Should I upgrade to Windows 7?

[tommyfullington]

Currently I'm still using a 32-bit version of XP Pro.

Here's my system Specs:

Phenom II 720BE
Ati 4850 512mb
Ati TV Wonder 650 pci-e
Biostar 790GX Board
3 gig's of DDR2

Here are other devices I need to work:

Sony a200 dslr
4 gig zune

Something I currently don't have working, unencrypted QAM signals... over the air looks pretty darn good though. Just wondering if QAM support is in Windows 7 MC yet?

Ok so a couple of Questions I have:

How much memory is it using at idle?

Should I go 64-bit or 32-bit. I don't think there was ever a 64-bit driver released for my camera, but I may be able to use a 64-bit driver for another model. Anyone with Sony DSLR's please feel free to give me some information if you've tried this on Vista etc.

The Pre-Order is just for an upgrade. I no longer have a xp pro disk, but I can get a hold of one. Will the disk be required? If so... is a Vista disk also reuired? I have no problem with backing up data and doing a clean install.

Does it use DX10? or is there a new version of DX coming out specifically for the operating system?

Does starter edition have Media Center? or is it just Home Premium. What is the point in going all the way to Pro?

If you can help me with any of this I would really appreciate it! As always. I haven't tried RC1 because of the "It will shut down ever two hours stuff", is it still good until June 2010... I feel like they are rushing the release. Which scares me a little. I've been through that with Windows 2000 to ME and don't want to experience it again.

Are you going 64-bit or sticking with the 32-bit? I'll go 64-bit if you all believe it is stable. Thanks again!

[samureye]

RC1 doesn't shut down, the beta was what shut down. It shuts down Jun 1st 2010 so feel free to install on a partition or on a spare machine. On a not so technical level I can say, sure go for Windows 7. I use it on my main laptop and I like it a lot.

Memory at idle is....you're not going to notice anything, it's snappy enough, moreso than Vista, which is an OS I like.

64/32 - I belive both ship on the disc and basically the advantage of 64 bit is if you're going to have more than 2GB RAM.

I think you want to go with Home Premium, it should have all you need.

The RC is Ultimate so it'll have all the bells and whistles, but having used Vista Home Premium, it should more or less have all you need. Seeing that I have Media Center with Home Premium Vista laptops, it should be there in Windows 7 I imagine.

I know I didn't answer all (or any, probably) of your questions, but hope it helps somehow. At the very least, you should be able to try Windows 7 in a partition.

[tokenuser]

If you have any thoughts of using W7 as a production machine DO NOT install RC1.

There is no upgrade path from the RC version to the final retail version. You WILL need to reformat to do it.

Its all in the EULA that people choose to ignore ...

[samureye]

True that, didn't mention it, but that was why I was saying go with a partition or on a machine you might have lying around. Also, I can't remember for sure if you can upgrade from XP or if it's Vista only.

[tokenuser]

True that, didn't mention it, but that was why I was saying go with a partition or on a machine you might have lying around. Also, I can't remember for sure if you can upgrade from XP or if it's Vista only.XP is valid as an upgrade license, but you need to do a reinstall. Vista lets you do a true "upgrade" over the top of the current OS.

[ArmpitOfDeath]

In either case, best to install anew. You never know what incompatible drivers / apps may be lurking under the hood of the previous install.

[darknessgp]

...

How much memory is it using at idle?

Should I go 64-bit or 32-bit. I don't think there was ever a 64-bit driver released for my camera, but I may be able to use a 64-bit driver for another model. Anyone with Sony DSLR's please feel free to give me some information if you've tried this on Vista etc.

The Pre-Order is just for an upgrade. I no longer have a xp pro disk, but I can get a hold of one. Will the disk be required? If so... is a Vista disk also reuired? I have no problem with backing up data and doing a clean install.

Does it use DX10? or is there a new version of DX coming out specifically for the operating system?

Does starter edition have Media Center? or is it just Home Premium. What is the point in going all the way to Pro?

If you can help me with any of this I would really appreciate it! As always. I haven't tried RC1 because of the "It will shut down ever two hours stuff", is it still good until June 2010... I feel like they are rushing the release. Which scares me a little. I've been through that with Windows 2000 to ME and don't want to experience it again.

Are you going 64-bit or sticking with the 32-bit? I'll go 64-bit if you all believe it is stable. Thanks again!

Mine is using a little less than 1GB / 4 GB with only firefox running (it using ~90 MB)

IMO, unless you have an obscure or really old piece of hardware that you know will NOT work on 64bit, then go 64bit... It's stable, and has been since HW manufacturers got with the picture after Vista released. Some people will say that there is no reason to go to it unless you use 4GB+ of RAM. I say there is no real compelling reason to stay with 32bit currently (very few exceptions apply).

