Windows 7 - Better or Worse? Your oppinions please?!?

[Zenax]

Hey Guys,

I am looing into upgrading to the Windows 7 OS. Now I am currently running on Windows Vista. At the moment I have no problem with Vista. It is still running fine on my Dell Laptop, probably due to the fact that I keep an eye on whats installed on here.

I would also like to know whether you guys would rather own an OEM version or a full retail-boxed version. Since I am fairly knowledgable about computers I don't mind buying an OEM version, but I am wondering whether anyone else would.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Corey]

I upgraded to Win7 64Bit, I love it. I would never go back to Vista after upgrading

 

[lezreth]

When I purchased my computer, it came with Windows Vista. I thought it was an interesting change from XP, however certain annoyances of Vista started to get to me, like UAC for example. When they released Windows 7, I got the professional version and after installing, the first thing I noticed was how much faster my computer booted up, compared with Vista. Also, the changes to the taskbar make my work much easier. Pinning programs straight to the taskbar puts everything I frequently work with a single click away, no matter how many programs are covering my desktop or cluttering the start menu.

I suppose I better stop there though, because I could ramble on and on about the differences between Vista and Win7. Suffice to say that Vista feels like the beta release of Windows 7 in my opinion.

My verdict: Windows 7 is most certainly worth the upgrade, especially if you are currently using Vista.

 

[Zenax]

Thanks. Surfing the net, that seems to be the response most people are giving but I wondered what you guys thought of it here.

 

[Mr. DOS]

If you're having no problems with Vista, the thing to consider is whether or not 7's new features hold any appeal to you. If they don't, then don't upgrade just for the sake of upgrading - given the price of a Windows 7 upgrade, it's hard to justify that. The exception would be if you qualify for the student pricing - if you do, absolutely get it. $40 is a lot more reasonable, and I'd say it's worth it.

I'd go for OEM over retail. While OEM editions aren't really supported by Microsoft, really, how often do you use Microsoft's support (other than the KB) anyway? Yeah, that's what I thought. I'll just keep the extra $50 please.

--- Mr. DOS

 

[kestrel1]

Not used the latest release of Windows 7, but used the RC version & found it quicker than Vista & not so much of resource hog.
Probably be getting some machines in at work soon with Win7 on them. Normally I roll back computers to XP, if they come with a roll back disk but I will leave Win7 on the new systems as I think it will work much better than Vista.
Personally I use Linux, but would consider Win7 as an option. I would also go with the OEM version.

 

[Smith6612]

Windows 7 is definitely a change from Vista. One thing that I as well as anyone else can note out is that it's much faster and is a bit more efficient on system resources than Vista is. Now, I haven't purchased Windows 7 yet but I have been running the Release Candidate inside of a Virtual Machine for some time, which runs inside of Vista on my gaming computer, and it's pretty snappy for me only giving Windows 7 1GB of RAM to run off of out of 8GB. One thing with upgrading to any operating system is to Google up your hardware to see if anyone has come up with any problems with it. I have had a few reports come in with a few sound cards having driver issues with Windows 7, but by now the manufacturers should have released updates for them.

But give it a shot. As per full retail vs. OEM, the OEM copies tend to be much cheaper due to the fact that they buy the licenses and disks by the bulk. Just watch out for those boot and nuke recovery CDs you'll get from some OEMs though.

 

[Gouri]

As compared to vista. It is worth upgrading to Windows 7. I am using it since when it was released as Beta. Now i am using Windows 7 64-bit Professional version. I like the way it is designed.

It became more user friendly.

 

[user681]

a step up from windows vista thats for sure..

 

[adamparkzer]

I think it's much better. I upgraded from Windows XP. There are still a few compatibility issues (like Webdisk and web folders still not working), but it's MUCH better than Vista. The security isn't as moronic as Vista's (for example, you don't have to give yourself permission to do basic tasks).

 

[vTech]

definitely much faster than vista
may not be faster than xp but worth the speed with features like vista

what i like best is, it is even compatible on my super old notebook....
and best yet, most applications can be installed, be it xp or vista compatible

 

[xav0989]

I was forced to upgrade to 7, but I don't suffer at all! The speed is way better, the resources are better managed, the new taskbar is great, and there are many more features, including major speed upgrades. As for the UAC, there is an option to not darken the screen each time a warning needs to pop up. For that, I praise M$.
I got a retail version, and would have bought a retail version as well if I was the one that bought it as I have bad past experiences with OEM license. Oh, BTW, I think I still have my vista license glued under my box!

