ChefDude

...that really isn't just vista sp3

Software firm finds Windows 7 doesn't boot faster than Vista

So, w7 users, apart from funky desktop and desktop graphics being off loaded to the graphics card - what's better about 7 than vista?

ChefDude

i've never used windows 7, but my vista machine is pretty snappy - okay it's a 3ghz quad core (Q9450), 8gb ram and a RAID10 barracuda setup (sustained read well over 200mb sec).

my girlfriend's core solo 1.6ghz 1.5gb ram laptop really does struggle with vista though.

I guess OSs evolve and it's entirely reasonable they expect a bit more oomph from the hardware, but considering people's disappointment with vista, MS is massively bigging up w7... without much justification in my view.

Iain Young

I've got it running on several machines at work, and without exception, W7 is significantly faster than Vista on the same machines. Both 32 and 64 bit. It has much more efficient memory handling routines, better indexing, and much lower resource usage than Vista.

I use W7 as my main development environment now, and it really is a lot more responsive (especially on my laptop).

ChefDude

That's something I can work with.

boxst

I must have been one of the few people in the world who actually liked Vista. Having said that, I swapped to Windows 7 a couple of months ago and find it an improvement. It doesn't boot any quicker, but appears to have a smaller footprint, things generally run faster and the compatibility with XP programs much better.

Steve

ScoobyJawa

I'm with Iain - I have dual boot 7 on my core2 laptop and 7 is significantly faster in boot, shutting down and while running.

darlodge

I've not noticed a huge difference in my dual boot time with vista vs 7 but I can see a big difference in usability as Iain said. Windows 7 uses far less resources to run the OS which means more left for crunching.

I like XP, really like Vista and love 7.

There are some things in Vista that drive me nuts (no Run as, file copying, websites with Java, etc.) but when you include the new features overall I prefer it over XP.

Darren

NotoriousREV

All I know is that Windows 7 "feels" faster even when installed on VMware Server hosted on a Vista PC It get's a better PI score too.

darlodge

Anything hosted on a VMware boots faster than a physical device. I love it.

ScoobyDoo555

It's common knowledge that I'm predominantly a Mac user, but I REALLY want W7 to be good.

I've played heavily with Vista and can see what they were trying to do, but it's fallen short of the mark imho.

I'm hoping that W7 get a strong foothold and does well though.....

Perhaps all this transitional stuff just goes to show how good XP became (yes, it's got its problems, but in terms of end user usability/issues, it's pretty stable)
Just my 2p - now I'll **** off back to OS X

mike1210

I'm really liking Win 7. I have some issues with my sound card at the moment (Focusrite Saffire) ATM it's a fiddle to get it working and often needs to be booted a few times before it works, hopefully the company will update the drivers soon. My creative card never worked properly on Vista. I've experienced some stability issues, hard drives dismount on occasion for no reason (I've changed power safe options). Despite the minor niggles I think it's great, dare I say it's what Vista should have been, hopefully all software companies will write decent drivers for it to make people's migration easier. For me it seems to boot faster than Vista did but I never timed it TBH. I like the virtual hard disk feature, codecs much better out of the box (but still these make it better http://shark007.net/win7codecs.html). It seems a lot of tweaks and changes have added up to make a big improvement from Vista

ChefDude

mike, i would say 'not a great advert for win 7' but it does sound like your hardware is suspect lol

what's the virtual drive feature? ram disk?

Iain Young

Stability will depend greatly on the state of drivers for your system. Before upgrading, it might be worth checking if there are even drivers available for your hardware. Remember, XP was terrible when it was first released (and for several months later) until the hardware manufacturers got some decent drivers out.

Having experienced every MS OS launch since Dos 5.0/Windows 3.0, I can happily say that Win7 so far has been by far the most stable, usable, and pain free so far

ChefDude

where are you all getting valid licensed versions from?

i can't justify spending £150 for no real benefit!

Iain Young

MSDN developers license for me

mike1210

Windows 7: How to Attach VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) Files | Microsoft Windows 7 | Tech-Recipes

you can basically make virtual hard drives and access them at all times, even if the VM is powered off.

reading back at my post it does seem a little negative lol but I am really loving Win 7, sound issues should be sorted when drivers are updated.

Stability wise I will have to dig a little, motherboard drivers are ok but my graphics card needs updating due to my current one not supporting all of win 7's features. This may also require a power supply upgrade also

boxst

I just downloaded a version and you can reset the 30-day trial 3 times (i.e. 3 months). I get my shiny new copy delivered from Amazon on the 22nd October.

Steve

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Just in the process of ditching all my microsoft stuff - Fedora 10, Ubuntu server and desktop, with FreeNAS and Amahi serving up all the good stuff.

Vista was the final straw - loads of hype for a short lived pile of poop.

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Usenet is your friend...

HHxx

MSDN & TechNet for me

beanys

iTrader: (3)

I have now got a full version of win7 ,from microsoft them selfs and after using it i must say its go to be the best OS they have done , and i have Xp VISTA on diffent m/c the full version is better than the all other versions out so far ,and would defently advise people to at least try it before they make a decision

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Windows 7 is a much faster experience for me (booting, shutting down, UI response, etc).

Acording to the recent PC Pro review, whilst the speed tests doesn't show Windows 7 being faster (slower sometimes), the changes to the display drivers and the way things are rendered means that the user experience is faster/better. That is certainly my experience.

paulr

Hi,

Has anyone got a copy of the microsoft download of Windows 7 RC 32-bit. I have an activation key, but MS recently took the file off their website.

cheers
Paul.

MJW

I've installed 64-bit Win7 on a test machine & noticed it's far faster than Vista, and even quicker than XP using the same configuration / hardware. Our company didn't bother with Vista but 7 will probably be a worthwhile upgrade over XP.

MattW

I'm a select subscriber and have held off with the RC so far but am tempted to install it.

urban

iTrader: (1)

I too also use W7 (enterprise edition) as my main development environment.

For me its significantly faster than XP which I used previously (I avoided vista like the plague)

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Retail copy of Windows 7 professional arrived in the post this morning.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Personally I can't knock vista, only found it slow on systems that had it preinstalled, or on a PC thats just simply not up to the job (2gig ram + slow HD = big nono).

I think the biggest issue is all the resident processes running in the background (defrag, defender, default indexing on everything, to name a few), add any OEM crapware (norton, McAfee, stupid toolbars etc) that most off-the shelf PCs come preinstalled with equates to a v-e-r-y s-l-o-w experience regardless of spec.

I know my old home build, self install e6400 was faster in booting and general desktop stuff than my mate's Dell Q8400 running preinstall vista, mostly due to the crap and bloatware it came with. Oh, and Raid 0 may have helped a bit .

I suspect windows 7 could be the same if you buy it preinstalled on a PC or if its short on resources/oomph.