Windows Vista --> Windows 7

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Dizzie

I have a PC at home which runs XP 64bit edition and it runs well. Vista never stops moaning at me for something or other. Even when I turn off the stupid confirm thingy it moans it's not turned on.

XP 64 had shocking driver support and was never exactly stable
It takes 2 minutes to set Vista up to stop it asking you stuff like that

What kind of madman would be running a 32-bit OS now Jimmy?!

[Big G]

I don't really do anything with my pc anymore. It plays Left 4 Dead and WoW and runs Ventrilo Mix for VoIP.

Don't think it's ever crashed, although I can't install MSN on it. It never really does anything now.

[Balders]

My experience of windows 7 is really positive.

I've been running it since the beta release came out and have had no issues with drivers, programs or anything else that you might expect running a beta OS.

I've found it to be more stable, less resource hungry and easier to use. Who ever said it's what vista should have been was spot on, but its more than just a slightly updated version of the OS like 98se was.

I have it running on an old P4 3ghz with 2 gig of ram, it never crashes, hangs or freezes and recovers its resources well if I max it out.

I also have it installed on an old laptop again its got 2 gig of ram buts its as stable as a mountain goat.

Without going into all the detail why not just get hold of the beta release and try it for yourself, whats the worse that can happen!

You can still download a copy of 7 until tomorrow (20th August), to test:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/eval.../dd353271.aspx

Mike

[poopers]

Vista support will last for a long time, they haven‘t phased out XP support yet. If you‘re not encountering any problems with vista (so do some don’t, mostly dependant on hardware) then there’s no need, as of now, to upgrade. That said Windows 7 does feel a lot more polished than vista, is a lot faster on old hardware and is worth the £70 imo.

Aren’t you eligible for MS’s educational discount too? Do they still do this? When I was at uni (doing computing too) you could save tons by getting the student licence, bit of a palaver getting it though. They’ll be a family licence for windows 7 coming soon allowing you to install the os on 3 separate machines for around £150 so might be worth checking that out if you know others interested in getting it too.

[passy]

Originally Posted by kwik

i just switched to ubuntu... its free and VERY quick, i use vista for microsoft programes though....

I like your style kwik, as someone who uses Ubuntu every day and makes his living from knowing the power of Linux, I can only smile to myself every time I here all the licensing, cost issues and trouble people have with Windows.

cOsie, I'm sure if you're Uni is any good you'll come across Linux very soon. The best lesson I learned at Uni was that Windows is not the only option -after Uni the lesson I learned was that having Linux on your CV can be useful when looking for work, but I suppose it depends on what you want to do when you've finished?

jhammond - I use Matlab on Linux and it works very well.

I'm sure someone will point out that they can't live without software 'x' and because it doesn't run on Ubuntu they have to run Windows. I also have this problem, to solve it I run Windows XP on Ubuntu inside virtualbox and it works great. When Windows crashes or starts going a bit slow I can just boot up an earlier snapshot, prior to the magic bit rot and slow down that seems to effect Windows machines after a couple of months of use.

The only reason I can justify having a dual boot for Windows is so I can play a couple of race sims.

[ashleyb4]

Running 64Bit 7 beta at the momment went straight from Xp to 7 and im nothing but impressed. I was so impressed with it after a day of running it i pre ordered it for 50 quid. It runs nice and fast but ide expect it to with 8gb of RAM If you can justify the money why not get it but if not stick with vista i love mine

A

[Southwell]

Ive got the release version of 7.

[ashleyb4]

double post ooooo

A

[Lee]

Geeks are Ace

[markwilliamson2001]

As someone has mentioned before, 7 is vista done properly LOL!
We didn't upgrade to Vista, at work, mainly because the costs involved in upgrading all the workstations, and the time to do all the software upgrades, testing, debugging etc etc etc would just become a pain in the ass IMO.

