Windows 7

[MichaelRiesenbeck]

Maybe I'm weird but I don't hate Vista. The only real problems I've had with my laptop have been 64-bit related. UAC doesn't even bother me.

"SUB F looking for DOM O/S for long-term abusive relationship."

Nah I'm just more chill about it I guess.

Running W7 here now.

Perfect and fast! The only thing is, it lost my firefire driver and I can't add it any more! it's not listed in device manager and if I try to add new hardware or add legacy firewire I can't choose it....

I need that for my firwire sound card.....

Anyone have an idea?

The only thing I can think to do is go to the sound card manufacturers website and see if they have drivers for it.

Nah, they use the build in windows driver and hook their driver into that. Same with mine. It's like usb, where the OS has the base driver and you can plug in any compliant device.

I think I'll put the firewire card into a different pci slot so windows needs to detect it again.

[Enigma869]

It's not available yet for commercial purchase yet, is it?

I'm fairly certain that it is available. I believe October 22nd (yesterday) was the official release date. I just checked on the Costco website and it appears that most of the computers they're selling are shipping with Windows 7 as the OS.

[Don]

I have to admit, as much as I hated Vista, the only hope I had for Windows 7 was that it would be a bit quicker and less confusing to navigate thru. I planning on sticking with XP as long as I could.

I got the opportunity to switch over at the office about a week ago, and was so impressed that I've swapped to Windows 7 on my home PCs and laptop as well. I'm HIGHLY pleased with it. Wasn't quite sure when I saw it took just about as much disk space as Vista from a clean install (almost 8GB), but looks were deceiving. It's extremely quick and responsive -- even moreso than XP on each of my systems. My networked office PC (Core 2 Duo w/3GB RAM) boots up and is ready to go in 1:50, just under two minutes. My main home PC is a P4HT 3.0 with 2.5GB RAM, and my wife's is a P4HT 2.8 with only 1GB of RAM. It runs like a dream on both of them. Mine boots up and is ready to go at 55 freaking seconds -- that includes typing in both BIOS and Windows passwords, and I'm running Avast antivirus. Just got thru installing it on my laptop, an Intel Centrino 1.73GHz with 1.5GB of RAM, and aside from the fact the video chipset isn't compatible with Aero Glass, it's awesome.

Overall, it just has a much lighter feel, and proves that there was never a reason to purchase ungodly amounts of hardware just to smoothly run your O/S. And speaking of Aero Glass, it is smooth as it can be on each of my desktop PCs, including my wife's PC which is just running onboard graphics -- nothing fancy.

Several improvements overall, including a much smarter taskbar, MUCH better organized and easier access to your stuff (you don't have to navigate thru several levels of shell folders to find your freakin' hard drive or a network resource anymore). Also, they've done away with tons of pop-up interruptions, and give you an easy way to corral and control all the Notification Area (formerly System Tray) icons.

Another thing I notice right away is how much smoother multimedia content runs, especially while surfing the Web. For example, if I watch a YouTube video, it seems to stream much quicker and smoother than before, and if I jump ahead it loads quicker. Who'da thunkit?

Overall, it's quicker in just about every area, seemingly surpassing even XP in performance. They've reduced a bunch of headache by eliminating needless crap and endless mouse-clicks to get to where you want to go or do what you want to do. Windows 7 has really breathed new life into my existing equipment and made my 2-3 year old systems run like new. So I'm very pleased, but still give Microsoft a big F.U. for trying to force Vista on us for the past few years. What a piece of bloated, overcomplicated crap that was.

Anyone else running it yet?

It's not available yet for commercial purchase yet, is it?

I beta tested it, and was happy with the performance of it. It didn't fully support my video card, and then when they came out with Release Candidate 1, it didn't support it at all. So I had to ditch it. When the RTM version hits the torrent sites, I'm going to download it and see if they fixed the problem with my video card before I run out and buy it. I'd hate to have to replace the video card. It was fairly outrageous when I bought it.

It is out now for stand alone purchase. Give it a week and test drive the cracked RETAIL version that should hit the torrents any second now.

[Sarah]

It is out now for stand alone purchase. Give it a week and test drive the cracked RETAIL version that should hit the torrents any second now.

