher spec but came preinstalled with Vista - it runs like shite and has no end of problems.

Now I'm in the position where they both need a fresh install, it's the choice between w7 or XP and there's no way I'm going to sit and watch progress bars for a day and end up with dog slow machines. XP/Ubuntu builds on both for me, just for the certainty of it.

Or 98.