How do you guys feel about Windows 7?

[chrono1081]

No problems running w7 on my i3 notebook at all. Very smooth

We had Win7 running on ancient laptops at work very smoothly. More smoothly than XP that was on them. Maybe the guy in the other post didn't tweak it and have things like transparency turned off for older hardware.

 

[OptamusPriem]

i've been lurking this forum quite for quite some time,i've just ordered my first mac, a macbook pro 17" with a 27" ACD accompanying it,

anyway i just made a user just to say that windows 7 run smoothly on my piece of crap lenovo with a core celeron 1,86ghz 1 core 1 thread, so if an i3 processor cant run win7 then its not the processors fault.

 

[Scippy]

I have very few, if any, complaints about windows 7. After using XP and briefly vista at school, it is a huge step up.

 

[iMpathetic]

Best MS OS ever, by far. Is it better than OS X? I'd say they're pretty much the same. My main machine uses 7 Ultimate x64 on a mobile Core 2 Duo and FLIES. No freezes, no problems, nothing. I'm trading it for a MBP for nostalgia more than anything.

It's taken MS a while, but they've caught up. Now it's just personal preference!

 

[kevinws]

It is MS's best OS yet by far. Never had one problem with it. The only reason why I switched to the Mac after using Windows 7 was so that my wife and I would have compatible machines. Her work uses Macs almost exclusively and that is what she is used to now. I wanted something she could pick up and use with out even thinking about it.

Windows 7 runs better in a virtual machine using virtual box on my Mac with 2 gigs than vista did natively on my laptop with 4 gigs. It ran flawlessly on my Atom powered netbook with only 1 gig. So most modern machines would not have any issues with it.

After using OSX, Windows 7, and many Linux distros I must say OS choice is now a personal preference/software need more than anything else.

For virus protection I use Microsoft Security Essentials and common sense.

 

[jimmer-uk]

Ya that part in my post kind of sounds stilly. You have to read more of his posts to understand. He's a troll left over from the iPhone days who spews false stuff about apple all the time and promotes MS.

Since you replied I read your post, the rest is very valid!

 

[aimbdd]

I just realized something about the upgradability part. 10.6 wont run on PPC hardware - hardware that was selling only 5 years ago. The original iPhone, which started selling only 3 years ago, can't run iOS4. This makes jbzoom's post even more BS.

In comparison, my HTPC and NAS run Windows 7 and WHS perfectly on nearly 6 year old hardware.

I LOL'd at that IRL.

That would not be a fair comparison... They switched what kind of processor they were using.

The windows smart phones i used lagged like crazy, when they were brand new... yet alone 3 year old phones.

First, Ill tell you straight up, neither W7 nor Vista have slowed down at all over the year Ive used them.


Please get your anti-Microsoft UNEDUCATED OPINIONS and LIES out of here.

I agree with all your points but this one. Vista very much slowed down over time in my using it. I have reinstalled it on the family computer 4 or 5 times... I am not so sure about 7 though, it seems like it might not! At least i haven't had to reinstall.


I like windows 7 a lot better then the past versions. Still have had more problems with it then mac osx.

 

[vistadude]

Safari has a terrible tab gui, and just got Bing search. You can't even add your own search, and the page rendering is bad for alot of sites. You can't control scroll speed or make your own keyboard shortcuts. These are features opera and firefox had a long time ago.

Outlook has a lot of power features, those are not bloat, while Apple's mail program is made for simple people who gets few emails. Mail takes forever to load for large inboxes while Outlook speeds by. To talk about bloat, Apple installs bloat like Garageband, who actually uses this program, and quicktime, which constantly needs to be updated to play a simple video.

What are you talking about? Windows had a tablet pc edition and 3 or 4 media center editions released in between XP and vista. Mac OS didn't even get a media center unless you go out and buy an apple hobbie.

You make zero sense in this statement. What makes you think Safari is "three generations behind"? Safari is a great browser (on Mac, never used it on Windows) and is far ahead of Firefox as far as speed goes. Not to mention if a plugin crashes, Safari doesn't. It also has great features like Safari reader, and works with HTML5 very well. How is it 3 generations behind again?


Define "good program". If you are talking pure features, then yes, MS has way more features although most are useless bloat. As far as "stability", then no, MS makes a terrible program. Ask anyone in IT. Most fixes are for MS Outlook. Whether its corrupt PST files, or changed fonts, or lost connections with the exchange server. Its buggy as ****. Without MS Outlook we would have had no need for half of our support staff at my last job. Thankfully Outlook is buggy as crap because it keeps me employed.



