xp - vista - windows 7?????

[dullbird]

Ok So I now have a new laptop

which do people think would the better operating system to load???

would it be the windows 7? If so would all my programs such as lightroom etc work OK with it.

I currently have XP and vista home premium at home and I quite like vista as well:)

[Narangga]

Ok So I now have a new laptop

which do people think would the better operating system to load???

would it be the windows 7? If so would all my programs such as lightroom etc work OK with it.

I currently have XP and vista home premium at home and I quite like vista as well:)

:o One of the true infidels!

Do not like Vista and it is very resource hungry. 7 is supposed to be far better in that regard but have not used it.

[Lionel]

Ok So I now have a new laptop

which do people think would the better operating system to load???

would it be the windows 7? If so would all my programs such as lightroom etc work OK with it.

I currently have XP and vista home premium at home and I quite like vista as well:)

It all depends on what you have to be able to run on it. Windows 7 is a very nice OS, and you will find it very similar to Vista. XP is still OK too, although the refinements in the newer OS's are good enough to make the upgrades worthwhile.

You should be able to check out your programs to see whether they will run, and frequently there are update patches to make them run on Win 7.
Microsoft have a Windows 7 compatibility list, which might be useful.

You might, however, be stuck with having to get some new versions - hopefully for upgrade prices, rather than complete new versions (as I will have to do with Adobe Acrobat 5, when I change to Windows 7)

Cheers,

Lionel

[Lionel]

Vista and it is very resource hungry. 7 is supposed to be far better in that regard but have not used it.

True. I have Vista on my laptop and my wife has Windows 7 on her desktop. Windows 7 does boot up quicker than Vista.

Cheers,

Lionel

[101RRS]

I went from XP to windows 7 - don't like it all that much from the point of usability - some of my gear will not run on it. My Canon scanner will not run on it. My motherboard is not compatible but runs with basic functionality. When I boot it always asks what to boot from even though I have told it to boot from C drive. I have lost my motherboard based audio.

I think it is a bit backwards from XP - any advantages in win 7 are not worth the cost. Oh - I lost me e-mail system as Win 7 does not have an e-mail system.

[Mick_Marsh]

One of the engineers at work was very disappointed with his older style laptop. It was running XP and there were problems. After many discussions (and being impressed with my Fedora installation) he allowed me to install Ubuntu on it. After initially being impressed with the speed of his old laptop, he started complaining how he couldn't open a word document, view a wmv, etc.
After installing a few more programs (Open Office, mplayer, etc.) and codecs, he was a happy chappy with a new lease of life breathed into his aging laptop.

So, have you considered a distro of Linux (Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.)?

[dmdigital]

Vista is probably the second worst Windows version MS released (ME was a shocker!).

Whilst I am now sold on Mac OS X, I would say Windows 7 seems pretty good and stable and a lot less resource hungry than Vista. With new hardware I'd be looking at 7 over XP.

[MacFamily]

Well our computer crashed a week ago mind you it was 5yrs old with XP and now have winows 7 and its great, Havent used Vista so cannot compare.

[gatesy]

Xp is a good operating system. I really like windows 7, it run alot better that vista. With windows 7 I usually change the theme to classic, that gets rid of areo etc. The way I see it, if I wantewd pretty then I would go for a mac :o Compatability mode could help you run older software, but doest alway work.

Linux would be great, but for a general users the programs are much easier to obtain for a windows operating system. I use linux in a virtual machine for testing etc, and run it on a few servers, but would never recommend for general users that are looking for ease of use.

[dullbird]

I already have office software etc etc..so not looking to change operating systems in that respect..I also have a feeling that a lot of my other software wont work on other systems that aren't micrsoft....

And I'm sure like many of you I have 100's of dollars worth of varying different software so not looking to change. just decide whats best really...

As for vista apart from it being slow to shut down I've never had dramas with it..and I like the ay it is all set out so if 7 is very similar then I guess I will look at putting that in just from a resource point of view

[Landy Smurf]

i have xp and vista i put them about the same windows 7 oh actually yeah we have that too it is a fair bit better easier to use with more features

[dmdigital]

I must admit W7 and Vista seem very similar in layout. I really found Vista annoying - including the layout.

Just an aside Lou, Adobe products and others can often be swapped over to another OS. Sometimes it's no cost other times there is a small fee for a new disk to be sent out. Not that this is something you want to do right now.

