I have a question: XP vs. W7

[kRocket]

Okay, guys. Your opinion is requested. I have a nice little home-built computer running XP on which I surf, do email and play MMO's. It is operating perfectly well at this point.

Is there any compelling reason that I should convert to W7 at this time?

I have an upgrade to W7 Home Premium that is already paid for so that is not a consideration.



****** Please go to bottom to find questions related to upgrade.

 

[F1shF4t]

If your computer is relatively new and you're happy to spend the time doing a fresh install then why not. Win7 is more stable, a lot more secure and if you like Aero looks better as well. Both Vista and Win7 have been rock solid for me.

Just check if all your hardware and software is compatible first.

 

[dguy6789]

If you already have a copy of Windows 7, I'd say it's definitely worth it. More stable, more secure, lots of cool new features. Going from XP to 7 is like going from 98 to XP.

 

[theevilsharpie]

I'll go against the grain and say that if your PC is running XP and doing everything that you want, there's no reason to change it. If it ain't broke, etc.

If you need to buy a new computer or you need to re-install for whatever reason, that's when moving to Windows 7 makes more sense.

 

[kRocket]

It is new and I picked out the pieces to fit Win7. But, I am a little daunted by the conversion. As you are probably aware those MMO's are measured in Gigabytes of data that have to be downloaded from the source. It takes days for each one. The upgrade process has me a little baffled. People speak of a fresh install and the copy says I have to move everything from my disk. So is it doing a complete install or just upgrading existing code. And also I would like to adopt 64-bit protocol from the present 32-bit. I have 4GB of memory and would like to take advantage of it. Advice is appreciated.

 

[DBissett]

I don't know what MMO's are but I faced the same decision as you...was happy using XP Pro on a computer I use primarily for trading, email and surfing, and mainly wanted the 4gig+ memory capacity of 64 bit Win7, so I installed the upgrade. Big disappointment was that you can't install the 64 bit version if you've got 32 bit OS on the computer now, without going to some workarounds that have been discussed elsewhere. I wasn't interested in going to that much trouble, so I installed the 32 bit version and have been very happy with it. It's fast, probably as fast as XP was, and the overall appearance is much better in countless ways. This is impossible to describe objectively because there are so many small improvements to the appearance of the OS. I thought this would be no big deal, but the more I've used it the more I like it. What IS noticeable is that the appearance of text throughout the OS is improved, and this is very important to me. I've got 2 Dell 2007 monitors with very good IPS panels and the text everywhere now looks as good as a printed page. I couldn't say this in XP even with some tweaks. So I'd say to go ahead and set aside the time to switch and just do it. It took me several days to get everything set up again like I wanted, but then it's done and over. Good luck.

 

[Zebo]

Ghost your current install and try it. I personally find the windows explorer and start menu aggravating. There are third party tools to get XP start menu back but nothing can be done with explorer. Not sure about more stable as I never had a crash, virus or blue screen with 2000 or XP that was'nt overclocking related but I kept a tight ship. The OS is very bloated compared to 2000 or XP but you may like these features which is why I'd try it.

2000 works great for me and XP too after tweaking/slimming but they don't serve current versions of Direct X modern games use so I must upgrade to much chagrin - otherwise I'd be perfectly happy sticking with old as new is not always better.

 

[JackMDS]

They way I approach this.

1. Does the computer/os that you have Now do well what you need to do?

2. Are you the type of person that like new Fresh Modern look and “perks” that are beyond the final product?

I mean, (Example) if you need to write a simple Note and print it.
Word Pad on XP would do it with No problem.

The same Note with Win 7 would be compost on a nicer more flexible Word Pad, however the Finale product is the same Note.

If the answer is Yes to #1, and No for #2, then you do Not need to upgrade.

In my case, the answer Yes to #1 is I always find new things to do.

The answer to #2 is yes I like new looks.

So for me by Now it was, DOS 1.1, DOS 2.1, DOS 3.3, DOS5.0, Win 3, Win 3.11, Win 95. Win 98, Win98SE, (I was smart enough to skip WinME) Win2000,Win XP, Vista, Win7.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

my vote is yes, upgrade and go for 64 bit.

I was just using a machine here with 7 on it and I can't wait to upgrade all of the machines here to it.
love the speed of it myself...

 

[dbcooper1]

Spend $50 on a 500GB drive to install 7; that way you have both and can easily go back if you decide to. Your time and aggravation saved would be worth more than the cost of the drive.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If it ain't broke don't fix it, besides if you upgrade to 7 you'll probably have to upgrade the PC. faster processor, more ram etc... is it really worth it? 7 is not as bad as vista in terms of resource usage though so you could maybe get away without the upgrade.

 

[kRocket]

I am re-posting this question. If I were to get an external drive to write all my program and data files to from a 32 bit XP OS, would I be able to read them back if I upgraded to a 64 bit Win7 OS?

Also, rather than get an external B/U drive could I just partition my single 640GB drive since I am only using 80GB of the space currently?