My main grip with Vista AND 7, is the main change in icons and the interface? Why change a perfectly working Explorer Window FFS...retraining of Staff just in interface differences is just unecessary work. I also don't like the slow WDS method of ghosting machines now, as its just so damn slow, compared to RIS (WDS Legacy mode). I just want to ghost machines - be quick please.

c0sie. Stick with Vista, or as gareth mentioned buy a Mac!, A good idea would also to start learning about virtualisation, that way you could try 7 (on both PC and Mac). We have virutalised all our servers at work, and now run at least two servers per host on each vmware ESXi host.

[DCM]

Originally Posted by ashleyb4

Running 64Bit 7 beta at the momment went straight from Xp to 7 and im nothing but impressed. I was so impressed with it after a day of running it i pre ordered it for 50 quid. It runs nice and fast but ide expect it to with 8gb of RAM If you can justify the money why not get it but if not stick with vista i love mine

A

where you getting it for £50?

[MatJohnson]

Anywhere, Win 7 normal is on offer for £50 and pro is £99, think amazon had some, play had some and pc world (they were offering a free healthcheck with it at pc world, but anyone who took them up on it needs shooting! but thats another matter).

Dunno if its still on offer.

Just don't try and buy MS word

[rowanp25]

i cant beleive im saying this but for now im on vista's side for the one reason that ive never known a windows os to be essentially an upgrade on its firs release. i guess ive lost trust in microsoft hence being another linux geek/nerd/egotist BUT saying that if i build a system for anyone else (mere mortals) then it gets loaded with Vista 64 for now untill 7 proves its worth in the real world

[CHEVY]

what pc world health check the last one i got done where supposed to remove covers and clean fans and not done so cancelled cover

[Dunc]

There was a brief period when you could pre-order the home or professional editions with a substantial discount. For example, I pre-ordered the professional version from Amazon for just under £90; now it's £150 (although that's still a saving of ~ 30%).

I think you'll be lucky to find anyone selling at the original low prices now (as Ashley says below, they were for a limited number of copies only).

Originally Posted by DCM

where you getting it for £50?

No, what you said is complete rubbish.

The processors (and therefore presumably the chipset) are the same as for a PC; even the Apple website directs you to Intel pages that detail the specifications of PC hardware.

The Nvidia and ATI products are also the same (although they may be clocked differently, typically lower, compared to their PC destined counterparts).

Originally Posted by Dizzie

mac's don't use PC hardware at all. That's complete rubbish. Intel and Nvidia make the chips for macs, but that's about it. Apple have worked with Intel/Nvidia to make hardware that works with their software. PC hardware is made my loads of companies with slightly different ways of working so it's not wonder windows is a bit touchy

[ashleyb4]

Originally Posted by DCM

where you getting it for £50?

Alot of places had it for 50 untill they had sold a certain ammount then they went up to 70 i got mine from dabs.

A

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Dunc

The processors (and therefore presumably the chipset) are the same as for a PC; even the Apple website directs you to Intel pages that detail the specifications of PC hardware.

The Nvidia and ATI products are also the same (although they may be clocked differently, typically lower, compared to their PC destined counterparts).

I don't want to get into the whole PC v Mac rubbish but should be mostly true, the PCB's might be a different shape but there's usually a standard way of implementing an IC like a chipset GPU ect.

[Big G]

Dunc show me a windows based laptop that has exactly the same internals as my macbook pro then.

the OP said macs are using the same hardware as PCs now. which they aren't. it's just made by the same company. it might use the same chips, but it's not the same hardware.

[dodgydiy]

you would be hard pressed to show anyone any two computers of different manufacturer as having the same internals. macs are using same chipsets, hard drives and cd/dvd drives as pc's with their own motherboards.
if you do photo editing or graphic design, mac is the dogs bollocks, and their o/s is much better designed and written than windows. windows wins on being most widely supported so ideal for home computers or small offices, just much better supported. Linux is what everyone really should be using and supporting, ubuntu is a good distro for general users but there are others which are better if you have good knowledge of the workings. linux is very fast and stable, and you only need to install what you need, not a load of crap that you'll never use, and if you want something to work slightly differently, you can normally aquire the source code and change it.

[Mini-JT]

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