[dullbird]

Ok well scrap all that as I think the new laptop has windows 7 home premium 64bit on it....it said this on the side of the box and I was like oh yeah ok what ever probably loaded on with access to only a couple of features to pay to unlock sort of thing..

then I got the laptop out and there is a license key on the back:eek:..

So I guess my next question is,

is 32bit software able to be used on 64bit operating system??

[Narangga]

Ok well scrap all that as I think the new laptop has windows 7 home premium 64bit on it....it said this on the side of the box and I was like oh yeah ok what ever probably loaded on with access to only a couple of features to pay to unlock sort of thing..

then I got the laptop out and there is a license key on the back:eek:..

So I guess my next question is,

is 32bit software able to be used on 64bit software??

If all else fails... :angel:

[incisor]

yep..

but the 32bit emulator uses 1gig of ram :P

is fine....

just do it...

[mikehzz]

You have to be careful with new laptops as there are sometimes no xp drivers for the hardware. In general win 7 is quite good, no use being stuck in the past. Most of my business clients are now prepared to make the change having been hesitant at first because of the vista debacle. Mike

[HangOver]

Vista is all round crap don't use it, ever.

Bottom line is if your laptop or computer has less than 4GB of total memory go 32bit XP.

if you have more than 4GB total memory, (including video) go for W7.
If you go W7 64bit. It really is a no-brainer.

[Ferret]

If so would all my programs such as lightroom etc work OK with it.

I have lightroom on Win7, it runs fine at least on my gear.

[mowog]

The Win 7 64bit install will run 32bit software. Including office.

Lightroom will install as a 64bit version on Win7 64bit.
You will need to get 64bit drivers for most printers.

[Lionel]

Oh - I lost me e-mail system as Win 7 does not have an e-mail system.

You are probably suffering from trying to run Windows 7 on older hardware.

W7 does have a mail system, but it differs from Outlook Express(XP) and Windows Mail (Vista). It works as a Windows Live application, but it is possible to get it to work in a similar manner to the others and import e-mails from Outlook Express.

I found this link:

TweakGuides.com - The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion (http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html)

Which is very useful for finding out about Windows 7. The regular (free) version of the guide is worth a look.

Cheers.

Lionel

[vnx205]

I survived making a comment in another forum about how smug I feel as a Defender owner because I don't have some of the problems that occur with Discos and other more complicated pieces of machinery. So in the hope of emerging relatively unscathed again, I can't resist the urge to say that some of the comments in this thread amuse me a bit.

As a Ubuntu user on a free ten year old computer with half a gig of memory, I find it slightly amusing that people who have paid quite a bit of money for a modern piece of equipment and the latest OS have to worry about performance, compatibility and the need to install extra drivers. I just install my free version of Ubuntu, switch the computer on and everything works. Yet some people still dismiss Linux as only being for geeks.

I know Linux is not for everyone and I know some people have specialised needs that can only be met with some other OS and a more powerful computer. However, I can do all I need to do and that is all that really matters to me.

If I am slightly amused, I imagine Mac users must be in hysterics :D and I hope they don't use my comments as an excuse to remind us lesser mortals about what we are missing out on. :p However they paid at least as much as the Windows users for their equipment ans OS, so I still feel smug about how much better value for money my setup is. :D

[101RRS]

Win 7 itself does not have an email system as part of the operating system - you need to add an external email system.

Outlook express (my preferred will not run with it).

I have refused to upgrade my laptop (the one I am using now) to Win 7 so just use Outlook express on it.

I am thinking about removing Win 7 from my PC and going back to XP Professional. I find no advantage with Win 7 over XP -at least I have e-mail and sound with XP.

Garry

[HangOver]

garrycol, you need to install the windows7 drivers for your audio card, it should work then.
If your computer is quite old you may find there are no windows7 drivers available for your motherboard, its usually easier to check compatability before an upgarde than after ;) A new windows7 supported sound card will probaly cost you about $20 and will fix your audio problem.

If you really wanted to keep using outlook express with all its idiosyncrasies you could run it under windows virtual PC. Personally I much prefer an online email system as you have zero chance of drive failure and loosing all your emails.

[101RRS]

garrycol, you need to install the windows7 drivers for your audio card, it should work then.(there are non that I can find for my motherboard)
If your computer is quite old you may find there are no windows7 drivers available for your motherboard, its usually easier to check compatability before an upgarde than after ;) (true but then maybe MS should make their stuff backwards compatible - it works with XP OK)
A new windows7 supported sound card will probaly cost you about $20 and will fix your audio problem. (I intend to put in an old sound blaster but I should not have too)

If you really wanted to keep using outlook express with all its idiosyncrasies (what are they - I find it works great for my requirements) you could run it under windows virtual PC.(dunno what that is)

Personally I much prefer an online email system as you have zero chance of drive failure and loosing all your emails. (I do not know about them but I do know where my emails were kept on the drive and could recover them from my backup disk if required).



