Windows 7

[Alloroc]

I thought I'd open this thread to catch opinions and experiences for those who have (or are thinking about) installing Windows 7.

So far I can say I'm genuinely impressed. So far, it's been installed on a regular laptop, a HP Netbook and a HP Tablet PC. It's worked flawlessly on them all - save for a couple of missing, non-essential drivers. So much so, I installed it on my main PC at home to see it would take it. Now my PC is a fairly swishy Dell XPS gaming machine bought late last year.

It's got blinkey lights, fancy cooling, a Creative Xfi and two ATI Radeons running in Crossfire mode. I've also got 8GB ram so I installed the 64bit version. Went on a dream. Much easier than V64bit ever did. Now that was messy. However, it picked up all devices bar the built in bluetooth reciever. However, there are some unique features with the machine it did not have the software to install - stuff from Nvida for the mobo and the proper ATI catalyst software. Lucky for me that they have released pre launch drivers for their gear and in 64bit too so downloaded and installed them without a glitch. So, blinkey lights and my Radeon Crossfire mode was back and working perfect. I installed Crysis and Bioshock and both played without issues - perhaps better than on Vista.

Now, this brings me to performance - it's not as fat as Vista but the interface seems slicker. I've not run any benchmarks - I don't have the patience for that but even on my netbook, it felt faster than XP.

Other cool features is Media Center - if you use MC I reckon you'll want try this version. Also, is the XP vitual machine mode - this works great if you need to run XP only apps. The Virtual PC beta installs a dream and works great. There are also a number of A/V apps available for beta testing for free along with it so you can run fully protected too.

It's still a RC - not everything is perfect, the only thing not working at all is my Logitech webcam. Locitech are working on their drivers so they should be out soon in beta. I did manage to get the V64 driver on the Dell site to work on it along with the V64 Logitech setpoint for my keyboard and mouse.

I'm going to try us it as my main PC for a while to see how it goes in so far as it seems to be the most stable and slick OS the big M have released to date.

So, as I mentioned, give it a go and let all know how you get on.

[1oldguy]

As a gamer I am looking at this new windows with interest.

[Chris D]

I'm glad you brought this up. I'm strongly considering migrating to 7, based on the good things I'm hearing about it, and many people are saying that it runs better than Vista. I was hoping to hold off buying/building my next desktop PC to replace my current one, until 7 gets released. When is it supposed to be in widespread release?

Now, in previous versions, I have NOT gone with the x64 version, because of needing several programs to work that weren't designed for x64. I didn't want compatibility issues. (i.e. Universal Remote's various remote programming programs) Any words on this one being more compatible with programs designed for previous OS?

Anyway, I'm on standby, waiting to hear more and waiting for the release.

[Alloroc]

Chris, you can download the 32 and 64 bit versions for free to trial and mess about with. That old XPS of yours would be perfect for it.

Release date is unknown but rumoured before Christmas this year. the Release Candidate will stay active 'till sometime next year but will then lock.

I've not had any issues with my software - though not all is on yet.

Will update.

[Kevin P]

I played with the beta on VirtualBox and downloaded the RC but haven't had a chance to install it yet. I should install it on its own machine so I can test out the graphics etc. which run slow in Virtualbox under Linux. I just don't feel like trashing my XP installs. Maybe I'll buy another hard drive and do a swaperoo.

[Alloroc]

I played with the beta on VirtualBox and downloaded the RC but haven't had a chance to install it yet. I should install it on its own machine so I can test out the graphics etc. which run slow in Virtualbox under Linux. I just don't feel like trashing my XP installs. Maybe I'll buy another hard drive and do a swaperoo.

That's what I did first and once I was happy, I thrashed my main install over the weekend. The great thing is that ATI and Nvidia have released decent trial drivers that work well. As I mentioned, it seems to run faster than XP or Vista, but then I have the hardware for that.

[Kevin D]

Beta worked perfect for me for months. Put the RC on and my mouse locks up coming out of standby. No standby until I can find a fix. Crazy as it's a standard PS2 mouse.

Kevin D.

[impala454]

I am running the 64 bit RC as well and think it's great. I also have my logitech webcam that isn't fully supported yet either, but no big deal. I had no problem setting up my HP all-in-one printer, but could not get the scanner portion to work. Also not a big deal, as I'm sure HP will release drivers soon enough. I have a very similar system to Vincent, pretty much a powerhouse. Core i7, Intel board, 8GB ram, 300GB velociraptor hard drive, and two ATI 3870HDs (not crossfired though).