Enjoy your botnet!

I'd never pirate Windows for a computer I was going to use regularly.

[Don]

It is out now for stand alone purchase. Give it a week and test drive the cracked RETAIL version that should hit the torrents any second now.

Enjoy your botnet!

I'd never pirate Windows for a computer I was going to use regularly.

I used a cracked XP version with built in vista themes and icons, winrar, qt pro and a few other programs already installed. I used window update regularly. It never failed windows genuine test. It never even asked for a serial during install.

It all depends on which version of a cracked OS you happen to get, whether it will be trouble free or not.

[Sarah]

It is out now for stand alone purchase. Give it a week and test drive the cracked RETAIL version that should hit the torrents any second now.

Enjoy your botnet!

I'd never pirate Windows for a computer I was going to use regularly.

I used a cracked XP version with built in vista themes and icons, winrar, qt pro and a few other programs already installed. I used window update regularly. It never failed windows genuine test. It never even asked for a serial during install.

It all depends on which version of a cracked OS you happen to get, whether it will be trouble free or not.

I'm not talking about if it will pass validation, of course it will.

You just don't know what the person who cracked it put in there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet

[Don]

It is out now for stand alone purchase. Give it a week and test drive the cracked RETAIL version that should hit the torrents any second now.

Enjoy your botnet!

I'd never pirate Windows for a computer I was going to use regularly.

I used a cracked XP version with built in vista themes and icons, winrar, qt pro and a few other programs already installed. I used window update regularly. It never failed windows genuine test. It never even asked for a serial during install.

It all depends on which version of a cracked OS you happen to get, whether it will be trouble free or not.

I'm not talking about if it will pass validation, of course it will.

You just don't know what the person who cracked it put in there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet

I get what you are saying. I wasn't worried about that with the version I had. I do understand how that can be a problem though.

[*Laura]

Had the upgrade done today. I'm absolutely IN LOVE with Windows 7. Major difference between this and the shitty Vista I had on. W7 is superfast, smart and simple to work with. Love the taskbar (hovering over the pages is such a great idea) and the way the windows open and close with that nice visual "swoosh". lol

Had a great deal, too - I have a new laptop so I qualified for the $39.99 offer. Best Buy did the upgrade for that price, so basically I got the W7 for free.
I couldn't be happier than this.

[MichaelRiesenbeck]

Maybe I'm weird but I don't hate Vista. The only real problems I've had with my laptop have been 64-bit related. UAC doesn't even bother me.

"SUB F looking for DOM O/S for long-term abusive relationship."

Nah I'm just more chill about it I guess.

Running W7 here now.

Perfect and fast! The only thing is, it lost my firefire driver and I can't add it any more! it's not listed in device manager and if I try to add new hardware or add legacy firewire I can't choose it....

I need that for my firwire sound card.....

Anyone have an idea?

The only thing I can think to do is go to the sound card manufacturers website and see if they have drivers for it.

Nah, they use the build in windows driver and hook their driver into that. Same with mine. It's like usb, where the OS has the base driver and you can plug in any compliant device.

I think I'll put the firewire card into a different pci slot so windows needs to detect it again.

Hahaha, I just needed to reboot and then all was fine!

Lazy me.

Still amazed by the speed of W7. Now, Vista was slow and buggy, but on the same hardware W7 outperforms even XP here.

[S2M]

Just a quick question for those in the know....

I have Windows Xp....how much should the upgrade to Win7 cost me?

[JasonD]

I keep reading that if you got Vista it's not worth upgrading to Win7, but then in the next breath they say Win7 is so much faster & less buggy than Vista. So why wouldn't I want to upgrade if that's the case? My Vista royally sucks. It freezes up & does all kinds of crazy stuff, so I was thinking of switching but everything I read tells me not to. Any suggestions?

[bluejeangirl76]

Just a quick question for those in the know....

I have Windows Xp....how much should the upgrade to Win7 cost me?

The easy answer is $119.99 for the Home Premium upgrade for XP and Vista users.

But, make sure you can run it first:

http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements


Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on

Some stores are offering the upgrade for $50 if you buy a new (Vista) PC.

[ILjrnyFan]

Just a quick question for those in the know....