Cheers

Garry

[dullbird]

ok so up and running now yet to put some of my other programs on yet..however i'm already disapointed to find that Mozilla doesn't yet support 64bit.:(

I have loaded on office07 does anyone know whether it is worth updating to office10 or not? I really like 07 just from a usablity point of view and would be happy to upgrade if 10 really had something to offer over 07

[incisor]

there is a 64bit port of firefox but alas no 64bit flash that works anything approaching well so you are better off just running the 32bit version.

[dullbird]

im just running the 64 explorer at the Mo.. not really going to be much difference as I have read when using the 32 you cant use any of the extensions and add on etc.

I guess I will swap over when Mozilla releases something

[Grumpy]

Win 7 itself does not have an email system as part of the operating system - you need to add an external email system.

Outlook express (my preferred will not run with it).

I have refused to upgrade my laptop (the one I am using now) to Win 7 so just use Outlook express on it.

I am thinking about removing Win 7 from my PC and going back to XP Professional. I find no advantage with Win 7 over XP -at least I have e-mail and sound with XP.

Garry

Windows 7 runs MS Outlook which is a more advanced version of Express and is a more secure system. My laptop has XP and the desktop has Win 7. Both run MS Outlook.The jury is still out as to which is the better system. Not being a computer buff, Win 7 is taking me a bit longer to learn. You must someone know that can "lend" you a copy of MS Outlook.
Unfortunately, my MS Office came installed with the new desktop.

Tony :wheelchair:

[Grumpy]

ok so up and running now yet to put some of my other programs on yet..however i'm already disapointed to find that Mozilla doesn't yet support 64bit.:(

I have loaded on office07 does anyone know whether it is worth updating to office10 or not? I really like 07 just from a usablity point of view and would be happy to upgrade if 10 really had something to offer over 07

I have run both 07 and 10. There is a slight difference and that is how the programs are set up. [I think that is how to put it not being fully ofey with these puters]. If you are happy with 07 stay with it. Or else find a puter shop that is prepared to demostrate Office 10.

Tony :wheelchair:

[Ferret]

I have loaded on office07 does anyone know whether it is worth updating to office10 or not? I really like 07 just from a usablity point of view and would be happy to upgrade if 10 really had something to offer over 07

I have both versions but I prefer office10. I like the layout better. If your PC came with Office 2007 (not a trial version) you probably qualify for the Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/tech-guarantee/) which will give you a free upgrade to Office 2010.

But you must take advantage of it by the end of September.

[CraigE]

ok so up and running now yet to put some of my other programs on yet..however i'm already disapointed to find that Mozilla doesn't yet support 64bit.:(

I have loaded on office07 does anyone know whether it is worth updating to office10 or not? I really like 07 just from a usablity point of view and would be happy to upgrade if 10 really had something to offer over 07
Lou,
It depends if you have Office 07. If so its definately not worth the upgrade. I have just installed Office 10 and outlook is very cumbersome and cluttered. The new features overall are disappointing. Wishing I could have stayed with 2000 but parts are not compatable with Vista. I am finding even after a full install Excel, Word etc has to install every time I use it. Something not right there.

[Lionel]

I know Linux is not for everyone and I know some people have specialised needs that can only be met with some other OS and a more powerful computer. However, I can do all I need to do and that is all that really matters to me.


Yes, (K)Ubuntu is really good. I intalled Kubuntu on my wife's old clunker after she upgraded to a new machine, and it works much better on it than Windows XP ever did.

For someone who just does the normal office stuff and e-mail/web browsing etc. it's great!

Unfortunately I have to use a few specialist programs which are windows only, so I can't switch over to it totally.

Cheers,

Lionel

[JohnF]

Lou,
It depends if you have Office 2007. If so its definately not worth the upgrade. I have just installed Office 10 and outlook is very cumbersome and cluttered. The new features overall are disappointing. Wishing I could have stayed with 2000 but parts are not compatable with Vista. I am finding even after a full install Excel, Word etc has to install every time I use it. Something not right there.

Personally I do not like office 07 [I only have XP with a trial version of 07]. I do prefer XP with Office 2003--only use Microsoft Word and Powerpoint in Office.