Chris, you should have no problem running 32 bit apps. The 64 bit OS is completely backwards compatible with 32 bit apps. Most of them will install to a "Program Files (x86)" directory, and run fine. If it is a free app and you want to know if it runs, just send me the download link and I will try it for you.

[Alloroc]

That's odd. That's almost as 'legacy' as it gets....

It could quite possibly be a hardware problem with the mouse or the ps2 controller onboard. They are or at lease were notoriously difficult to troubleshoot - back in the day - when glitches occured.

[nikos]

Beta worked perfect for me for months. Put the RC on and my mouse locks up coming out of standby. No standby until I can find a fix. Crazy is it's a standard PS2 mouse.

Kevin D.

i'm sure you have....but make sure you're motherboard bios is up to date.
Also test with a USB mouse.

I've been running it on a Intel X25-m SSD and icore7 and boots into windows fully loaded in 20secs!!!

Windows 7 :T

[aud19]

I'm keeping my eye on this thread. I've been loathing the thought of being forced in to Windows ME 2.0...errr I mean Vista and so far have avoided it. Be nice if MS could actually release a decent OS for once :lol:

[Chris D]

Sounds enticing. I might have to do that. Think I should get/install my server/NAS first, to transfer all of my files and such before doing a clean OS install on any of my computers.

[mjb]

So it appears that Microsofts marketing machine is working nicely, and everyone loves Win7. What a surprise! They've brought the release date at least a year forward (to winter 2009) because Vista was/is such a flop, and obviously they want to move on. Giving it away for free in the form of a general RC is a good way to get people hooked.

[Hdale85]

I've never had a major problem with Vista and use it on several of my machines. The so called problems with Vista were blown so far out of proportion that the general public most of which have not even used Vista all think it's horrible even though they never used it personally. I've always found Vista to be a good bit faster then XP but I don't doubt that Windows 7 (which is still Vista BTW, based on the same code) is better as it's further tweaked.

[Alloroc]

My sentiments too, Dougie!

Now, this thread was not posted for all and sundry to take shots at Mircrosoft. It's about Windows 7 and those who have or are thinking about trying it. Please leave other comments at the door. Thanks.

[impala454]

The only beef I have with 7 (and with Vista) is that they've taken away some of the customizability (yeah I just made up that word) of the file explorer interface. In XP, I really liked to have it very very simple. I'd have just the menu strip, the up button, and search button, and the address bar would be on the same line as the two buttons. then just have the status bar at the bottom and I was good to go. not having the up button really irks me in vista & 7, as does all the little items on the interface that you can't get rid of. other than that minor detail, I really like 7 a lot and will probably stick with it. I have 8GB of ram in my system and hate to go back to XP and lose half of it.

[P-Dub]

Speaking of ram, and maybe this should be another thread, but what is the final story on the 3G/4G issue in Vista 32bit and is it in Win7 32bit?

I am a bit out of it, but I am looking to upgrade my laptop from 2G ram to 4G of ram. I recall very early on that Vista only recognized 3G of the 4G. Is that still the case? I am uptodate with all my patches for Vista.

I do find Vista a bit slow, but then again I have noticed that I have just over 100 processes running. I haven't bothered to prune these down. I've got a stock Thinkpad T61, it's about a 1.5 years old.

I may do an upgrade to Win7 to try it out. I'll do my ram upgrade first then backup and then do a fresh reload. Mind you with my timing, it may get realeased by the time I am ready.

[impala454]

32 bit OSs can only address 4GB of memory total. This includes all of the memory in your computer (RAM, video card, hard drive, various other devices). So usually you'll only see about 3-3.5 GB of actual RAM addressed in windows XP 32 bit or Vista 32 bit. a 64 bit OS can address ~ 16,000GB of memory and has no problem addressing all of the memory in your computer. So don't think of it as a Vista limitation, any 32 bit OS, linux, windows, OSX will have the same issue. If you do have 4GB or more of RAM, you might try the 64 bit OS out and see what you think. Your 32 bit apps will have no problem running on it. Also, RAM is mega cheap right now so it's not a stretch to go to 6 or 8 GB.

