XP, Vista or Windows 7 in bootcamp on MBA?

[nph]

What Windows OS is best? I want something that works give me long (as possible) battery life and doesn't take too much space.
What do you recommend?

Thanks

[Scottsdale]

Do Windows 7. By far the best. XP runs fast but has security issues. Windows 7 is fast and secure. Still has all the features too.

[thejadedmonkey]

Windows 7. XP is getting dated, and Windows 7 is just as fast, and has had more work put into making it stable and secure.

[SMC1991]

Another vote for 7.

Xp is antiquated, and there's no reason to use Vista over 7.

[ayeying]

Vista or 7 if you have SSD
XP for HDD.

XP isn't optimized for SSD drives and you'll run into performance problems.

[alphaod]

Not only is Windows 7 practically free at the moment, it's fast and good to use. XP is a bit old in many ways; still a good OS. Vista is good too (I like it and never had problem), but 7 is what Vista should have been.

[nph]

Thanks for all the replies, seems W7 is the way to go. I read it takes 14 G of HD space and that is at a premium on the MBA, Anyway to do what we do with OS X and minimize the install?
Either during the installation or after? I cant imagine all 14 G is needed, or?

[LAS.mac]

Not quite in agreement.
I've been using win xp professional for many years now. I've yet to find any software which isn't compatible. It is not an hungry OS. I'm still running it on a 2003 vintage Dell Latitude 600, with a Centrino 1.6 Ghz processor, 512 Mb ram and 20 Gb HD. Plenty of space and speedness.
About security: if it's an original licensed version keep it up to date and it'll work flawlessly. And use a free antivirus (I use Avira).
Vista is crap. Win 7 people say it's better, however it won't be compatible with several old software and hardware. And I'm sure it'll require more space and hardware than XP.

[aussie.damo]

Definitely Windows 7. I run it via BootCamp and it's very nice.

Windows XP is small, stable and reliable; however, Windows 7 offers some nice enhancements over it that make it worthwhile going to. As others have said, it's what Vista should have been. Since it's so good, it's likely more people will adopt it, meaning Windows XP will become even more obsolete.

Damo

[MickeyVee]

XP has been quite stable for me.
I'm not a big fan of bootcamp and run XP under VMware Fusion. Have 9GB allocated and have office, Visio & Quicken running in the virtual machine. Memory set to 640mb and it runs as fast as my Dell D610.
One nice thing about running in a VM is that if you use a backup utility such as SuperDuper!, you're also backing up your Windows system.
As far as minimizing your Mac OS space.. Snow Leopard. You mention 14GB for Win 7.. what about applications & data?

[nph]

Yes I want to minimize the OS to make space for Apps and data. Therefor when I read that the OS itself takes 14 Gig in Win7 it makes me concerned.

Can I make a smaller system install of Win7?

[ayeying]

Yes I want to minimize the OS to make space for Apps and data. Therefor when I read that the OS itself takes 14 Gig in Win7 it makes me concerned.

Can I make a smaller system install of Win7?

My windows 7 is about 6GB total after updates. But the inital install will be big then smaller later on when you disable the preinstalled programs

[nph]

Ok, need to show my windowsignorance...:o

How do I do that and what programs could be candidates for that?

Thanks again

[ayeying]

Ok, need to show my windowsignorance...:o

How do I do that and what programs could be candidates for that?

Thanks again

Anything in the "Programs and Features"

[charliex5]

I got a netbook with XP on it but loaded 7 on it when it became available as a beta. 7 was noticeably faster and smoother. I also had OSX on it and again, noticeably smoother (I realize OSX wasn't optimized for the netbook, but interesting nonetheless).

[nph]

Problem is that nothing shows up under program features... So does that mean I am stuck with 14Gigs?

In OS X there are tons of stuff you could remove, languages and printers.
Anything similar in Windows 7?

/Peter