Is Windows 7 worth price over free Server 2003/Windows XP64?

[Artista]

Soory if this is a "stupid" question or a repeat but like the title says...Is Windows 7 worth the price over free Server 2003/Windows XP64 OS I have laying here in my computer room? I run XP 64 now and it works ok for a older 64bit setup yet I know for all the newer hardware. etc a new OS is probably needed/ A friend of mine is a OS guy and he says I may not like Win 7 coming from Xp.

Yes I do plan on using at least 4Gb RAM and probably 8Gb RAM. That and I do currently have a 64 bit AMD CPU and am getting a newer 64 bit CPU, make model undetermined at this time, here soon.

Windows 7 pro is on sale for four more hours at $124 dollars US. So I gotta pull the trigger soon or wait until it goes on sale again. Regular it is $139. I wont pay $139.

Plus I have a unused copy of Xp Pro 32 bit oem sitting here. Can't use with 4Gb and up though.

Any worth while difference between versions of Windows 7 Home premium and Windows 7 Pro? Paper cant say it all in real world terms. (I always hated XP home.)

Again thanks and sorry if its redundent. (When I was a forum god on another forum I didnt smash noobs who posted stupid stuff. lol)😀

 

[theevilsharpie]

It depends on your usage. Windows 7 (I'm assuming you're referring to the 64-bit version) will be supported by Microsoft for a longer period of time, and will be better supported by 3rd-party software developers and hardware manufacturers.

XP 64-bit is fine if all of your hardware works fine and you're running a particular application that you know is compatible with XP 64-bit. However, if you're using it for general-purpose desktop tasks, I'd say the upgrade to 7 is worthwhile.

 

[Artista]

It depends on your usage. Windows 7 (I'm assuming you're referring to the 64-bit version) will be supported by Microsoft for a longer period of time, and will be better supported by 3rd-party software developers and hardware manufacturers.

XP 64-bit is fine if all of your hardware works fine and you're running a particular application that you know is compatible with XP 64-bit. However, if you're using it for general-purpose desktop tasks, I'd say the upgrade to 7 is worthwhile.

Yes, sorry, I am referring to the 64 bit version of Windows 7 Pro. Xp 64 works ok but the way it is set up it does mess up some programs because it places stuff in the "Program files (x86)" folder, etc. Seems like some programs dont like that among a few other things but not to many problems other than its old.

I am putting together a new system piece by piece so am considering a new OS as well.

Thanks for answering.

 

[theevilsharpie]

All 64-bit versions of Windows behave the same way with regards to the Program Files directory, so Windows 7 won't be any different.

If you're building a new computer, I'd definitely recommend going with Windows 7.

 

[Artista]

All 64-bit versions of Windows behave the same way with regards to the Program Files directory, so Windows 7 won't be any different.

If you're building a new computer, I'd definitely recommend going with Windows 7.

I'll take that into consideration.

Something funky just happened when I was just messing around and tried to install a total mod (Doom) on FEAR that someone made. It didnt like the 64 bit thing and was looking for a different pathway and files and I couldnt get it to work. I do like mods and custom stuff people make for gamers/games but thats not a huge issue though. 😎

 

[Steltek]

Win 7 Professional has everything that Home Premium has and adds the ability to log into network domains, use remote desktop access, and adds the ability to run the free XP Mode virtual machine. Win7 Ultimate has everything that Win7 Pro has plus Bitlocker drive encryption, a multilingual interface, and UNIX software support. Win7 Ultimate is the single-license equivalent of what Microsoft sells to volume business customers as Win7 Enterprise.

Honestly, if you are willing to work with 3rd party software and don't need the ability to log into a domain or the multilingual interface, you can get most of the other stuff working just fine under Home Premium. For instance, use free VMWare Player/VirtualBox to run virtual machines under Home Premium in lieu of XP Mode and available open source software for drive encryption. There are also hacks available to get Remote Desktop working on Home Premium, or you can simply use a free solution like TeamViewer.

I have Win7 Ultimate, but honestly there isn't anything I do that can't easily be done under Win7 Home Premium - so far as I am concerned, Ultimate really isn't worth the extra cost.

 

[Nothinman]

The new taskbar in Win7 is worth it alone. I can't stand touching XP now that I've been using Win7 for awhile on my work laptop.

Windows 7 pro is on sale for four more hours at $124 dollars US. So I gotta pull the trigger soon or wait until it goes on sale again. Regular it is $139. I wont pay $139.

A $15 difference is that big of a deal? And really, even at $139 if you use it for more than a year it cost you ~$11/month. Chances are that you'll be using it for 3+ years so it works out to even less than that. In reality, Windows will probably be the cheapest piece of software you'll ever buy for your computer.

 

[Texashiker]

For me, it was worth the upgrade just for windows 7 live movie maker.

I do video blogging on youtube, and one of my cameras films in .mov format - which windows xp movie maker can not handle. To edit those videos I have to convert them from .mov to .avi, and then import them into movie maker.

Windows 7 movie maker live can handle .mov videos - so this saved me a lot of time by not having to convert the videos.

It was either buy a new video editor, and then spend the time learning the software, or convert to windows 7. By installing windows 7, there was no need in me buying extra editing software, and a slight learning curve to the new editor.

 

[Artista]

The new taskbar in Win7 is worth it alone. I can't stand touching XP now that I've been using Win7 for awhile on my work laptop.

I did buy the Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.

A $15 difference is that big of a deal? And really, even at $139 if you use it for more than a year it cost you ~$11/month. Chances are that you'll be using it for 3+ years so it works out to even less than that. In reality, Windows will probably be the cheapest piece of software you'll ever buy for your computer.

Well $15 dollars by itself isnt much but I have made the determination to buy every part of this new DIY system on sale. I look at the regular newegg price, compare by doing a search on google, pricewatch, frys and amazon. Then I take the lowest price and look for a sale price that is lower.

Which mostly turns out newegg is lower than most anyone most of the time. I look for a promo code sale from them or other 72 hour sale or something and if it really is a good deal, MIR on top of a good sale. Over all if I do that with everything I can save myself $100-$150 rough estimate.

I already got a Antec 650w 80plus certified SLI certified non-modular power supply that lists on the newegg website for $100. I got it straight out for $70-$5 Instant discount promo code= $65-$15 MIR= $50! (Everything rounded up by 1 cent. ie 49.99 equals $50, etc.)

I did buy Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. Regular list price of $139 minus promo code=$124

Total DIY system build savings so far: $65 bucks; lower than best list price on the Internet!

To clarify: OEM disk means once you install on a computer it can never be transfered to another. Meaning the computer microsoft is refering to is a code it generates during the online validation process. Which from what I understand basically equals the motherboard/motherboard bios from that which it is installed? (Along with a few other items but its married to that motherboard forever.) My understanding of it anyway. Is this correct?

if it wasnt for the fact it got old and outdated and just wouldnt work with lastest software, drivers, etc. I would have stuck with Windows 2000 Pro. I had my longest running Windows build with it! Never blew up! I miss it.

 

[Nothinman]

To clarify: OEM disk means once you install on a computer it can never be transfered to another. Meaning the computer microsoft is refering to is a code it generates during the online validation process. Which from what I understand basically equals the motherboard/motherboard bios from that which it is installed? (Along with a few other items but its married to that motherboard forever.) My understanding of it anyway. Is this correct?

Technically, yes. An OEM license is tied to the motherboard of the computer on which it is first installed. That's why retail is more expensive, you get more rights. Most of the MS will activate an OEM key on other PCs just fine, if you don't care about being legal though.

if it wasnt for the fact it got old and outdated and just wouldnt work with lastest software, drivers, etc. I would have stuck with Windows 2000 Pro. I had my longest running Windows build with it! Never blew up! I miss it.

Which further proves my point that Windows is a much better deal than people seem to give it credit for. If you look at how much you paid for Win2K and how long you got to use it, you probably paid less per month for it's use than your monthly water bill. It's funny how people are willing to spend 50% of the cost on a game that they'll play for 5% of the time that they'll use Windows. I'm not saying you're one of those specific people, but you seem to be putting a lot of time and effort into saving ~$100.

 

[Artista]

Technically, yes. An OEM license is tied to the motherboard of the computer on which it is first installed. That's why retail is more expensive, you get more rights. Most of the MS will activate an OEM key on other PCs just fine, if you don't care about being legal though.