[Alloroc]

It certainly is. I recently bought 8gb of top quality low latency ram for about €80 - with a discount coupon. The supplier is a European online supplier but their base is in my town so I could collect and not worry about shipping!

Amazing value, overclocks well though I'm not planning to overclock and is cool - heat wise!

This stuff here - linked to a US supplier

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Memory+(Desktop+Memory)-_-G.SKILL-_-20231209

[mjb]

Now, this thread was not posted for all and sundry to take shots at Mircrosoft. It's about Windows 7 and those who have or are thinking about trying it. Please leave other comments at the door. Thanks.

Well, I've installed it - and it seems to work very nicely, although I've not done much with it. The installation process is certainly quite simple. I admit I've never tried Vista, but one can't deny that Microsoft are trying to move quickly on - for whatever reason.

[Chris D]

News report I read today (about PC sales being down by 33% and Dell not making much $$) said that Windows 7 won't be out until next year.

[Hdale85]

Well Microsoft has said later this year in several different reputable online sources. Sometimes it does take longer for computer MFG's to get the newest versions though.

[mjb]

This article thinks October 2009 will be the launch date.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/11/windows_7_2009/

[Alloroc]

I was talking with my MS rep yesterday and I'm told that they will be adding it to their Volume Licensing program in October.

Mjb, don't get me wrong, I'm prone to the od bit of MS bashing when they screw up, but I just didn't want to see this thread go that way. While Vista worked well for me with my new PC, I know of many cases where it didn't. Windows 7 is an evolution of Vista and all I can say is I hope they take that into consideration when pricing it.

Anyhow moving on, I installed Adobe CS3 last night and it went on fine. All apps work so that's the biggie for me. My XPS has a few features unique to it - a program from Alienware that controls the blinky lights - I installed the V64 version and it works perfect. Finally, Creative have released a beta W7 driver for the Xfi cards and works great too. One problem to note. iTunes installs fine and will see my iPod when connected, it does not however, see my iPhone. When googled, it's an known error and is being worked on.

So that's it. PC fully back to where it was so now it's time to realy start using it.

[PewterTA]

All apps work on Windows 7 because it is (for all intensive purposes) Vista. With a face lift. Infact I have my Vista machine almost identical to how WIndows 7 works and reacts. There's very little difference... Maybe the gadgets, but that's almost it.

To me... and just my opinion... this is "Windows ME" all over again. Not from the technical standpoint where Microsoft messed up the OPs, but Micro$oft just dipping in the pot to get everyone's money. Though, if you took a few hours/days (not working constantly but when you got around to it), you could have the same thing for far less $$. Talking when Windows 7 comes out.

[aud19]

How are you guys finding 7 for resources? I know Vista can be a bit of a hog and 7's based on it... Have they improved that aspect or is it more GUI-type changes?

[impala454]

I have not really looked at the resources on my particular machine, but that's one of the huge improvements supposedly. It is supposed to run better than XP on those small netbooks and such now, and still scale up to a powerhouse machine as well.

All apps work on Windows 7 because it is (for all intensive purposes) Vista. With a face lift.

Just curious, what do you base this on? I haven't done enough research to see what all exact differences there are, but my guess is it's a lot more than just a facelift. The interface may not have changed much but I'm sure a lot of optimization has been done. You definitely couldn't run Vista on a low power computer, but Windows 7 runs beautifully on them. That means there has to have been at least some significant changes on the back end. The apps working doesn't mean it's because there weren't significant changes. The apps work because it is still a 32 bit OS (or if yo have 64bit, it is still 32 bit compatible). That has not changed, and it is doubtful that we'll see a purely 64 bit consumer OS anytime soon (effectively throwing almost all current software into the garbage).

IMHO this release is akin to Windows 95 vs Windows 95 OSR2, if anyone knows what I'm talking about. 95 ran well but had quite a few issues, and the "OSR2" release really made it run well. Such is how it goes in software development. You develop new software, run it long enough to work out the kinks, then re-write it with all the new knowledge you gained.

[nikos]

All apps work on Windows 7 because it is (for all intensive purposes) Vista. With a face lift. Infact I have my Vista machine almost identical to how WIndows 7 works and reacts. There's very little difference... Maybe the gadgets, but that's almost it.