I have Windows Xp....how much should the upgrade to Win7 cost me?

If you have more than one PC there's a win7 home premium upgrade family pack for $150. Installs on up to 3 computers.

[bluejeangirl76]

Just a quick question for those in the know....

I have Windows Xp....how much should the upgrade to Win7 cost me?

If you have more than one PC there's a win7 home premium upgrade family pack for $150. Installs on up to 3 computers.

I forgot to look into that... cool, I need that.

[Sarah]

I'll say it again: DON'T BUY THE UPGRADE, BUY THE FULL VERSION. Seriously, you're wasting time. If you ever need to wipe or replace your hard drive, you're gonna find yourself having to reinstall Vista/XP and update everything before you can install Windows 7 again.

I keep reading that if you got Vista it's not worth upgrading to Win7, but then in the next breath they say Win7 is so much faster & less buggy than Vista. So why wouldn't I want to upgrade if that's the case? My Vista royally sucks. It freezes up & does all kinds of crazy stuff, so I was thinking of switching but everything I read tells me not to. Any suggestions?

Wow, who is saying that? Windows 7 is by all accounts a massive improvement. If you're not happy with Vista then upgrade. If you want to play it safer, wait for the first service pack, but if Vista is driving you crazy then go for it.

[Behshad]

I was debating on whether I should get a new PC loaded with windows 7 or go with the new iMac....... Well, as of Friday . I am officially part of the Mac family and loving it !

[Don]

I'll say it again: DON'T BUY THE UPGRADE, BUY THE FULL VERSION. Seriously, you're wasting time. If you ever need to wipe or replace your hard drive, you're gonna find yourself having to reinstall Vista/XP and update everything before you can install Windows 7 again.

At least, partition your hard drive, with all your music, video and other files on a separate partition from your operation system in case you need to nuke it.

[Sarah]

I'll say it again: DON'T BUY THE UPGRADE, BUY THE FULL VERSION. Seriously, you're wasting time. If you ever need to wipe or replace your hard drive, you're gonna find yourself having to reinstall Vista/XP and update everything before you can install Windows 7 again.

At least, partition your hard drive, with all your music, video and other files on a separate partition from your operation system in case you need to nuke it.

Oh yeah, backups are a must too, of course.

[JasonD]

I was debating on whether I should get a new PC loaded with windows 7 or go with the new iMac....... Well, as of Friday . I am officially part of the Mac family and loving it !

Now you got my head spinning. I don't know what to do. I hate my Vista. Was thinking of upgrading. Now thinking of replacing it altogether, but if I go with another PC I want to keep my monitor b/c it's a widescreen. I'm kinda considering a laptop but I don't know enough about them to know whether I should.

You said you got an iMac? Having experienced both an iMac & PC what are the differences? ..... the pros & cons of each?

[Behshad]

I was debating on whether I should get a new PC loaded with windows 7 or go with the new iMac....... Well, as of Friday . I am officially part of the Mac family and loving it !

Now you got my head spinning. I don't know what to do. I hate my Vista. Was thinking of upgrading. Now thinking of replacing it altogether, but if I go with another PC I want to keep my monitor b/c it's a widescreen. I'm kinda considering a laptop but I don't know enough about them to know whether I should.

You said you got an iMac? Having experienced both an iMac & PC what are the differences? ..... the pros & cons of each?

So far the ONLY cons for the iMac is just getting used to the interface,,,, having used a PC for 20 years, it takes a while to get used to where things are and all,,,,, but overall, Its just amazing how smooth things are,,, how accessible things are once youre used to a mac,,,, and for $1200 you get a really nice unit thats got it all right out of the box,,,


In addition to the smooth fast simple interface/processor, I love how clutter free everything is,,,, just ONE power chord from the monitor to the wall and thats it,,,,, wireless bluetooth keyboard/magic mouse,,,, and no tower, makes it so nice and clean

Go with a iMac , son. You wont regret it !

[Angel]

for $1200 you get a really nice unit thats got it all right out of the box,,,

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Why is this making me laugh??????

[JasonD]

I was debating on whether I should get a new PC loaded with windows 7 or go with the new iMac....... Well, as of Friday . I am officially part of the Mac family and loving it !

