Has anyone used Windows 7?

M

Mark A. Sam

Hello,

I am considering a new machine and can get it with XP installed, but want to
try Windows 7. I have heard good reports about it. Is anyone using it and
can comment about it?

Thank you and God Bless,

Mark A. Sam
 
R

R. McCarty

7 is fine. A well thought out, highly polished OS. If you're willing to
use and adapt to some minor changes ( new Taskbar ) you'll quickly
come to like using it.
If XP compatibility is one of your concerns you can get Professional
or Ultimate and it comes with XP mode. ( Virtualized XP ).
 
R

Rhino

Mark A. Sam said:
Hello,

I am considering a new machine and can get it with XP installed, but want
to try Windows 7. I have heard good reports about it. Is anyone using it
and can comment about it?

I don't have Windows 7 on my own computer but I was on a lot of customer
computers on my last job, which ended recently, doing tech support. A good
number of those customers had Windows 7 and we found it quite easy to work
with. Whereas Vista was a pain in the rear for at least the first year due
to any number of problems, Windows 7 seemed to work very well from the very
beginning. Apparently, there was a large beta program for Windows 7 and I
suspect that has made all the difference; all the major bugs were found -
and fixed - BEFORE they released it to the general public.

I don't want to guarantee you a trouble-free experience - computers are just
too complex and there are too many variations in hardware to hope for that -
but you should have a lot less trouble than most Vista users did with
Windows 7.
 
S

smlunatick

 7 is fine. A well thought out, highly polished OS. If you're willing to
use and adapt to some minor changes ( new Taskbar ) you'll quickly
come to like using it.
 If XP compatibility is one of your concerns you can get Professional
or Ultimate and it comes with XP mode. ( Virtualized XP ).

Consider Professional as the better choice. Ultimate mainly offers
BitLocker and the additional GUI languages. For me, not the worth the
price. (I have it.)
 
M

Mark A. Sam

Thank you for your responses. I'm kind of excited to try it. I know about
Vista. Uggh. What a dog. My client is purchasing a Mac and I'll be
configuring that with Windows7. I'm looking forward to that also, as I have
no experience with a Mac.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Hello,

I am considering a new machine and can get it with XP installed, but want to
try Windows 7. I have heard good reports about it. Is anyone using it and
can comment about it?



I've been using the released version since it first came out, and the
Release Candidate before that. I like it very much. As with almost all
versions of Windows, it is better than its predecessors.

Here are my views; three points below:

1. If you were asking about upgrading, I would give you my standard
answer, as follows:

A change of operating system should be driven by need, not just
because there is a new version available. Are you having a problem
with Windows XP that you expect Windows 7 to solve? Do you have or
expect to get new hardware or software that is supported in Windows 7,
but not in XP? Is there some new feature in Windows 7 that you need or
yearn for? Does your job require you have skills in Windows 7? Are you
a computer hobbyist who enjoys playing with whatever is newest?

If the answer to one or more of those questions is yes (and your
hardware is adequate for Windows 7), then you should get Windows 7.
Otherwise most people should stick with what they have. There is
*always* a learning curve and a potential for problems when you take a
step as big as this one, regardless of how wonderful whatever you're
contemplating moving to is. Sooner or later you'll have to upgrade (to
Windows 7 or its successor) because you'll want support for hardware
or software that you can't get in XP, but don't rush it.

I say all the above despite the fact that I'm a big Windows 7 fan. I
think it's the best and most stable of all versions of Windows.

2. But since you are talking about getting a new computer, I strongly
recommend getting it with Windows 7. It hardly ever makes sense to
take a step backward by getting a new computer with an old version of
an operating system.

3. Be aware that as with any new operating system, there are
differences from what you are accustomed to. Differences will take you
some time to get accustomed to, and for many people differences cause
them frustration. So be prepared for some initial frustration, but
give yourself enough time to adapt to the differences, rather than
throwing about the new Windows 7 because you haven't yet learned
enough about it.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

Thank you for your responses. I'm kind of excited to try it. I know about
Vista. Uggh. What a dog.


I completely disagree. I think Vista was better than XP, and I think
Windows 7 is better than Vista. As I said in my earlier message in
this thread, almost every version of Windows is better than the ones
that came before it.

My client is purchasing a Mac and I'll be
configuring that with Windows7. I'm looking forward to that also, as I have
no experience with a Mac.


Be aware that I know next to nothing about the Macintosh, but let me
make just one comment: a Macintosh invariably costs substantially more
than an equivalent Windows machine. Although I personally wouldn't buy
a Macintosh, I can understand why somebody would want to if they
prefer the Macintosh software. But it makes no sense to me to pay the
extra money for a Macintosh if you are going to run the Windows
software on it.
 