I'm not sure about the DirectX stuff, I've heard somewhere Win7 will be introducing DX11. ( can't remember where, might just have been a rumor)... either way, it'll support DX9 and DX10.

Don't even consider starter, unless you are low income. Premium has Media Center, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions has a nice chart comparing editions.

[tommyfullington]

Mine is using a little less than 1GB / 4 GB with only firefox running (it using ~90 MB)

IMO, unless you have an obscure or really old piece of hardware that you know will NOT work on 64bit, then go 64bit... It's stable, and has been since HW manufacturers got with the picture after Vista released. Some people will say that there is no reason to go to it unless you use 4GB+ of RAM. I say there is no real compelling reason to stay with 32bit currently (very few exceptions apply).

I'm not sure about the DirectX stuff, I've heard somewhere Win7 will be introducing DX11. ( can't remember where, might just have been a rumor)... either way, it'll support DX9 and DX10.

Don't even consider starter, unless you are low income. Premium has Media Center, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions has a nice chart comparing editions.

Sweet thanks for the information guys. Long before XP was released I was a linux user only. I knew nothing else. I've learned a lot from XP. I guess I'm happy that the day is finally coming, a version of Windows Vista without all the memory leaks. I really appreciate all the responses. I will go 64 bit on a fresh install, so long as my DSLR still works :-D!

There is one compelling reason to stick with 32-bit. That is for business purposes. For instance the company I work for will probably be on 32-bit XP from now until the end of eternity. There's no reason for them to switch.

[tommyfullington]

Anyone know if I have to have the discs from XP or the product key for instance... I'll digg it out of the registry if I have to. Currently using pro, does that mean I have to upgrade to pro or can I do home premium?

[darknessgp]

...

There is one compelling reason to stick with 32-bit. That is for business purposes. For instance the company I work for will probably be on 32-bit XP from now until the end of eternity. There's no reason for them to switch.

IMO, There's no reason for them to switch outside of a normal upgrade process. If things progress as they have been, eventually 64bit non-XP machines will be the only machines they can get without a lot of looking. Though I can't see anyone upgrading just to upgrade in the business world, hell I'm a primarily C# .NET developer still working on a P4 with 2 GB of RAM at work, almost everyone else in the office is already on at least dual-core 4GB machines. Though we are a tech company and have to somewhat stay with the times.

[dam7ri]

Why would you want to upgrade? As long as XP is supported (hell even after support ends), I'm still going to use it. Heck, Win2k is a better choice than Vista or 7.

But if you feel the need to do so, go with 32-bit. M$ non-committal approach to the 64-bit platform will continue to cause hardware problems, until they drop the 32-bit platform. If you do go the 64-bit route, read the spec sheets carefully, because if a vendor doesn't list 64-bit, it most likely won't work.

[ds2600]

Why would you want to upgrade? As long as XP is supported (hell even after support ends), I'm still going to use it. Heck, Win2k is a better choice than Vista or 7.

But if you feel the need to do so, go with 32-bit. M$ non-committal approach to the 64-bit platform will continue to cause hardware problems, until they drop the 32-bit platform. If you do go the 64-bit route, read the spec sheets carefully, because if a vendor doesn't list 64-bit, it most likely won't work.

I'm very curious if you've even touched Win7 or Vista (on appropriate hardware). 7 is ridiculously faster than XP on my new build.

And 2000 - really... come on...

I use all 3 on a regular basis (2k, XP at work, 7 at home) and 7 is by far the fastest, and most stable. Not to mention, gaming/video production is smooth as butter.

[dam7ri]

I'm very curious if you've even touched Win7 or Vista (on appropriate hardware). 7 is ridiculously faster than XP on my new build.

And 2000 - really... come on...

I use all 3 on a regular basis (2k, XP at work, 7 at home) and 7 is by far the fastest, and most stable. Not to mention, gaming/video production is smooth as butter.

I continue to use 2K and XP, but Vista proved to be the last straw. Thanks to Vista, I am a happy Linux user. I have 2k on an old machine for guests to surf the web, XP to play games, and Linux for important stuff, like a file/print/web server, a firewall, and a reliable laptop.

As far as 7, I hear it is better than Vista, but that is like being valedictorian of summer school. I'm tired of paying to be disappointed. If I wanted that, I'd drink Natural Ice.

[ds2600]

Touche. I can understand that. But 2k, dude, seriously... why not just throw Ubuntu or some other ridiculously easy Linux system on there for web surfing?

[dam7ri]

Touche. I can understand that. But 2k, dude, seriously... why not just throw Ubuntu or some other ridiculously easy Linux system on there for web surfing?

1) Because Windows users don't know how to use computers. They know (?) how to use Windows.

2) Since when is Linux "ridiculously easy", and if it is, why the hell are people still flocking to the latest version of Windows, like flies to a pile of crap? Actually, I know the answer; see 1.

[ds2600]

I simply meant using Ubuntu to surf the web or whatever else your guests might want to do would be easy, not more in depth things that "power users" enjoy doing.

[dam7ri]

I think we are starting to go off topic, so let me steer us back in the right direction.

To upgrade or not to upgrade. My advice always is to use what you have for as long as it works. If you really feel that you need to have the latest version of Windows, by it pre-installed on a new machine. It just saves you the headache of drivers and compatability issues.

[computoman]

With Microsoft Windows you have to keep upgrading..... (software and hardware wise). I have maybe just one or two machines that will run w7. Even then I would have to get new video cards for those machines. When I installed the w7rc it seemed to run a bit better that the original beta version but it would not run the video drivers even in compatibility mode. We have since replaced w7 for another os. Most IT people recommend win2k8 over vista. I have not really heard any more feed back about W7 from legitimate it pros yet. They are being cautious in the making known their assessment after dealing with Vista. At two hundred dollars a pop for the w7 software and then to have to add the cost of hardware upgrades, It is not feasible for us to go to w7. For mswindows we will run xp on older standalone machines for a while.

Microsoft just sent out a major security advisory about IE.

[dam7ri]

With Microsoft Windows you have to keep upgrading..... (software and hardware wise).

I couldn't agree with you more, but for some reason people want to continue to give money to the 2nd biggest criminal enterprise (the US government being the biggest). I wish they would send it to me.

[computoman]

Following Tokenusers logic: Microsoft Windows 7 must not be worth much since they are giving it away if only temporarily. Microsoft is laying off thousands of people, canceling software contracts left, right, and etc. I wonder how long they will last. IE is losing share at a faster and faster rate. Let's see how many people plunk down the 200 + plus dollars for windows 7. What funny is that there was a study done where people were asked to play with and then rate mswindows 7. People said they really liked it. The ironic part to that is they were actually using linux with kde and not Microsoft windows 7. Seems like MS has copied the kde interface in a lot of ways.

[tokenuser]

Following Tokenusers logic: Microsoft Windows 7 must not be worth much since they are giving it away if only temporarily. Way to go Mr FLOSS Man.

By your way of twisting what I said, every auto maker that offers a test drive must not be worth much either.

Once again you demonstrate the reason why I created the Is Linux Dead thread ... because every little nuance is twisted by the Linux fanboys to support their notion that only free is good.

[dam7ri]

Based on Google's announcement to release their own (Linux based) OS, Microsoft better get 7 right, because I am certain that most of Microsoft's market share likes and trusts Google more than Microsoft.

To quote the great philosopher Eric Cartman, Microsoft, "You just got F'd in the A!"

[computoman]

I actually do not think much of auto test drives either at this point.......

I am glad that Google is coming out with their own os. It makes the party more interesting. But just like I did with linux and bsd, I will wait a while before using it. After the stunt google tried to pull with the licensing agreement on chrome, I am very leery of using it except as a standalone machine at first.

No one can predict the os market, since you never know what is about to come down the pipes. I will almost predict that once the fiaSCO issues are settled, I would suspect that ibm might come out with their own linux also.

[computoman]

To quote the great philosopher Eric Cartman, Microsoft, "You just got F'd in the A!"

Chill out! There is no need for that attitude,

I will use any os if they pay me enough. Microsoft does not pay me.

[computoman]

Way to go Mr FLOSS Man.

By your way of twisting what I said, every auto maker that offers a test drive must not be worth much either.

Once again you demonstrate the reason why I created the Is Linux Dead thread ... because every little nuance is twisted by the Linux fanboys to support their notion that only free is good.

We charge for the linux work we do. Linux is freedomware and not freeware. I am surprised that some of the hot heads have not started a Microsoft is dead thread.....

[dam7ri]

because every little nuance is twisted by the Linux fanboys to support their notion that only free is good.

I do not necessarily think free is good, but I whole-heartedly assert that Microsoft is bad. Aside from the illegal business practices that they employed to gain dominance in the computer industry, the prey on their customer base with over-priced substandard products; but all the Windoze fanboys keep going back for more of their abuse, like a battered wife. Apple isn't much better, but their fanboys get the mistreated for their loyalty just as well. Why are people so willing to pay companies to urinate and defecate on them?

