Benefits of Win7 over XP

men8ifr

men8ifr

men8ifr

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Just wondering if some-one can list the real benefit of upgrading?

Stuff I'm interested in:

Do games run faster
Does it have the vista - 3d alt-tab effects (do they just look nice or are they useful?)
Does it load or run programs faster
Will there be (old) programs that don't work anymore?
Is is better to use and find things?
 
1) Same
2) Same effects and more. Somewhat useful.
3) About the same.
4) Maybe, really old and rubbish programs
5) Yes
 
Security is the going to be the biggest advantage here. Certainly there is much more eye candy in Windows 7 such as Aero and flip etc but from a security stand point Windows 7 is superior to Windows XP providing you keep it patched of course and use decent AV.
 
Would it be sensible logic to say at some point I will have to upgrade so may as well do it now?

Or maybe like vista I can wait for something better to come along, or maybe the price will drop?

Perhaps I shouldn't be fooling with something that is working well at the moment and wait until I need a rebuild?
 
I don't see any reason NOT to upgrade from XP to 7.

With anything you should always keep upto date. a lot of people didn't bother with Vista, but you always get that. When we was all on Windows 98se and XP came out it was the same thing.

It's also going to be a while before you see "Windows 8" in the shops, so no don't wait
 
Well the way I would look at it is XP was released during 2001 so it's now 9 years old. Things have came a long way since then in terms of the GUI and security. You don't 'have' to upgrade but if you have a reasonably decent machine then a clean install with Win 7 will make some difference :)
 
I think all you get extra is directx 10/11.

WinXP is still good enough for everything, it will play games and run all applications just as nicely as Win7.

But hey hooo, Win7/Vista looks rather good, GUI wise by default.
 
That only applies if he is upgrading to 64-bit at the same time. Which of course he should absolutely do if possible - even if you don't have more than 4GB. [much easier to add more RAM than reinstall Windows ;)]

As for the OS itself, if you can afford it then definitely get Windows 7. It runs better, uses resources better, is more secure, has DX10/11 support, amazing GUI which has tangible benefits and not just shiny [read about the new Superbar, Libraries, Jump Lists, new Windows hotkeys etc].

Windows 7 has extremely good driver support for many, many devices and peripherals. Of all the W7 installs I have performed I have only ever had to manually install graphics drivers and some dodgy webcam drivers.
 
I have always been a luddite when it came to new Windows releases, always waiting until the OS went final, e.g. 95C, 98se, 2000 SP4. For the very first time in Windows history, I jumped straight to Windows 7. That speaks volumes :-)
 
Windows 7 doesn't need a service pack. It kinda already is - its a Vista service pack! :p

Joking aside, it is amazingly polished and well thought out for the most part. No reason to hang about!
 
My laptop came with Vista 32 bit Ultimate pre installed, with 1gb ram and C2D CPU and a 5400rpm HDD, and it was SLOW!!!, I upgfraded the HDD to a 7200rpm, but it made little difference so I removed Vista and loaded XP Pro32 bit as it ran smoother and faster... now it runs Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit and all i did was add an extra 1gb of ram, and I think it runs better than XP did?

So I say upgrade, and if your hardware supports it, go 64bit :)
 
I have an old machine that was running XP.

I upgraded the RAM to 2 gig and stuck 7 on and it's loads better than XP was.

Seems more stable, not that I really had any issues with XP, and is generally a lot snappier.
 
The only reason I have dropped back down to XP is because having recently lost my job I haven't been able to afford to buy Win 7 and have been running the RC which has now expired. As soon as I can afford to though & will be going back on. Computer was running so much better on 7. Specs are Athlon X2 4800, 2 gig RAM and a 8800 GTS 512
 
apatia77 said:
I think all you get extra is directx 10/11.

WinXP is still good enough for everything, it will play games and run all applications just as nicely as Win7.

But hey hooo, Win7/Vista looks rather good, GUI wise by default.
Click to expand...

not all games.. lately more and more games get released just for vista and windows 7.. this made me move from my much loved xp to win7 and i gotta say im very happy :)
 
The only big negative I've found so far with windows 7 is having a multi-screen setup I was used to windows XP being able to remember the positions and sizes of each window/folder independently on my screen/s which was very handy indeed, it seems that W7 doesn't have this feature which is quite odd considering that more and more people are working with larger displays and have multi-screen set-ups these days.

Anyway in the end I found this third party app that luckily someone created to solve this very problem with W7 - http://www.sevenforums.com/customiz...rfix-manage-folder-window-positions-size.html

Shouldn't have to use a third party app really for something that XP did natively but better than nothing I suppose.
 
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Just Cause 2 is the first step towards forgetting about XP. It has NO XP support.

robinbredin said:
If your still running XP now, then I would not bother upgrading to Win 7, and just wait till next year, and get Win 8.
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Windows 8 is not coming in 2011, it is hinted to be coming out in 2012 but nothing has been confirmed. There is no point sitting on XP for another 2 years - in fact it's foolish unless your PC is not modern enough to handle beyond XP in which case gaming performance won't be on your top 10 requirements list anyway.

Windows 7 is better in every way.
 
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Neodite said:
I don't see any reason NOT to upgrade from XP to 7.

With anything you should always keep upto date. a lot of people didn't bother with Vista, but you always get that. When we was all on Windows 98se and XP came out it was the same thing.

It's also going to be a while before you see "Windows 8" in the shops, so no don't wait
Click to expand...

A minimum of £70 cost would be 1 reason at the very least... also you may well find your favorite apps need upgrading...also you may need to upgrade your computer or at least memory... also your printer or other devices may not be suported... other than the cost and time..

I got a free copy so i upgraded, looks pretty... nice easy install process as well
 
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