Windows 7

I purchased Windows 7 Pro last night for $30, using my college email address. Anyway, I figured why not try it on my old desktop. I'm not ready to mess with my laptop (Vista) just yet.

So, my desktop which hasn't seen much use in the past year since I bought my laptop, has been updated from Windows XP Pro to Windows 7 Pro. I have to say that I'm impressed! My old desktop is old, it is running an AMD Athlon XP 3000+, 1GB PC3200 RAM and an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card.

Windows 7 runs smoothly on that system, I then downloaded Steam and installed L4D and Half Life 2. Everything seems to be running nicely. It's good to know that Windows 7 will run that well on an antiquated machine.

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Comments

RobertKaucher

Very cool!

indyodie

I've been looking online for student discounts. Where did you get your copy?

Thanks!!!

veritas_libertas

indyodie wrote: »

I've been looking online for student discounts. Where did you get your copy?

Thanks!!!

741

Another great student resources for Microsoft: http://www.dreamspark.com

Megadeth4168

veritas_libertas wrote: »

741

Another great student resources for Microsoft: http://www.dreamspark.com

I got mine at 741

I couldn't pass it up!

bwcarty

Check if your school is part of the MSDN Academic Alliance, too. I was able to get full versions of Windows 7, 2003/2008 Server, Exchange Server 2007, OneNote, Project, and a bunch of other stuff that way.

indyodie

Megadeth4168 wrote: »

I got mine at 741

I couldn't pass it up!

That's awesome, Thanks!!!! Is there a way to get the full version? I'm currently running win7 RC1 and you cannot upgrade it to final release. I can put vista back on, but its 32-bit and I need a 64-bit OS.

Reseven

indyodie wrote: »

That's awesome, Thanks!!!! Is there a way to get the full version? I'm currently running win7 RC1 and you cannot upgrade it to final release. I can put vista back on, but its 32-bit and I need a 64-bit OS.

RC1 can be upgraded to the RTM as long as it's the ultimate version.
http://blog.waldenl.com/2009/08/upgrading-windows-7-rc1-to-rtm-version.html
I've done it and it works.

indyodie

Reseven wrote: »

RC1 can be upgraded to the RTM as long as it's the ultimate version.
Walden's Blog: Upgrading Windows 7 RC1 to RTM Version
I've done it and it works.

That is even better news. Thank you very much!

RobertKaucher

indyodie wrote: »

That's awesome, Thanks!!!! Is there a way to get the full version? I'm currently running win7 RC1 and you cannot upgrade it to final release. I can put vista back on, but its 32-bit and I need a 64-bit OS.

You know the keys are not specific to the 32/64 bit version, right? All you need is a 64 bit disc and you will be good to go.

indyodie

RobertKaucher wrote: »

You know the keys are not specific to the 32/64 bit version, right? All you need is a 64 bit disc and you will be good to go.

Yeah, my first mistake was reading that Microsoft metrics chart. I should have just ignored Microsoft's website like I normally do and look for the information elsewhere. Thanks for the info guys...I just purchased my win7 pro and will be installing tonight.

brad-

From all that I've read about it so far, I havent read anything that would make me purchase it. I've got XP and Vista machines, but it is so similar sounding to vista, why would I? The taskbar/systray is vastly improved, but AFAIK, its the same as Vista.

Anyone want to convince me otherwise?

kalebksp

brad- wrote: »

From all that I've read about it so far, I havent read anything that would make me purchase it. I've got XP and Vista machines, but it is so similar sounding to vista, why would I? The taskbar/systray is vastly improved, but AFAIK, its the same as Vista.

Anyone want to convince me otherwise?

Better performance seems like a good enough reason to me.

gorebrush

kalebksp wrote: »

Better performance seems like a good enough reason to me.

Definitely and Windows 7 delivers.

It is what Windows Vista should have been all along.

EDIT: How many typos???

Megadeth4168

brad- wrote: »

From all that I've read about it so far, I havent read anything that would make me purchase it. I've got XP and Vista machines, but it is so similar sounding to vista, why would I? The taskbar/systray is vastly improved, but AFAIK, its the same as Vista.

Anyone want to convince me otherwise?

I'm not sure that I can convince you, but I can tell you my experience with Vista vs Windows 7 so far.

I have vista on my laptop, it runs great, my laptop has 2 GB RAM and a core 2 duo. I've decided not to upgrade this computer at this time, since it is working perfectly for me.

However, my desktop, which I listed in my opening post, 1 GB PC3200 Memory and an Athlon XP 3000+ with Windows 7 installed ran much faster than when I took my dads computer.

My dad's computer, right out of the box with vista had 1 GB of PC5300 memory, I can't remember the processor, but I know it was better than my Athlon 3000+. I think I still have the box for his computer at my house, I'll check later today. Anyway, I tweaked the heck out of that machine, but I could not get it to respond quickly to anything!

It wasn't until I bought him another gig of memory that it the PC ran smoothly. I know this doesn't really prove anything, but to me, it seems that Windows 7 has better performance if it can run smoothly on my older desktop vs Vista on a new desktop running the same amount of RAM.

gorebrush

Running it on my works HP6730b laptop now. X64 edition, and I am lucky enough to have 4GB RAM in this model.

Everything responds so much better than XP did (I never had the opportunity to run Vista on this particular machine)

I had Vista on my main machine at home though, and 7 romps all over it. Everything just feels, snappy, and smooth.

brad-

Megadeth4168 wrote: »

It wasn't until I bought him another gig of memory that it the PC ran smoothly. I know this doesn't really prove anything, but to me, it seems that Windows 7 has better performance if it can run smoothly on my older desktop vs Vista on a new desktop running the same amount of RAM.

The recent PC World spotlights W7. It echos that sentiment in that the HD utilization seems to be vastly improved. Since I put 4GB ram in my Vista laptop though, i dont think it's really worth the time unless i try to get certified on it.

tpatt100

I used the student copy and it runs smoothly but that is probably because I did a clean install. I know the install was pretty fast though.

JDMurray

Here's a very good article on performing a clean install of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive using the Windows 7 Upgrade media: http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/clean_install_upgrade_media.asp

Here's the same for Vista upgrade media: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp

And here's the official page from Microsoft TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd446674(WS.10).aspx