Vista Ultimate users got hosed, because they didn't get half of what they expected (I doubt they got all of what M$ promised), and now they are whining because there is no discount on the Ultimate version of 7. Do you want to know why there is no discount? It's because your good friends in Richmond, who have your best interest in mind, know that the egomaniac power-users are going to buy it anyway, regardless of price, because it makes them feel superior. Hurray! The George W. Bush approach to self-esteem is once again successful (that is where you surround yourself with idiots, just to say you're the smartest person in the room).

So take your privacy intrusions, deceptive EULA's, draconian DRM, security holes, and additional costs to keep your computer running (at the expense of functionality), and I'll take my freedom to do what ever I want with my computer.

[computoman]

I still like dos. and qbasic.

[dam7ri]

I still like dos. and qbasic.

DOS. I remember DOS. I also recall that was when I started drinking. JK. Actually, DOS was fun. I still have the discs.

[computoman]

I also like wattcp for tcpip networking capability. Norton Ghost used it for a while on their client boot disks. I wrote a simple program in quickbasic to monitor the joystick button. Instead of having it connected to a joystick button, I had it connected to a door switches that are use in alarm systems. if the door was opened an email was sent to me. Everything fit on just a floppy. the original program was developed on an XT (8088). No 10+ gig os needed. I now use freedos for those projects. I have original msdos 6.22 disks also/

[ArmpitOfDeath]

I'm a bit confused. Will the real computoman please stand up?

[computoman]

For all the old machines I have collected over the years, I have quite a few licenses for Apple and Microsoft of both desktop and server types. MSWindows XP even has it's points on a rare occasion. I will use any os if you pay me enough. Microsoft does not pay me.

[perxy]

After a month using Windows 7 on my machines including laptops and HTPCs I can confidently say that its a huge improvement over Vista or XP. Its feels "leaner" and works "faster". Since I have a bunch of streaming media boxes (xbox360 and PS3), the media networking capabilities is a huge step up.

[computoman]

Good luck!

[nav13eh]

I could right for hours about this but end in saying Windows 7 is what Vista was supposed to be. I'm upgrading!

[bobv13]

I have a total of 6 PCs, all have at least one distro of linux installed and all but 2 have a version of windows installed. To date I have been most disappointed by Vista but rather pleased by Win7. I'll buy one full licence for Win7 when it becomes available. I'd upgrade one or more of my other PCs but I think the price sucks. But like it or not, no distro of linux can do what I want to do routinely without requiring more attention than I'm able to give.

But this was a should I upgrade thread... My answer is yes to xp users because MS is going to stop supporting XP soon, and yes to Vista users because, well Vista just sucks. If you have earlier versions of windows I'm assuming it's because you're a hobbyist and need to make the upgrade decision based on you own needs/desires.

[nav13eh]

I have a total of 6 PCs, all have at least one distro of linux installed and all but 2 have a version of windows installed. To date I have been most disappointed by Vista but rather pleased by Win7. I'll buy one full licence for Win7 when it becomes available. I'd upgrade one or more of my other PCs but I think the price sucks. But like it or not, no distro of linux can do what I want to do routinely without requiring more attention than I'm able to give.

But this was a should I upgrade thread... My answer is yes to xp users because MS is going to stop supporting XP soon, and yes to Vista users because, well Vista just sucks. If you have earlier versions of windows I'm assuming it's because you're a hobbyist and need to make the upgrade decision based on you own needs/desires.

I wish the price was better too but as a vista user, using it every day, it SUCKS!!! No Service Pack can fix that. Windows 7 is an amazing improvement and I see Vista as a Publicly not free Beta 1 for Windows 7. Windows 7 will be in the history books, and in 20 years no one will remember Vista.

[tokenuser]

I wish the price was better too but as a vista user, using it every day, it SUCKS!!! No Service Pack can fix that. Windows 7 is an amazing improvement and I see Vista as a Publicly not free Beta 1 for Windows 7. Windows 7 will be in the history books, and in 20 years no one will remember Vista.Are you a student?

Microsoft have just announced student pricing for the Win7 upgrade ... a fairly impressive $29.99.

The Official MS "741" Website (http://www.win741.com/).

[nav13eh]

Are you a student?

No I'm not, I wish I was.

[bobv13]

There are pre release prices (about 1/2) available again throughl 10/20/2009

[nav13eh]

There are pre release prices (about 1/2) available again throughl 10/20/2009

Where at?

[bobv13]

Where at?

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium OEM is $99 at newegg. More offers exist on other Win7 versions but will end today. I should add that Tiger Direct has just about the same deal.

[nav13eh]

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium OEM is $99 at newegg. More offers exist on other Win7 versions but will end today. I should add that Tiger Direct has just about the same deal.

We are 12h away from the launch, and I will just buy the Full version later.