This is nothing new. Apple doesn't target the gaming market.




Incorrect. Each point update offers many new features with the exception of snowleopard. MS kept users with XP from October 2001 until then end of January 2007 when Vista was released. Windows SP2 was the only time real additional functionality was added in the form of letting users plug in USB storage devices without installing drivers. Vista wasn't useable for a lot of people (me included) due to its infamous "shadow volume copy" error preventing the transfer of large amounts of data across multiple hard drives, people switched back to XP and waited until October 2009 when 7 was released.

In roughly that same timeframe, Mac OS had 6 major updates. Now who doesn't update often?




Depends on how you define it. The + sign maximizes the window to the size of the content. No more. I used to prefer the windows maximize where the window fills the screen but since I work with many windows at once on the screen, I started to like the mac version of maximize better.

When a developer creates their program they control how big the maximize button lets the window go. Same goes for webpages in Safari.

 

[andiwm2003]

.................................................

Please get your anti-Microsoft UNEDUCATED OPINIONS and LIES out of here.

that's a bit harsh. The poster was quite reasonable.

OT: I like Windows 7 to the point where I can see switching back to Windows. It's a lot more intuitive than the older versions, a lot faster in my setting and very stable.

The only reasons that are holding me back are:
-I'm used to OS X
-I like the look and styling of OS X more
-OS X has as of now no viruses and only limited number of malware
-past Windows versions slowed down over time a lot on my private and business machines

I'm afraid that Apple with their obsessive control over everything and the App store for Mac's make OS X less intuitive and you have to worry all the time about data formats and restrictions. If that turns out to come true then Windows 7 is an acceptable alternative for me.

 

[NT1440]

I'm afraid that Apple with their obsessive control over everything and the App store for Mac's make OS X less intuitive and you have to worry all the time about data formats and restrictions.

Que?

 

[andiwm2003]

Que?

right now we have full desktop apps. in the future we have on top of that Apps that have to adhere to standards that are different to what the programs use right now. and many programs will move over to Apps and change accordingly.

currently all programs use common file formats or at least support them. when I look at the iPad/iOS then every app uses it's own format and a lot of them don't support open standards.

right now you can edit a file, save it wherever you want and another program can open it, edit it and save it again. on the iPad/iOS I can't do that at all. clearly counterintuitive.

right now I can download a file into a file system and use it. that is the same for every program. on the iPad/iOS every program downloads files in a different way or has to go through iTunes.

if these things spill over into OS X then you have to remember for every App how to download, how to transfer files and if you can print from there or not and if you can email from a program or not.

All in all very counterintuitive.

 

[ieevans]

Let me start of by saying I like OS X more than any other desktop OS. I switched from Linux and Solaris around 10.2. I have a preference for UNIX based systems since it's also my profession.

Having said that, if you are in the market for an inexpensive machine and don't have any use for native UNIX or X then I'd say Windows7 is your best bet since the value:$ is very high. Skip on the Ultimate Edition or whatever it is unless you think you'll really use it. Spring for the "upgrade" to 64-bit and an i5 if you can. I almost always have a VM running W7 and it performs very well even on my C2D. For a desktop computer I wouldn't want to advise anyone to spend as much time and effort as it takes to get a Linux system up and running well. Not saying it isn't possible, it is, it's just that there is always "something". If you already have an investment in software meaning iPhoto libraries and such then I'd stick with a Mac. If you really wanted a Mac my wife picked up a 13" Macbook Pro from Microcenter for $999, you have to read the ad carefully (13" MBP, reg 1199.99 before $200 instant savings). It's new and is the current model. The catch is you have to purchase in-store. It might not have an i3 or i5 but is fast enough for everything and 8GB of RAM from Crucial can be had for around $200 on Newegg. Hook that up with Parallels or VMware Fusion and Bootcamp and you can have everything. I do everything on an Apple refurb 15" MBP and refurb Mini, great value if you can get current config. I'm sure Lion will work fine on anything fairly current.

Good luck, I really don't think you can go wrong with either.

 

[bartzilla]

i3 is a low power (translate slow) processor.

PC nerd at work has i3. W7 is hilariously slow on that. 4 year old C2D with XP is more responsive.

You'd think a consultant would know that the plural of anecdote is not data. Just because you've seen one core i3 machine where Windows runs slowly, that does *not* mean that Windows runs slowly on core i3 machines period.

