Why should I upgrade? xp64 -> 7 pr0

[miceormen]

Hello all

Doubtless somewhere in some thread there is a wise man who has posted a paragraph that will answer my question, but what the hell.

I've been running xp64 since 939. Its been fantastic. Very reliable. No major driver issues. But its time for a change. I dual boot with ubuntu and I have Vista on my laptop.. For want of a better reason, xp just looks dated now.

So if you could give me some more pros, advantages, additions etc of Win7 over XP it would be appreciated. I'll be going for the MS student deal (Professional) so I can also afford a Samsung 2433 before Crimbo : )

Cheers

 

[miceormen]

From my own experiences, my brother's Athlon64 3700 ran dog slow with XP. Put Windows 7 on it and it feels like a brand new computer.

That sounds awfully like a shiny shiny argument The immediate difference I see as I said is appearance, so you might be waiting even longer for your bro's athlon to boot up Win7 but because its shinier and visually more impressive it will seem 'better'.

I run Windows Blinds for a nice polished theme in xp64, and it still lacks the visual zeal that Windows has pinched from the likes of beryl and osx. This seems to be from current replies at least the only major advantage of an upgrade.

I'm also looking at upgrading to an ssd somewhen - will xp64 support it or is that going to be the justifiable reason for upgrading to 7?

Cheers for the replies thus far guys, appreciated.

 

[miceormen]

Win7 has better security,superior memory handling,longer life span and very good driver support(can also use Vista drivers in most cases),DX11 for gaming,looks miles better too.

That covers the basics.

What does 'superior memory handling' entail? I'm running a v. nice mobo and stable as you like corsair dhx ram, no troubles with xp64 so far.. Is 'superiority' just another way of saying 'remarkably, despite win7 being more complex than Vista and therefore more prone to ****-ups, it doesnt'?

Also (and I realise the danger of turning this thread into noobs-101), what advantages does dx11 actually bring? I was told way back when longhorn was in beta that DX10 was the next big thing since sliced bread - only to find that 6 months after Vista went on sale, most of the games originally dedicated to the purpose of dx10 ran fine with dx9 - and Crysis certainly doesn't look too shabby on my setup.

I know I'm being picky of the advice given - it is appreciated - but being a student where there are bugger all jobs means I need to spend a little more wisely!

 

[miceormen]

Bump. SSD support?

 

[miceormen]

And in regards to SSD support you'll probably have more problems with the firmware than Windows itself. If you're short on cash now is a bad time to buy an SSD.

Fair cop. I'll hold off for now. It would be nice to have Windows boot somewhere remotely close to the boot speed of ubuntu though..

Money isn't that bad. Just started to look at the amount spent on nights out and how easily i've whittled away £20 on a uni ****up about 4 months ago. Stopped, let a little mulaa build up and now i should be ok for crimbo - But it would be just as easy to come on ocuk and spend 300-400 on upgrades that don't actually make noticeable differences to my comp's performance.

As for 7, so long as I can continue to use Winamp, Avast and iMedian i'll be happy : )