Contemplating Windows 7

[Quixoticism]

I'm getting ready to put a new hard drive in my computer and since I've had XP on running on this for some time I was going to do a clean install when I do it.
The thing is I have an unused key for W7RC and I am trying to figure out which would be the best option for me considering my hardware isn't the best.

The stuff that matters:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+(in the middle of OC'ing it at the moment- running at 2.25GHz)
1GB of DDR Ram CorsairVS
ATI Radeon X800 128MB

I would like to try the 64bit version of Windows 7 but I hear than it uses more RAM and I'm worried that my 1GB won't be enough.
My other concern is that my computer right now seems pretty slow. So would I be better off just sticking with Windows XP or would Windows 7 give me about the same performance in apps that I'm getting now?

I appreciate your guys input.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Are you sure you want to install Windows 7 RC. Windows 7 RC expires on the 1st June with your PC shutting down every 2 hours from the 1st of March. Essentially you would only have a month to really use it. Personaly if i had your system i would stick to Winsows XP.

 

[Quixoticism]

I didn't realize that it expired that soon. I think that's what I'll do then.

 

[ShinRa]

It's not that great anyway. I'm running it on my old AMD FX-57, x1900, and 1gb of ram. It's just as fast as xp, but I guess it has updated compatibility with older parts like ours. Here's the problem though. Everything feels mac-esque. The simple, bubbly display with the transparent window heads and bubbly giant icons......if you're into that sorta thing then great, but I'm not too big a fan and am contemplating returning to XP.

 

[OmegaX]

It's not that great anyway. I'm running it on my old AMD FX-57, x1900, and 1gb of ram. It's just as fast as xp, but I guess it has updated compatibility with older parts like ours. Here's the problem though. Everything feels mac-esque. The simple, bubbly display with the transparent window heads and bubbly giant icons......if you're into that sorta thing then great, but I'm not too big a fan and am contemplating returning to XP.

It's worth it if you have a higher end machine (At least 3+GB of RAM).The switch to large bubbly icons is due to people running massive resolutions now on large monitors. They don't seem so big when your running at 1920X1200. I for one recently switched from Vista Ultimate to 7 Ultimate and barely notice a difference. Windows 7 does use fewer resources though, which is the main reason I switched over.

 

[Krynn72]

I would like to try the 64bit version of Windows 7 but I hear than it uses more RAM and I'm worried that my 1GB won't be enough.

From what I understand, win7 is really good with memory management. If you aren't using the ram for anything, then windows will use it to help it perform some tasks it does behind the scenes. The instant you need that memory for something else, it lets go of it though. So technically it may use more ram, but it doesnt when you dont want it to.

Though 1gb is pretty low.

 

[MiccyNarc]

I love Windows 7 and would never go back to XP. There's enough small changes to make it a killer OS. I mean hell, just the snapping windows to the sides of the screen feature makes me hate returning to XP...

 

[CyberPitz]

Don't contemplate, JUST DO IT.

 

[huntingbear]

why is this even a question?

just freakin move on to a new OS and stop using a 10+ year old one like you're afraid of change.

 

[Vegeta897]

10+ year old

Uh wat

 

[xcellerate]

I mean hell, just the snapping windows to the sides of the screen feature makes me hate returning to XP...

This bugs me because you could do it in XP, ctrl+click the programs on the start bar, right click and tile vertically or horizontally. Yea, I know it takes like TWO WHOLE mouse clicks but I hear enough people getting excited about this to upset me.

 

[VirusType2]

The problem is that you can't designate which 2 windows to tile in XP. So if you had more than 2 windows open, it would tile them all.

Not only that, but sometimes you just want to put 1 window to the edge, so you can get it out of the way while still being able to see other things on the screen. In 7 it stretches it to the top and bottom of the screen automatically, which is pretty nice, though it's a bit irritating if you are moving windows around it keeps latching. I would prefer holding it there for a second before it gave the option to re-size.

Overall I prefer Windows 7 quite a bit.

 

[Wizard]

I have never used tiling. Maximize or go home.

 

[xcellerate]

You can choose which two windows on XP. Open the first program, ctrl click the start bar of the second program, right click -> tile vertically or horozontially, it's been a while but I'm pretty sure you can tile as many windows as you want as well. Either way it just bugs me they're making commercials about 10yr old features.

And I like 7, I have it on my work machine.

 

[DreamThrall]

Today's XKCD is particularly relevant:

 

[huntingbear]

Uh wat

hehe

 

[PvtRyan]

This bugs me because you could do it in XP, ctrl+click the programs on the start bar, right click and tile vertically or horizontally. Yea, I know it takes like TWO WHOLE mouse clicks but I hear enough people getting excited about this to upset me.

Mouse clicks is one thing, but Windows key + an arrow key is a damned snappy way to position two windows side by side. And then there's Windows key + shift + left or right arrow, which moves a window across monitors.

 

[VirusType2]

You can choose which two windows on XP. Open the first program, ctrl click the start bar of the second program, right click -> tile vertically or horozontially, it's been a while but I'm pretty sure you can tile as many windows as you want as well. Either way it just bugs me they're making commercials about 10yr old features.

And I like 7, I have it on my work machine.

But consider if you have 10 folders open. They are stacked in the taskbar. You can't select 2 of the windows to tile. In fact, you can't do it in 7 either, but you can open two of them, and snap them to the edges quickly, which is the same result.

 

[xcellerate]

Actually...that makes a lot of sense, they had to reinvent the method by which you tiled windows because 7 doesn't allow you to have unstacked star bar icons so the XP-way wasn't possible. And I guess because they changed it, they felt the need to advertise it.

 

[Quixoticism]

Well I finally got my new drive and already put a clean install of XP on it. Ahh, nothing quite feels so good as a clean install...

I'm working on transferring all the important files over and then I'm going to format the old one to put W7 on it.
I figure I might as well give it a try while I still can. I'm also really looking forward to it, which I should be doing by tomorrow!

 

[Dynasty]

The fact that Windows 7 feels like Mac OS is a big thing for some people, nobody seems or seemed to understand why Microsoft did it.

Well its quite simple actually. They know Mac OS is better so they partly copied it. Oh look a mac-esque dock...wonder where they got that idea from...ahh Columbo, maybe you could help me out.

 

[StarBob]

I can't imagine running Windows 7 on 1gb of ram. At least not if you want to run anything else. I have enough of an issue running it on 4. Well, not really 4 is fine but 1... that's no good.

 

[Quixoticism]

So far so bad. First of all the installer takes forever to load each next window(8+ minutes) and then when I get to the actual install part it says that I'm missing a required cd/dvd driver and I can't go on past that point. This makes no sense at all since it has to read the dvd to even get to this part...


Edit: I quit. Biggest waste of time ever. I've tried many different ways trying to get it to bypass the need for a dvd driver and it still gives me the finger. I'm definitely going to carefully consider spending any money on W7 when I build a new system because of this bs i've had to deal with.

 

[VirusType2]

The stuff that matters:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+(in the middle of OC'ing it at the moment- running at 2.25GHz)
1GB of DDR Ram CorsairVS
ATI Radeon X800 128MB

I would like to try the 64bit version of Windows 7

^ I don't think your system meets the minimum requirements. Well, for one thing - I don't think 1 GB of RAM can even

If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:

* 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
* 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
* 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
* DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements

 

[DreamThrall]

I've heard of guys running it on a Pentium 133... would be worth a shot... might not be able to have all the UI goodies turned on, but it should work.

 

[PvtRyan]

This is the lowest system I've seen it running on: