Windows 7

[Vincent Vega]

I'm seriously considering upgrading my Vista Home Premium laptop to 7 Home Premium. As a student, I would just have to pay €35 for the upgrade, so that's not a bad deal. I've heard it runs better than Vista, doesn't ask as much if you are really, really sure and again to do what you just wanted to do, everyone, even Windows-sceptics, have been positive about it and I wanted to try it as I might be going to buy it for my PC. Only thing that bothers me is that it requires 16GB (for 32bit) to 20GB (for 64bit) of HDD.
After having seen the differences to Professional I decided that there was nothing I would need, so I would be fine with Home Premium I guess.
Figured that a simple upgrading wouldn't really do the trick. But we all love to re-install Windows and all our favourite programs, don't we?

 

[subnet]

if you have a 64-bit processor, you should make the effort to go Win7 64-bit. I noticed a huge difference unpacking RAR files.

i think the dreaded network performance issues in vista are gone in win7 (ie streaming video b/w machines), copying over GBs of data, etc.

plus, win7 has directx 11 for upcoming dx11 games. i'm not sure you will be getting dx11 update for vista, let alone winxp.

 

[ntalwar]

I like the new taskbar plus GUI improvements like snap, shake, "show desktop", wallpaper slideshow, libraries, pinning, more efficient searching (with results preview), cool aero, etc.

 

[Liesje]

I just did the shake thing. Kinda rough with a little touch pad!

 

[Lemonchick]

I'm seriously considering upgrading my Vista Home Premium laptop to 7 Home Premium. As a student, I would just have to pay €35 for the upgrade, so that's not a bad deal. I've heard it runs better than Vista, doesn't ask as much if you are really, really sure and again to do what you just wanted to do, everyone, even Windows-sceptics, have been positive about it and I wanted to try it as I might be going to buy it for my PC. Only thing that bothers me is that it requires 16GB (for 32bit) to 20GB (for 64bit) of HDD.
After having seen the differences to Professional I decided that there was nothing I would need, so I would be fine with Home Premium I guess.
Figured that a simple upgrading wouldn't really do the trick. But we all love to re-install Windows and all our favourite programs, don't we?

I'm in the same boat, i get a really good price because I'm a student but I'd love to hear more about it before I take the leap. I'm terrified of change.

By the way, I'm on Vista Home Premium on a Lenovo SL400.

Should I go for it?

 

[onebloodonelife]

I'm in the same boat, i get a really good price because I'm a student but I'd love to hear more about it before I take the leap. I'm terrified of change.

Btw I'm on Vista Home Premium on a Lenovo SL1400.

Should I go for it?

Do it. Windows 7 is so much more stable than Vista. And, if you get a deal, there's no reason not to. We've been running 7 on a few of our computers at work for a couple of months now, and they've all been fine, save for a few very minor things (with networking at our school, specific to us, probably not a big deal for consumers). Oh, and it looks basically the same as Vista, so don't be scared.

 

[NotBono]

I got Windows 7 Professional for free from Academic Alliance; boot camped it on my Mac. I haven't used it much since I use my Mac most of the time. Maybe I'll boot into it for a couple days to try it out.

 

[ntalwar]

Do it. Windows 7 is so much more stable than Vista. And, if you get a deal, there's no reason not to. We've been running 7 on a few of our computers at work for a couple of months now, and they've all been fine, save for a few very minor things (with networking at our school, specific to us, probably not a big deal for consumers). Oh, and it looks basically the same as Vista, so don't be scared.

I agree, and just do a clean install. Some things look nicer than Vista like the task bar and wallpaper slideshows. I did an hour or two of "productive worK" this evening (using lots of spread out data files, etc), and W7 saved me around 15 minutes of tedious searching, browsing, and navigating to read/write files.

Here's a collection of Windows 7 videos (some are 7 seconds):
Windows 7 videos - Microsoft Windows

 

[Lemonchick]

Do it. Windows 7 is so much more stable than Vista. And, if you get a deal, there's no reason not to. We've been running 7 on a few of our computers at work for a couple of months now, and they've all been fine, save for a few very minor things (with networking at our school, specific to us, probably not a big deal for consumers). Oh, and it looks basically the same as Vista, so don't be scared.

All right so I just bought it. I'll back up my stuff and everything this week and hopefully by next weekend I'll be running Windows 7.

I'll probably just let my dad do the install but any tips on a clean install? How to go about it? etc.? I'm still very nervous about it.

 

[Vincent Vega]

For a cleanup make sure you have every data backed up you need. If you use Firefox or a mail client, you can also save your profiles and mails stored in them. Later you copy it back in and everything is like you left it. If you feel unsecure use some other storage device so you don't accidentally format the partition that contains your backup.
It's also handy to have all instalation files of the software you will later need somewhere. Especially anti virus software etc. So after installation you can start re-install those programs right away and will have virus protection even before you go online again. Also saves alot of time. Then, before going ahead, have all drivers CDs etc. with you so you won't be searching around for them after that.

That's pretty much it.

 

[Lemonchick]

Guys I did it! I'm so proud of myself I didn't even need any help. That wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. I never had any major issues with Vista but I like the feeling of having a brand new computer.

 

[Vincent Vega]

See, and it didn't even hurt.

 

[gvox]

So you really need 4GB RAM to run the thing?

 

[HyperU2]

So you really need 4GB RAM to run the thing?

Runs smooth as silk on my netbook with 1GB of RAM.

 

[david]

I like how computers always seem so fast when you first get them. Then a few years roll around and they seem really slow.

 

[Liesje]

So you really need 4GB RAM to run the thing?

I'm running it on 2 and a 32-bit processor/OS. My computer is 3 years old, 2GB RAM is the max.

I just bought a desktop for my mom and it will also have 2GB but has a better processor. She can upgrade later if she wants. I'm debating whether to install Windows 7 x64 or x86. I wanted to try the 64-bit to capitalize on the processor, but I'm not sure if there will be complications with drivers and software....

 

[digitize]

I'd at least give x64 a try.

 

[digitize]

I like how computers always seem so fast when you first get them. Then a few years roll around and they seem really slow.

Which is why I re-install all three operating systems on my Mac every six months or so.

 

[Vincent Vega]

I now got Windows 7 Prof for free through my university. Just need to find the time to install it. Chose the x64 version, but if that doesn't work properly I will download the x86 version.

 

[stammer476]

I like how computers always seem so fast when you first get them. Then a few years roll around and they seem really slow.

I am definitely NOT a believer in the Mac/Apple hype, but I have to admit that my MacBook seems to run just as fast as it did when I bought it in March 2006.

 

[melon]

Can I just say that Windows 7 is great; probably my favourite Windows version since Windows 2000. I was running Vista 64-bit on my computer prior to installing 7 on it, and I had no real problems since SP1.

(I should point out that Vista RTM was so bad that it blue-screened during installation, due to a bug related to its driver for my motherboard; the only way around that was to remove enough RAM so that it was below 4GB during installation, to manually install the patch and then put the RAM back in!)

Windows 7, though, is so much faster than Vista 64 that it's just amazing to me.

 

[melon]

I like how computers always seem so fast when you first get them. Then a few years roll around and they seem really slow.

I'm very late to the game here, but my thoughts are that the real reason for this is that the stock heatsink and fan for CPUs are generally only enough to prevent the CPU from melting, while still so hot that it slowly degrades, thus slowing down substantially after a few years.

My current computer is going on three years old, and I put on a very large "overkill" heatsink and fan that keeps the CPU very cool by my standards, and my computer feels as fast as it was when I first bought it.

Just to note, looks are deceiving; it's extremely quiet running.