 

[richard.mac]

Don't turn off Aero, turn off transparency.

snip

Just a little tip, change the window color to green or dark green and it'll be a lot easier to see active windows.

ahh oh thanks chaps! :thumbsup: didnt dig deep into the theme preferences.

 

[bruinsrme]

Win 7 running on 2 to 4 year old dells. There are 4 machines now running it including my mac mini. No issues whatsoever.

Win7 ran like a dog with 1G ram, updated everything to 4G and all machines run nicely.

 

[wyrmintheapple]

W7 does NOT work well on i3 low powered CPU.

I've only just installed Windows 7 on my e8200 C2D, replacing XP... can't say it seems slow at all, Like others above, I've no idea what information this is based on either.

Is this from experience? Better maintenance maybe? Maybe other components are letting it down, perhaps some more RAM, or a notebook graphics card....

Is this something you've read? Then I have to tell you it's rubbish, don't repeat it again.

 

[wyrmintheapple]

Safari has a terrible tab gui

I don't see many reviews highlighting this. Who says? Just you?

and just got Bing search. You can't even add your own search

It has bing and google search. I think almost every user (other than you clearly) will be happy with that.

You can't control scroll speed or make your own keyboard shortcuts. These are features opera and firefox had a long time ago.

Did they? Who knew? Who cares?
I've never been asked about these features, I don't think they are much sought after.

Outlook has a lot of power features, those are not bloat, while Apple's mail program is made for simple people who gets few emails. Mail takes forever to load for large inboxes while Outlook speeds by.

Outlook itself has "power features" I don't need, which makes them bloat. That said, Outlook is a power program, better compared to the equally massive "entourage/outlook for Mac" than Apple's Mail.
Outlook is fast, but cursed with a single database file... never had a database corruption destroy all of your email in one go, have you?

To talk about bloat, Apple installs bloat like Garageband, who actually uses this program

I don't use it, so I didn't install it. I don't use the live search feature of outlook either... I do have the option to not install garageband if I don't want it. Try removing just the instant search from outlook..... comparing an application to a part of an application doesn't work.

and quicktime, which constantly needs to be updated to play a simple video.

I've not had this "constantly updating quicktime" issue. Maybe your system is having issues.

What are you talking about? Windows had a tablet pc edition and 3 or 4 media center editions released in between XP and vista. Mac OS didn't even get a media center unless you go out and buy an apple hobbie.

Microsoft released ONE tablet edition (based on XP) and ONE media centre (based on XP) not three, not four. One. It was quite good, I have one.

It did come out before Apple's, but Apple's media centre "Front Row" comes with every Mac with 10.4... certainly no need to go buy a "hobbie"


Got any more FUD with that??

 

[iCole]

I have Windows 7 and its pretty good. I won't say i like it better than Mac OS (features like time machine make it unmatched) but it comes close. It runs not too bad on my C2D 3GHZ but it sometimes lags a bit. Slower startup, slower shutdown, and i seem to have updates everytime i turn on my pc In the end however, it's all the same and it all depends on preference and the machine you are going to buy. You can buy a ****** computer and have it run Win7, and the experience will be ******. But if you don't have a need for a Mac, a decent Win7 PC isn't a bad buy.

 

[JayX]

I kept a Windows PC in the lounge for HTPC use, bought it about 3 years ago but if I could swap it out for a Mini running OSX I probably would.

After running Vista beta for a while, then final for a shorter time I realised I was just incredibly bored of Windows. I'd bought a MacBook for my father, despite hating Apple for 10+ years, and without my laptop one day I sat there for about 12 hours on a new username to see if I could at least get some use out of it. Took to it like a fish out of wate which, after using every version of Windows since 3.0 bar a few iterations of NT, surprised the hell out of me. I found everything was far more intuitive, whereas each new release of Windows had kept in things from the past that had irked me. DMGs and app installation blew me away, how and why hadn't Microsoft at least implemented an OS level imaging system? It made so much sense to me. I found my Windows installs were always bogged down with extra tools in order to get it running in a way I liked, whereas even in defaults OSX felt more natural.

So W7 is here, I've upgraded my HTPC to it and it's alright I guess. It doesn't feel any different to XP/VI, and that's the problem. A few extra features and a plethora of bug fixes and at the heart of it is still the OS I got bored of years ago. Naturally, 10.6 wasn't a featured upgrade, but it was incredibly cheap and the entire background of the OS felt completely rewritten. Microsoft keep harping on about how no legacy code is used, then you find Win 3.1 era dialog boxes in the font viewer. I've no problem with legacy if it's been refined and made better over the years, a la BSD, but Microsoft had a proprietary nightmare on their hands with regards to security and didn't do anything about it for years.