Now you got my head spinning. I don't know what to do. I hate my Vista. Was thinking of upgrading. Now thinking of replacing it altogether, but if I go with another PC I want to keep my monitor b/c it's a widescreen. I'm kinda considering a laptop but I don't know enough about them to know whether I should.

You said you got an iMac? Having experienced both an iMac & PC what are the differences? ..... the pros & cons of each?

So far the ONLY cons for the iMac is just getting used to the interface,,,, having used a PC for 20 years, it takes a while to get used to where things are and all,,,,, but overall, Its just amazing how smooth things are,,, how accessible things are once youre used to a mac,,,, and for $1200 you get a really nice unit thats got it all right out of the box,,,


In addition to the smooth fast simple interface/processor, I love how clutter free everything is,,,, just ONE power chord from the monitor to the wall and thats it,,,,, wireless bluetooth keyboard/magic mouse,,,, and no tower, makes it so nice and clean

Go with a iMac , son. You wont regret it !

I'll hafta give it a little thought & a lot of research. I need something that's made for a novice. I know nothing about iMac..... & I mean nothing!

I'm thinking iMac?? Is that a brand like Dell & Gateway are brands of PC's?

That's my level of expertise, B.

[Behshad]

I was debating on whether I should get a new PC loaded with windows 7 or go with the new iMac....... Well, as of Friday . I am officially part of the Mac family and loving it !

Now you got my head spinning. I don't know what to do. I hate my Vista. Was thinking of upgrading. Now thinking of replacing it altogether, but if I go with another PC I want to keep my monitor b/c it's a widescreen. I'm kinda considering a laptop but I don't know enough about them to know whether I should.

You said you got an iMac? Having experienced both an iMac & PC what are the differences? ..... the pros & cons of each?

So far the ONLY cons for the iMac is just getting used to the interface,,,, having used a PC for 20 years, it takes a while to get used to where things are and all,,,,, but overall, Its just amazing how smooth things are,,, how accessible things are once youre used to a mac,,,, and for $1200 you get a really nice unit thats got it all right out of the box,,,


In addition to the smooth fast simple interface/processor, I love how clutter free everything is,,,, just ONE power chord from the monitor to the wall and thats it,,,,, wireless bluetooth keyboard/magic mouse,,,, and no tower, makes it so nice and clean

Go with a iMac , son. You wont regret it !

I'll hafta give it a little thought & a lot of research. I need something that's made for a novice. I know nothing about iMac..... & I mean nothing!

I'm thinking iMac?? Is that a brand like Dell & Gateway are brands of PC's?

That's my level of expertise, B.

I knew NOTHING about iMac either when I got mine,,,, I was gonna go with either a Dell or Vaio,, but Im glad I walked out with this nice iMac.... Just dont take "Angel" with you shopping as she may talk you into an iCock instead

[Angel]

AHEM! You're the one telling him what a nice "unit" he can get for $1200...

[Behshad]

AHEM! You're the one telling him what a nice "unit" he can get for $1200...

Yep, but only someone like YOU would think of a UNIT = DILDO

[Sarah]

Eh, imo Macs are overpriced, even though their OS is pretty reliable (hardware is the same as anything else).

Really, it depends on what you want to do. If you just surf the web, no point in spending a thousand bucks when you can get a $400 basic desktop. If aesthetics and less-probable crashing/viruses are most important to you, then Mac. If you're a gamer, you're better off with Windows. If you do films, you're better off with a Mac. If you want a wider selection of software, Windows.

It all depends on what you need and how much money is in your budget. What works well for one person won't work well for everyone. You can get a top-of-the-line Dell for $1200 and be able to run the latest programs/games, or you can get a standard Mac for $1200 and never have to rage at a Blue Screen Of Death. Whichever is more important to YOU.

[Behshad]

Eh, imo Macs are overpriced, even though their OS is pretty reliable (hardware is the same as anything else). "Only $1200", I don't think that's worth it.

Really, it depends on what you want to do. If you just surf the web, no point in spending a thousand bucks when you can get a $400 basic desktop. If aesthetics and less-probable crashing/viruses are most important to you, then Mac. If you're a gamer, you're better off with Windows. If you do films, you're better off with a Mac. If you want a wider selection of software, Windows.

