Windows 7 impressions

[Seanz0rz]

So i will start this thread off. i got win 7 early through university. i installed win 7 professional 64 bit on my desktop computer. 1.86ghz core 2 duo, 4 gb ram, evga nforce 680i motherboard, nvidia 8800 gts 640mb video card, 1tb seagate hard drive.

install: overall, HORRIBLE! yes, i grew up with windows being installed through a text based GUI, and i really had no problem with that. i also have enjoyed a proper GUI install with the most recent versions of linux, and those work excellently. unfortunately, microsoft decided to neuter its true GUI installer, and strip any functionality out of it for formatting drives, etc. if my memory serves me correctly, there is less functionality than the XP text installer. other than that, it went smoothly and no major hangups. install was fairly quick. unlike previous windows versions that ive used, the product key was not entered until after all the software was installed. i could see this being a problem, especially if the key was invalid for whatever reason (its happened to me a few times on XP, but i was alerted before installing the OS.)

user experience: terrific! everything is very snappy, loads quickly, looks amazing, etc. im liking the new task bar, the control panel is well organized (as soon as you switch out of category view) and everything, even if i has changed since XP, is where you would normally think to find it.

now i have to say, i HATED vista, and avoided it like the plague. however, microsoft really did something right this time as far as im concerned. ive been using it for about 12 hours total, and im very happy thus far. everything i have installed has worked no problem, all my usual programs like itunes, pidgin, firefox, utorrent, etc haven't had any issues. all my hardware was supported out of the box, even my 1 year old HP printer. i must say this experience is very linux like, with out alot of the command line based hassle of linux.

bottom line: if you have windows vista right now, you really should think about upgrading as soon as possible. i think you will be impressed with their solution to a lot of the problems created in vista. if you are still using xp like i was, its a worthy upgrade to xp.

please, if you have windows 7, share your experience here. i am pleasantly surprised by its performance and features! also, please ask questions. theres no way i could cover everything, nor have i even seen everything. if you have specific questions i can look, post up screenshots, etc.

[troyboy162]

its working great for me as well in my new computer. id be most interested in how it would work on an older computer. certainly it would be better then vista but could it rival xp if you turned off all the visuals? 7 will be the first Microsoft OS that i will be buying

[YotaFun]

I don't know if it would be worth trying on my PC.
I have a HP Pavilion Media Center m7250n - Pentium D 820 2.8 GHz
400 GB WD HD
1 GB RAM Currently (once I find more for it I can up grade to 4 which I will do)
Mainboard Intel 945P Express
ATI Radeon X300 SE graphics card 128.0 MB DDR SDRAM


I am sure there is more I am missing, but what you can gather from what I have (or will be upgrading) do you think I should even attempt this upgrade when I have the chance?

[Seanz0rz]

* 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
* 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
* DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

here are some helpful links:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...mpare?T1=tab20

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...mpare?T1=tab01

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...ducts/features

[YotaFun]

So in all technicality my 2.8 GHZ dual core with 64-bit technology and my soon to be upgraded to 4 GD memory with a 400 GB hard drive in a pc with the proper graphics car needed (or can be obtained, then I should in all technicality be able to squeeze by with the upgrade if I choose to do so?

[Seanz0rz]

it has been my experience that upgrades are riddled with problems, especially jumping from something like xp to 7. i would do a fresh install. but yes, your hardware should be able to run it.

[mastacox]

I've been using the Windows 7 RC 64-bit (a.k.a. Beta) for about 5 months now, and have been very happy with it. Overall I've been suprised by the fit & finish of this pre-release version, love the fully-activated Aero interface, and have had little trouble with driver support. My Windows 7 Install Thread

I'm running the release candidate on 2 machines-

Link: My beastly machine:
3.0GHz AMD Phenom II X4 940 Processor
ASUS M4N72-E SLI Motherboard
XFX GeForce GTX 260 Core 216- 896MB RAM
OCZ Platinum Edition 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR2 800 SDRAM
960GB total hard drive space

Wife's machine (mainly a printer server :P)
2.4GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Processor
ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe Motherboard
GeForce 7600GT- 256MB RAM
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
160GB PATA Hard Drive

Windows 7 is a real treat on the beast machine, and runs fine on my wife's computer as well. The only things I could not find drivers for were my old scanner (oh well) and the wireless network card for my wife's computer (Netgear WG311v2, the WG311v3 supposedly is supported). Overall I found the install to be very straightforward, I was able to format the drives and select partitions and the whole nine yards. I like that this Windows relies heavily on Windows Update for driver upport, instead of installing a billion legacy drivers on your hard drive (thank god).

The interface is very clean and slick, multi-tasking is effortless even with Photoshop, Sony Vegas 9.0 Platinum, Zune software, and many Chrome windows running (although that probably has more to do with my processor and RAM). My Windows Experience Index is pretty high, I think my lowest is my hard drive at something like 5.6, where as my processor is rated at 7.2 ish, and the graphics card is like 6.7.

I have been able to run all of my games that I have, Crysis runs like a dream under DirectX 10. Half-Life 2, Fallout 3, BioShock, Need For Speed Pro Street, Flight Simulator X, all have run no problem. I also have run some older games such as Ground Control II and 1nsane without too much trouble, although I think I had to mess around with administrative privelages and compatability modes with a few installers. Overall I do think this OS will run anything you've got, you may just have to make sure to run the installer as an administrator with WinXP compatability mode.

Rating for me is 10/10 after upgrading from dreary WinXP. The interface is great, it does everything I want, runs all of the software I want, supports all of the hardware I want, what more could I ask for

[DHC6twinotter]

Sweet! I may have to upgrade soon. I'd probably upgrade to 4 gigs of RAM for now, but how much RAM does 7 support?


Dumb question: Do I need to purchase Office again for 7, or can I re-install what I already have on my pc?

2.4 GHz E6600 Core 2 Duo processor
2 gigs RAM
250 gig HD
ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 graphics card (X1300)

[Seanz0rz]

32 bit versions (x86) support about 2.5gb of ram. if you have more, you must go to a 64 bit system, however, your processor must support that. you are fine with that processor dan.

as for office, you should be able to reinstall no problem. whether or not thats "legal" as far as M$ is concerned, im not sure. but i wouldnt worry too much about it. im about to reinstall my legit office 2007, from my last windows incarnation.

[DHC6twinotter]

Thanks Sean.

I just realized my previous boss was the one that put Office on the PC, so I don't even have the activation number. Doh. Oh well.