Windows 7?????

[TOM]

I have toyed with the idea of going to a Mac of some description, but I'm just not ready to make the switch at this stage. I am using Vista, and whilst there are alot of detractors of this operating system, I don't find it too bad. But I guess I have the option to upgrade to Windows 7 for a reasonable price, as I have only in the last year purchased Vista. But at a glance, and not knowing much about computers, it seems as though Windows 7 doesn't offer much over Vista and it seems to more of a Service Pack to me.

Have those who have switched to Windows 7 found that it has been a worthwhile switch? I understand that there would be minor improvements, but to do a clean install (I wouldn't do it any other way) isn't something that you do on a whim, and I'm not sure the value in the upgrade is there. Has your experience differed to my expectations? Would it make sense to go for a 64 bit system? To do that, do I just need to get another processor thing in my box?

Any help would be appreciated.

[seastorm]

I'm running Windows 7 on 2 laptops and my desktop at home (via clean install), with 2 other laptops running Vista, and I can see a difference, it's faster to install from scratch, loads up the drivers automatically, and is generally quicker than Vista even running on a 32-bit system.

I know my desktop can handle the 64-bit OS, but haven't bothered with it yet. You don't need another processor in your desktop, it all depends on your current processor.

For example, my desktop CPU is an Intel dual core E5300, and from Intel's website (http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLB9U) I see under Supported Features in the 3rd bullet point, it says Intel (R) EM64T, which apparently means it supports a 64-bit OS.

Hope that helps.

[ricktas]

Windows 7 is good. Cannot comment on a Vista upgrade as I went straight from XP to Win 7 in 64bit. It loads quickly, is easy to navigate, has a semi 'mac' feel about the way it does things. I have now have win 7 on editing pc and 2 laptops and love it. Seems to be very stable.

[Kym]

On a few systems... I did one upgrade and three clean installs.

Do the clean install!!

[TOM]

okay thanks for the comments. so what is 64bit and how does it improve things?

[clm738]

Hi Tom, I had the same questions as you. Here is the thread about 64 bit. Hope it helps.

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=43175

[TOM]

thanks for pointing me to the thread, very helpful.

[PerfectPicture]

Hi All,
l recently install Windows 7 Ultimate retail edition, and l must say, it Rocks! its quick and stable! :) Even on my older Laptop 1.6GHz & 1GB Ram it stills runs great and loads and shuts down much faster then the other M$ editions of O.S. and it did install most drivers automatically as well.
And l would strongly suggest do a Clean Install .. of course backup all your data before hand as well.

l installed both the 64Bit & 32 Bit edition. 64 Bit will be utilized better on a EM64T architecture Processors and of course can access higher memory over 3.5 GB RAM, EM64T gives Intel processors direct access to memory quantities in excess of 4 Gigabytes and allows larger applications to be run, With 64-bit memory address limits, the theoretical memory size limit would be 16 Billion Gigabytes (16 Exabytes).

As the 32 bit O.S. edition allocates only 3.5 GB of RAM only to be utilize by the O.S.
Also other drawbacks on the 64 bit is some software is still slow in releasing their 64 bit editions of there software. Namely : CANON Software wont work on 64 BIT O.S. (not all their apps), where-as the 32 bit edition is not a problem! :)

You will be pleasantly surprised by Windows 7 O.S. especially compared to the VISTA O.S. (bad reviews out there).

Cheers
Robert

[TOM]

okay, i think i'm going for the W7 64 bit version. thanks again for the responses.

[hoffy]

On a few systems... I did one upgrade and three clean installs.

Do the clean install!!

What are the issues if you do the upgrade? I have the W7 upgrade coming from Dell and need to decide

[etherial]

Yes I was wondering about the upgrade as well? If you buy W7 upgrade, how do you do a clean install?

[pgbphotographytas]

I have been using Windows 7 for over 6 months and love it :)

[ricktas]

Yes I was wondering about the upgrade as well? If you buy W7 upgrade, how do you do a clean install?

Like most previous upgrade copies, it is a full version, but during the clean install process it will tell you it is an upgrade copy and to authenticate it you will often need to insert the cd/dvd of a previous version (xp/vista cd) etc, it will check it and then continue to let you install. So you just need to have the previous version's disk handy.

[TOM]

Hey Rick, is this correct? A tech told me on Friday that the upgrade version required a fresh install of Vista, and then it adds the appropriate files. I really want a clean install as you and others have suggested, and initially thought that the upgrade was a standalone version, but this chap on Friday says otherwise.

[AK7]

Like most previous upgrade copies, it is a full version, but during the clean install process it will tell you it is an upgrade copy and to authenticate it you will often need to insert the cd/dvd of a previous version (xp/vista cd) etc, it will check it and then continue to let you install. So you just need to have the previous version's disk handy.Not quite true. Windows 7 Upgrade requires an installation of XP or Vista (or Win7 Release Candidate) with the license key present in order to be installed. It will not let you progress with just the CD. It doesn't require the previous Windows installation to be activated.


What are the issues if you do the upgrade? I have the W7 upgrade coming from Dell and need to decideIf you're already running Vista, it will only let you upgrade, in which case it may inherit some of Vista's problems. The most notable problem with an upgrade from Vista is that there's a good chance that Windows 7 will run slower than if a clean install had been performed. Dell's system is quite good provided that you follow the instructions to a tee. You'll get two discs. One is the actual Windows 7 Upgrade disc. The other includes the upgrade advisor and updates to drivers and software. That disc clearly states to run it first. Make sure you do.

Dell systems typically have four partitions. The Windows recovery partition, the Dell recovery partition, the Windows partition and another Dell partition for their boot management software. If you're doing the upgrade yourself and it asks which partition to install to, make sure that you choose the Windows partition. Failure to do so means there's an excellent chance of hosing the Dell boot manager and the factory restore process. Not an easy thing to fix. That's not really a fundamental issue, 'cos you should have all the recovery disks, however they don't contain some of the complimentary software, such as MS Works and the Dell driver and software mechanism contained on them is cumbersome at best. Using MS Works isn't recommended and you're most likely better off with later drivers downloaded off the Web.

If you have the slightest doubt on how to do this, I strongly suggest having an experienced technician do it. The cost is much easier to deal with than the stress if you happen to slip up. If they're smart about it, the tech will do a direct sector copy of the drive to another disk first - in case something gets screwed. Norton Ghost's default settings will cause boot issues.


Hey Rick, is this correct? A tech told me on Friday that the upgrade version required a fresh install of Vista, and then it adds the appropriate files. I really want a clean install as you and others have suggested, and initially thought that the upgrade was a standalone version, but this chap on Friday says otherwise.
Yes I was wondering about the upgrade as well? If you buy W7 upgrade, how do you do a clean install?If you have Windows XP, a clean install is compulsory. If you have Vista, regardless of whether it is a fresh install or not, you can upgrade, however it's safer/better to do the upgrade off a clean version of Vista since many of the programs you might have on a well-used installation of Vista may be incompatible. Vista's updates are also typically very large, meaning that you can save a whole bunch of hard drive space doing it off a clean install of Vista. Etherial, you can reformat and install XP on that machine and then run the Windows 7 Upgrade, forcing the Clean Install option. That's assuming the PC already has a valid OEM license or you have a Retail, Upgrade or Volume License version of XP. The Windows 7 Upgrade EULA (license terms) states that the software that has been upgraded can not be installed on another PC, so legally you can't just install XP using the license off another PC...

On systems that weren't already sold with the Windows 7 Upgrade Option, it's important to check compatibility. Although Windows 7 has [much] better driver support than previous Windows versions, there's still a lot of software and hardware that it doesn't support properly (if at all) or the computer/hardware manufacturers don't offer Windows 7 drivers for your product. It's not all bad though. In most cases Windows 7 can make do with Vista drivers or you can track down reference drivers. If it comes down to that, I can explain how to do that ;)

[maccaroneski]

If you want to do a clean install and have the upgrade version, this might help:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/10/27/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-and-product-key-on-formatted-or-empty-blank-hard-drive/

It is 100% legal to perform any of those hacks only if you have a license of the qualifying product.

And as a heads up Microsoft have finally released the Windows 7 upgrade family pack - 3 ugrade licenses, RRP about $250. Chatter around the net seems to indicate that this might only last til the end of December or when current stocks run out. It is only available from certain retailers, usually the big box stores.

Best price I could find was The Good Guys Chatswood - sticker price $225, "cash" price $210, although I told the guy that I didn't have enough cash on me (which was true) and he gave it to me for $210 on my credit card.

[ricktas]

hmm- I had a XP laptop that I wiped and installed Win 7 on, using an upgrade disk. It did not even ask me for the xp disk and installed, so I assumed it worked the same as all previous versions and I just got lucky that it didn't seek confirmation of an upgrade product.

[maccaroneski]

Yeah there are stories of it being different for different folks:

Option 1: it doesn't ask for the earlier license details and activation goes fine;

Option 2: It does ask, you enter the details, and activation goes fine; or

Option 3: It won't let you activate online and you have to ring Microsoft and they activate by phone.

Either way probably the safest thing to do when installing is to select the option "I will activate later when online" or whatever - i.e. choose the option that lets you activate after the installation is complete, then you'll have 30 days to call Microsoft if it doesn't work.

[AK7]

If you want to do a clean install and have the upgrade version, this might help:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/10/27/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-and-product-key-on-formatted-or-empty-blank-hard-drive/

It is 100% legal to perform any of those hacks only if you have a license of the qualifying product.Forgot about that one. Good call :th3: I'd just done XP installs first with an XP installation that had an answer file set up. Start the install, have a coffee, come back and reboot the PC (without activating), then install Windows 7. No activation woes.