It all depends on what you need and how much money is in your budget.

Macs may seem overpriced, but you get a unit that never gets a virus,,, never gets the bluescreen of death,, and for my $1200, and what I got, I would have to pay around the same to get a similiar PC with the same power, memory and software,,,oh and your $400 basic doesnt come with a nice LED screen , does it

Im not gonna turn this into a PC vs Mac pissing game... I have used PCs way too long to say PC sucks,,,, As you said it all depends on what you gonna use it for,,, but the fact that most softwares out there are available for both Mac & PC....and for $50 you can actually run Windows as a second OS , if you wanna use any of your existing software that arent available on Mac.....

[JasonD]

Eh, imo Macs are overpriced, even though their OS is pretty reliable (hardware is the same as anything else). "Only $1200", I don't think that's worth it.

Really, it depends on what you want to do. If you just surf the web, no point in spending a thousand bucks when you can get a $400 basic desktop. If aesthetics and less-probable crashing/viruses are most important to you, then Mac. If you're a gamer, you're better off with Windows. If you do films, you're better off with a Mac. If you want a wider selection of software, Windows.

It all depends on what you need and how much money is in your budget.

Money's no problem. I make a decent living. I'm not at all a gamer. I like to watch movies, TV & of course music videos. I just want something that's going to give me high definition, crisp, clear pictures without freezing up or shutting down like Vista does to me. I gotta reboot this thing 2 or 3 times a day on the weekends when I'm on it quite a lot. During the week, not so much b/c I don't log on 'till the evening.

Plus, if I get a new computer, it has to function well with pictures. I have hundreds of pictures of my daughter I'd want to load.

[Ehwmatt]

Eh, imo Macs are overpriced, even though their OS is pretty reliable (hardware is the same as anything else). "Only $1200", I don't think that's worth it.

Really, it depends on what you want to do. If you just surf the web, no point in spending a thousand bucks when you can get a $400 basic desktop. If aesthetics and less-probable crashing/viruses are most important to you, then Mac. If you're a gamer, you're better off with Windows. If you do films, you're better off with a Mac. If you want a wider selection of software, Windows.

It all depends on what you need and how much money is in your budget.

Macs may seem overpriced, but you get a unit that never gets a virus,,, never gets the bluescreen of death,, and for my $1200, and what I got, I would have to pay around the same to get a similiar PC with the same power, memory and software,,,oh and your $400 basic doesnt come with a nice LED screen , does it

Im not gonna turn this into a PC vs Mac pissing game... I have used PCs way too long to say PC sucks,,,, As you said it all depends on what you gonna use it for,,, but the fact that most softwares out there are available for both Mac & PC....and for $50 you can actually run Windows as a second OS , if you wanna use any of your existing software that arent available on Mac.....

Other than pricing, there's really no argument against a Mac nowadays given the Intel chipsets allowing Windows and OS X to be dual booted.

Trouble free computing, including the non-necessity of having to defrag every week and format every 6 months just to keep the system running at optimal speed is worth the extra couple hundred bucks for me.

EDIT: It's also like buying a budget car versus a nice car, say Hyundai vs. Toyota. On the outside, you're getting something that looks pretty similar in quality and appearance, and for a while, may even seem to run the same. But after a while, there's a good chance things will go wrong a lot quicker on the Hyundai. I've seen a lot of friends who bought nice $600-900~ Dell/HP laptops that were good at first but had various problems after less than a year - motherboard failure, cooling fan failure, hard disk failure, etc...

PCs are still useful for some things for me, but I'd much rather use my Mac whenever possible.

[Sarah]

Macs may seem overpriced, but you get a unit that never gets a virus,,, never gets the bluescreen of death,, and for my $1200, and what I got, I would have to pay around the same to get a similiar PC with the same power, memory and software,,,oh and your $400 basic doesnt come with a nice LED screen , does it

Er, Macs can and do crash on occasion. There are also viruses, never say never, but a Windows user could also never get a virus just by having common sense. I'm just trying to be fair here, neither system is perfect and they both have advantages.

Jason said he already had a nice monitor. But even if you bought one with the $400 computer, it'd still come in way lower than $1200.