 

[Zenax]

I think an upgrade might be required in the next couple of weeks then. There is a utility available from microsoft that looks at your system to see if you can upgrade or not. Now according to that I can run the 32-bit or the 64-bit. That is the next question .... 32-bit or 64-bit

UK Users: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/Software/OperatingSystems/Microsoft/GFC-00025.html

 

[hlastimosa]

I'd say its way better than the lower versions of windows particularly Windows Vista, interface is very clean , bootup time is down to at least 28secs , shutdown times way faster than vista. the way it handles new devices has been greatly improved as well as support for wireless

 

[greatm]

When I got my computer in late August it had vista, and I upgraded to 7 shortly after it came out. If your computer is has enough power and runs fast enough, you will not nosee a noticeble increase in speed, so take all comments about it being faster with a grain of salt. Computers that are more powerful don't gain enough of a boost from switching to 7 to make speed a deciding factor, but the other featureswere enough for me. I like the newer bits they added to Aero, especially the how the scheme allows more to show through to the background than Vista. The changing desktop background feature is nice as well, but it wasn't something I considered as something I needed.

As for UAC, after using Vista pretty much since it was released, 7 seemed a little odd, but it is nice not to have quite as much popping up to complain at me. & fixed a couple of compatibility issues I had, but it created a couple as well, though it was easier finding workarounds for them than with vista. Somethings, like network folders are excruciatlingly annoying in my opinion on 7 (the only solution I found involved getting the xp virtual os and that is too much work to get a shortcut to a network folder to work).

Overall, I like 7. I liked Vista and 7 seems like the next logical step forward in Vista's design. I would reccomend 7 to someone over Vista if they had a choice with a new computer, but with an existing one my sstand would be to stick with Vista if everything is working fine for you, how you want it to work. There is no point upgrading yet if nothing is going wrong unless you think your system would gain a speed boost because it isn't a more powerful system. So, if what you have is working fine for you, I'd say stick with it.

 

[oscaroto]

Windows 7 Rules!

 

[qmacadhigh]

Hey Guys,

I am looing into upgrading to the Windows 7 OS. Now I am currently running on Windows Vista. At the moment I have no problem with Vista. It is still running fine on my Dell Laptop, probably due to the fact that I keep an eye on whats installed on here.

I would also like to know whether you guys would rather own an OEM version or a full retail-boxed version. Since I am fairly knowledgable about computers I don't mind buying an OEM version, but I am wondering whether anyone else would.

Thanks for any feedback.

Men windows 7? the only good thing about this os is the Interface, appearance. . . . if i were you i wont upgrade. My classmate upgrade his vista to windows 7, then after a day he freak out. Y? because windows 7 is not compatible to other os in terms of ad hoc, or other wireless connection, it is only available through windows 7

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[zegnhabi]

I upgraded to Win7 , I love it, It's amazing and recognize all the drivers of my Acer Aspire One.

 

[spadija]

windows 7 is not compatible to other os in terms of ad hoc, or other wireless connection, it is only available through windows 7

Huh? I've been running Windows 7 since August and had no wireless issues at all. Also, what is only available through Windows 7?

Speaking of compatibility, Windows 7 is compatible with Vista drivers, so there should be very few issues with unsupported hardware. In terms of software, if it ran on Vista, there should be no problem running it on Win7. Just about every XP application I've tried works too, though you might need to use XP compatibility mode. There's also a nice little feature when you right click the icon for a program called "Troubleshoot Compatibility", which helps you get older software running.

Men windows 7? the only good thing about this os is the Interface, appearance.

I agree with you about the interface being good, but I beg to differ about that being the only improvement. It's certainly much faster than Vista (don't give me statistics--I'm talking responsiveness of the OS in general). There are so many nice shortcuts built in, (some of which are unfortunately somewhat hidden) that make it much faster for me to do what I want to do, like Shift+Right Click brings up a context menu with some additional options like "Open command window here". The taskbar and notification area are also much nicer to deal with.

If you're going Vista->Windows 7, I see no reason not to upgrade. I hate to steal other peoples' lines, but Windows 7 really is "Vista done right".

 

[pyornide]

Windows 7 is an improvement over XP and Vista. Memory efficiency (I can actually run my copy of Team Fortress 2, in contrast to XP and Vista) and the task bar were the highest influence factors for me. I didn't like the default grouping of programs in the taskbar however as it became a bit obtrusive over time so I switched to traditional since I usually have a lot of Windows and programs open.