To me... and just my opinion... this is "Windows ME" all over again. Not from the technical standpoint where Microsoft messed up the OPs, but Micro$oft just dipping in the pot to get everyone's money. Though, if you took a few hours/days (not working constantly but when you got around to it), you could have the same thing for far less $$. Talking when Windows 7 comes out.

I would kindly disagree... on Windows 7 being identical to vista and only credit it with gadgets.

In my experience the system is much much more responsive (even b4 i went to ssd) it feels a lot leaner than vista.

here are few articles i stumbled on...

Remember this is still in beta! I feel this is what Vista should have been from the beginning.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Chrome-Firefox-IE8-accelerate-12-or-more-in-Windows-7-over-Vista/1243540763

http://gizmodo.com/5272585/windows-7-vs-windows-vista-ssd-edition

http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10238901-12.html

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3789&page=4

[nikos]

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2009/04/25/engineering-windows-7-for-graphics-performance.aspx

[Kevin P]

Seems they fixed a lot of the bloat in 7... now I just hope they address the bloated pricing...

[Hdale85]

I've been using Windows 7 for a few hours now and while I didn't find much problem with Vista I can definitely say 7 feels much better. Much more responsive and very quick. I've noticed some gaming performance gains as well.

[Hdale85]

After another day of use I can say I'm honestly rather impressed with windows 7. My favorite feature is quite simple though. Instead of having the text on the task bar of each program it groups them all together and only has an icon. So even with my normal amount of programs open it's not all cluttered. Also my computer has never been faster. This is definitely much more refined and optimized then Vista. I'll probably end up buying a copy of 7.

[mjb]

Microsoft confirmed today Windows 7 will ship on October 22, 2009.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090602-711873.html

[PewterTA]

Windows 7 is an optimized Vista. There's nothing ground breakingly new in the code for it. It is streamlined and well, yes, it's what M$ should've done from the get go of Vista. But did they... no, they wanted money and they wanted it now. So they tried to convince everyone to get the OS.

In essence, it's the same thing here. Yes there some improvements... and with Vista over XP, I got inprovements in performance and functionality about the same or a slight bit less than I am getting with Windows 7 over Vista. Mind you 7 is still beta so maybe there will be even more. :T

But in no way is this a ground breaking OS like Win95 was compared to 3.11 or WinXP was to Win98 (maybe even consider 2000).

Windows 7 is Microsoft's somewhat acknowledgment to what people had *thought* Vista was going to be and well here ya go. We (Microsoft) made it better for you, so shell out more money and it's yours!

I just feel that some people are going to go so far as saying that if you already HAVE Vista you must get this... when in reality, you almost already do have it. For speed most of the performance is from them removing a lot of the services in the system or disabling them from the start. Some of it is code that's been streamlined, but it's not quite as much magic as one would think. In all honesty, I really think most of the changes could've been done in a SP release for Vista to make it what you see there and it would've caused more people to go out and get Vista.

Don't get me wrong, as soon as it's finalized, I'll have it, but I get it for free too...if I had to pay for it, I'd think twice with already having Vista optimized to my liking and performing very similar to the beta of Windows 7.

[impala454]

Pewter, you're simply repeating what you said back in post #25. You mention there's nothing significant that's new in the code... I find it highly unlikely that you've seen a single line of the code... so I'm curious as to where you're drawing these conclusions from.

[Chris D]

Well, if a new OS version can make the same hardware run FASTER, and not slower dur to more new "stuff", I'm all for it! I may very well buy the new OS here in a few months.

[Hdale85]

There is definitely more then just removing stuff on 7. Some games I have run much smoother on 7 then it did on Vista even though I tweaked the crap out of Vista and pretty sure there weren't any performance tweaks I hadn't done. In 7 my games run much smoother with less lag at full detail even with everything turned on like all the Aero stuff as well as Side bar.

[Gianluca]

Hello All,

I have also installed the Beta and RC and was very impressed with the ease of install. But I did run into issues trying to install...Make sure to have a Vista compatible BIOS version, mine was older on a Mobo that was barely 1 year old so BIOS upgrade could help out with some issue. My symptoms was it took forever to install.

Could also clear mouse issues...

Gianluca

[impala454]

What kind of mouse issues are you having? I have noticed with Vista and 7 every now and then my USB mouse will act up. It kinda feels "sluggish" when it happens.