Which further proves my point that Windows is a much better deal than people seem to give it credit for. If you look at how much you paid for Win2K and how long you got to use it, you probably paid less per month for it's use than your monthly water bill. It's funny how people are willing to spend 50% of the cost on a game that they'll play for 5% of the time that they'll use Windows. I'm not saying you're one of those specific people, but you seem to be putting a lot of time and effort into saving ~$100.

I am not sure my babling proves a point...lol...bad or good.

Well the effort is not that much, sounds like a lot but 20 minutes on the Internet and one can find out everything you need to know in regards to pricing. Its easy now days.

In regards to the ~$100 bucks...hey man times are tough. If someone throws away a extra hundred or so in everything they do or in every financial situation you would go broke. I hope you shop around for home owners insurance, car insurance, if you bought a home I hope you negotiated well, if you paid the credit card on time and they charged you a $30 late fee and even if you paid it a day late I hope you would take the time to get that charge taken off or at least ask for it to be taken off. Bottum line: It all adds up. D:

I buy used games from the Internet and wait a while so they go on clearance because being 6-24 months after they are released they are "old". lol

In regards to Windows OS. I have seen Xp blow up, XP 64 blow up, self corrupt and mess up the boot sector. Vista...yeah... Windows 2000 Pro never did any of those things.🙂

Heck I may burn another copy of Win2k with the latest updates and driver into it and see how it works on the new system I am building...and if I need more than 4Gb RAM I have all versions of Windows 2k pro and Win 2k server, all versions!😎

 

[Nothinman]

In regards to Windows OS. I have seen Xp blow up, XP 64 blow up, self corrupt and mess up the boot sector. Vista...yeah... Windows 2000 Pro never did any of those things.🙂

Heck I may burn another copy of Win2k with the latest updates and driver into it and see how it works on the new system I am building...and if I need more than 4Gb RAM I have all versions of Windows 2k pro and Win 2k server, all versions!😎

MS did worse things to Win2K, I believe it was SP4 that changed the on-disk format of NTFS so if you ever tried to revert back to SP3 the machine would BSOD on boot up. If you somehow got the pagefile set to 0M/disabled on the system drive it would BSOD on boot up. Win2K was good, but it wasn't the cherry blossom you seem to remember it as. I remember several day long nightmares trying to remove viruses and repair Win2K because of various issues from people's desktops at my last job. Honestly, at this point Linux+WINE is probably more compatible with recent Windows apps than Win2K.

XP64 was more proof of concept than anything else, they never really put any real support behind it. But XP32 was as solid as Win2K and much better supported by MS and 3rd parties.

 

[cheez]

What a gay ass response by Nothingirl.. WinXP trumps the Windows7. Man that thing is slow and unresponsive. I would recommend Windows 2000 w/ SP4. It's very efficient OS and doesn't take up much system resource. Like I have said before Win7 is for women... real men use Win2k Pro and Server 2003. They are the hottest OS ever created by MS. The system reacts to my command at almost the speed of electricity. For example, I right click on My Computer and hit properties it pulls up in 0.000026 sec. Windows7 and Vista always has delays..... applications run slower, games run slower, poor benchmark scores and so on. They are called gay OSes.


lmao

 

[SimMike2]

Windows XP is way more vulnerable to getting messed up from spyware and viruses on the Internet. Windows 7 is way more stable than any version of XP.

 

[cheez]

WinXp is indeed vulnerable from virus and spyware.. Server 2003 is hard to get infected. That thing is tough! it's a bad ass OS.

 

[Nothinman]

WinXp is indeed vulnerable from virus and spyware.. Server 2003 is hard to get infected. That thing is tough! it's a bad ass OS.

They're virtually the same OS with the same vulnerabilities...

 

[Artista]

I can only speak from my personal experience with the various OS. I did buy the Windows 7 Pro for $125 bucks...so didnt break the bank. I like the ability to run in XP mode or other virtual machines if I want to play. I wonder if the Sandy Bridge boards allow IMMO for virtualization of the hardware like the AMD 890fx chipset does? No that it would be used all that much.

Speaking of software I have used firefox since the beginning and when I reloaded my OS I used Windows IE and holy cow is it faster, doesn't hang up, etc. Firefox has turned to poop. Sad. (I do miss the instant spell check though.)