So Windows 7, it exists and it works. If you like Windows you'll like it I guess. It's better than XP/VI but not in any new and mindblowing way. The few features shown off in Lion already make me realise how much even a casual workflow will be improved, the next version of Windows will just feel the same.

After sitting at an XP workstation all day, with all it's wonderful 'features' such as focus stealing and constant untraceable Explorer crashes it's an absolute relief to open my MBP and not be fighting the system when I want to do simple things.

Essentially, while Ballmer is in charge, they're unlikely to do anything that will tempt me back into purchasing new hardware. I can't think of any issue with buying hardware now in preparation for Lion, sure there'll be updated hardware but this is computing... there's always another update.

With regards to viruses etc, the second you let anyone else touch your machine you have to have concerns and tight security. My HTPC is in the lounge, people are allowed to use it because I'm not an *******. I've spent hours scrubbing infected files out of it as a result.

 

[talmy]

I've got W7 at home for testing purposes, and use it for demonstrations in classes I teach. W7 has some nice user interface features, but configuration is spread all over the place, networking has gotten worse (unless you are in an all W7 environment), and the 64-bit version that gets installed in every consumer PC (not business PCs, I wonder why?) has legacy problems with some application programs we use in class.

My major gripe though is with Office. At work we just upgraded from 2003 to 2010. (Still XP OS, though). The launch time for Outlook is terrible and all the apps run slower and are more difficult to use. Has me scared to buy Office 2011 for Mac.

 

[JayX]

I run quite complex VB macros in Excel, and the difference in time that Excel 2007 takes over 2003 is astonishing. It is so, so utterly slow.. hours in some cases. I think a lot of our code needs to be rewritten because of this. Office suite is the worst, and I hate the fact that I have to use it 8 hours a day, because it stops me getting used to iWork at home!

 

[xheathen]

I REALLY like win7. I've been taking a very critical eye with Win7 because of how bad Vista was. But so far I can really attest to it being a fantastic OS.

It was the first iteration of Windows where I installed it, and literally everything was installed properly - every driver, every device - during the actual install process. So that was a nice surprise.

Something that most people completely miss about Win7 is the new taskbar. It is unbelievably versatile compared to the old taskbars. I daresay it's nearly on par with the Mac dock. Personally, I use a combination of the Win7 dock, and Rocketdock, which mimics the functionality of the Mac dock.

Also, the Win7 "Libraries" function is amazing if you utilize it properly.

I have also seen absolutely no slowdown whatsoever, and I've had it since release. So this has been a very good surprise on their part.

So I'd say at this point, MS really hit a home run and Win7 is an OS I could really recommend.

 

[Mike225]

I REALLY like win7. I've been taking a very critical eye with Win7 because of how bad Vista was. But so far I can really attest to it being a fantastic OS.

It was the first iteration of Windows where I installed it, and literally everything was installed properly - every driver, every device - during the actual install process. So that was a nice surprise.

Something that most people completely miss about Win7 is the new taskbar. It is unbelievably versatile compared to the old taskbars. I daresay it's nearly on par with the Mac dock. Personally, I use a combination of the Win7 dock, and Rocketdock, which mimics the functionality of the Mac dock.

Also, the Win7 "Libraries" function is amazing if you utilize it properly.

I have also seen absolutely no slowdown whatsoever, and I've had it since release. So this has been a very good surprise on their part.

So I'd say at this point, MS really hit a home run and Win7 is an OS I could really recommend.

Libraries should definitely be set up/used by people in Windows 7. The way they are integrated into programs makes them well worth it.

When I first switched I didnt see too much purpose, but when installing new programs that scan media or looking for certain files the libraries come in handy.

 

[R94N]

I love Windows 7; it's certainly the best version of Windows so far.

 

[GLS]

I'll echo the sentiments I've seen in this thread; Win 7 is the best version of Windows yet. You will never get a die-hard Mac user to acknowledge this, or even see the strengths it has over OSX. But quite frankly, it is stable, efficient, handles older hardware quite well, and plays nice with our network.

Are there crap PC manufacturers that screw it up with needless shareware/crapware? Yes, that is a problem. We wipe the laptops/desktops we get here as soon as they are unboxed, and stick on a fresh image of Win 7, because we do not want those things. But you cannot blame Microsoft for the sins that HP, or Dell, or someone else does.

As for malware/virus prevention, Microsoft's Security Essentials is quite good, and the price is right.