M

Mark A. Sam

You must know how to configure it or maybe it was the version I used. On
two machines they are Home Edition, and another I upgraded to Ultimate. But
they are really slow loading, that is my biggest gripe.
 
M

Mark A. Sam

I believe you. I am excited about trying Win7.

Ken Blake said:
I've been using the released version since it first came out, and the
Release Candidate before that. I like it very much. As with almost all
versions of Windows, it is better than its predecessors.

Here are my views; three points below:

1. If you were asking about upgrading, I would give you my standard
answer, as follows:

A change of operating system should be driven by need, not just
because there is a new version available. Are you having a problem
with Windows XP that you expect Windows 7 to solve? Do you have or
expect to get new hardware or software that is supported in Windows 7,
but not in XP? Is there some new feature in Windows 7 that you need or
yearn for? Does your job require you have skills in Windows 7? Are you
a computer hobbyist who enjoys playing with whatever is newest?

If the answer to one or more of those questions is yes (and your
hardware is adequate for Windows 7), then you should get Windows 7.
Otherwise most people should stick with what they have. There is
*always* a learning curve and a potential for problems when you take a
step as big as this one, regardless of how wonderful whatever you're
contemplating moving to is. Sooner or later you'll have to upgrade (to
Windows 7 or its successor) because you'll want support for hardware
or software that you can't get in XP, but don't rush it.

I say all the above despite the fact that I'm a big Windows 7 fan. I
think it's the best and most stable of all versions of Windows.

2. But since you are talking about getting a new computer, I strongly
recommend getting it with Windows 7. It hardly ever makes sense to
take a step backward by getting a new computer with an old version of
an operating system.

3. Be aware that as with any new operating system, there are
differences from what you are accustomed to. Differences will take you
some time to get accustomed to, and for many people differences cause
them frustration. So be prepared for some initial frustration, but
give yourself enough time to adapt to the differences, rather than
throwing about the new Windows 7 because you haven't yet learned
enough about it.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

I believe you. I am excited about trying Win7.


Good, glad to hear it. But please pay attention to point 3 below. I
suspect that your dislike of Vista was largely because you didn't
"give yourself enough time to adapt to the differences."

 
N

Nil

Thank you for your responses. I'm kind of excited to try it. I
know about Vista. Uggh. What a dog.

I have computers running XP, Vista, and Windows 7. I have no great
problems with Vista - it works just fine for me. Win 7 is more like
Vista than XP If you truly hate Vista as you say, you might not like
Win 7 either.
 
M

Mark A. Sam

No, it is simply because Vista was very slow. I'm currently taking on
Dreamweaver, Flash, and soon Apple, which are all strangers to me.
Everything in the past was Microsoft. So adapting isn't the issue.
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

No, it is simply because Vista was very slow.


No, it isn't. Undoubtedly you are ascribing to Vista what should be
blamed on one or both of the following:

1. Your hardware was inadequate for Vista. For example, you might not
have had enough RAM for the applications you ran under Vista.

2. You were infected with malware.
 
M

Mark A. Sam

I don't know the RAM, but they were all new machines with Home Edition. One
I updated to Ultimate so it could join a domain. A friend told me that his
ran well after he configured it. But I had heard a lot of people complain
of sluggishness. It doesn't matter, since it is off the market.
 
L

Leythos

Hello,

I am considering a new machine and can get it with XP installed, but want to
try Windows 7. I have heard good reports about it. Is anyone using it and
can comment about it?

I have Win 7 Ultimate and Professional running on hundreds of NEW
computers and dozens of older computers.

Win 7 is slower than XP, but we expect that, it's always been that way
with MS.

Win 7 seems to be very stable, like XP is.

Win 7 needs a good performing graphics card, one with at least 256MB of
dedicated memory, not that shared memory crap found in cheap computers.
If you can get a quality 512MB card your video performance will be
better.

Win 7 needs at least 2GB ram for basic operation with MS Office. I
normally spec NEW machines with 4GB and purchase the x64 bit version for
Core 2 Duo machines as a min.

On older machines, that were running XP, Win 7 seems to be a leap ahead
of Vista.

Expect your machine to be slower than on XP, and make sure that your old
XP machine has at least 1GB RAM if you want to start playing with Win 7,
upgrade to 2-4GB if you plan on keeping Win 7 on that told machine.
 
G

Guest

I just bought a Sony Vaio NW and a $1000 build of a Dell Studio 17
laptop and am going from only experience with XP except the one Vista
Laptop I helped a friend set up, And there are new ways of doing thing
to learn but I find I do like my Windows Home Premium a lot.
Both are 64 bit versions and have 4 gb RAM.
 

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