What benefits does Win7 x86 have over Vista x86?

[Compman55]

On laptops for example, am I going to benefit going to win7 over windows vista?

How does a freshly patched vista system perform compared to 7?

 

[lxskllr]

They're just about identical. I benched them both when Win7 was released, and there was virtually no performance difference.

 

[mechBgon]

There are some useful new features, like TRIM support if you use an SSD, and native ability to burn .ISOs to discs. If you happen to be a bleeding-edge security zealot, Win7 also offers both AppLocker and an improved enforcement of Software Restriction Policy (assuming you have Pro or Ultimate).

 

[zerocool84]

There are some useful new features, like TRIM support if you use an SSD, and native ability to burn .ISOs to discs. If you happen to be a bleeding-edge security zealot, Win7 also offers both AppLocker and an improved enforcement of Software Restriction Policy (assuming you have Pro or Ultimate).

I've noticed other little quirks. I dual boot Vista and W7 and Vista takes forever to check for Windows updates, certain things are streamlined to make them easier to find, infinitely less intrusive security pop-ups, just much more refined all around obviously. Performance is the same though.

 

[Nothinman]

The less annoying UAC is worth it alone IMO, although I'm not paying for it here.

 

[Mem]

The less annoying UAC is worth it alone IMO, although I'm not paying for it here.

I have to say not a lot of difference in my experience between Vista UAC and Win7 UAC on my PCs,however UAC never did bother me like it does for some people.

Biggest improvement IMHO is Win7 runs a lot better on those older PCs then with Vista.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

on performance - to me this older core 2 duo PC I have seems to be running faster after i wiped it out and installed 7 on it. (previously it was on vista)

 

[Maximilian]

On laptops for example, am I going to benefit going to win7 over windows vista?

How does a freshly patched vista system perform compared to 7?

It will perform the same more or less, vista dealt with hyperthreading poorly but they may have patched that. The biggest improvement is the far superior UI, a lot of which seems to have been inspired by what i saw in OSX when i tried that out.

 

[Ken90630]

Didn't Win 7 also do away with that incredibly annoying SuperFetch feature of Vista that made the hard drive crunch away madly for a half-hour (or more) at the most inconvenient times? Like right after boot-up? I don't have Win 7 yet, but several friends & acquaintances do. I've worked on their PCs & haven't noticed SuperFetch doing that.

Other than that, yeah, the better UAC is significantly less annoying. And doesn't Win 7 do a better job of automagically installing hardware drivers? That's what I've heard anyway.

I think there may be a psychological component to preferring Win 7 too, just because Vista has such an awful reputation. Perception-wise, it's almost as bad as Windows ME was. *shudder*

 

[Mem]

Didn't Win 7 also do away with that incredibly annoying SuperFetch feature of Vista that made the hard drive crunch away madly for a half-hour (or more) at the most inconvenient times? Like right after boot-up? I don't have Win 7 yet, but several friends & acquaintances do. I've worked on their PCs & haven't noticed SuperFetch doing that.

Other than that, yeah, the better UAC is significantly less annoying. And doesn't Win 7 do a better job of automagically installing hardware drivers? That's what I've heard anyway.

I think there may be a psychological component to preferring Win 7 too, just because Vista has such an awful reputation. Perception-wise, it's almost as bad as Windows ME was. *shudder*

Win7 does have Superfetch,

Windows 7 Superfetch is in fact better than Vista’s, it doesn’t start caching instantly the moment you log in. It would wait a few minutes and then start loading the your system’s memory with the applications you use most often. In order to increase the performance of Windows 7, the priority of superfetch has been slightly reduced.

 

[Compman55]

So would a fully patch vista version also have its superfetch reduced as well?

 

[lxskllr]

No, Vista hammers your hd at first boot. I haven't run Win7 in awhile to really appreciate the difference. It isn't a big deal to me, especially since I rarely reboot.

 

[SimMike2]

No, Vista hammers your hd at first boot. I haven't run Win7 in awhile to really appreciate the difference. It isn't a big deal to me, especially since I rarely reboot.

A fresh install of Vista used to hammer your hard drive incessantly for up to a week after a installing. I didn't notice this with Windows 7. The boot times are better with Windows 7. Sleep mode and hibernation are better also.

If you get SSD, which should be everyone's first upgrade, Windows 7 is the way to go.

 

[notposting]

I had a couple copies of Vista and then upgraded to W7 (well I did clean installs on all except the laptop) and it's a lot better. Granted, I think a large portion of that is hardware drivers and software writers in general have adapted to the changes brought forth in W7, so it's hard to tell exactly sometimes.

All I know is the stability seems better, and my wife uses 3 W7 machines (hers, laptop, htpc) basically day in and day out without complaint. So no complaints from me either 😉

If you can get it with a student discount that's the way to roll, our 4 copies of W7 (2x x64 Pro, 1 x86 Pro, 1 x86 HP) cost us $100 after all was said and done (1 free upgrade with our laptop, 1 from the community college she attends, 1 through the Ultimate Steal program, and 1 through their launch promotion for students 😀 ).

 

[jjsbasmt]

I've noticed that if you get all your updates and latest device drivers, then Vista seems to be nearly as good an experience as 7. I have worked on several notebooks and desktops for friends and after reinstalling Vista with the aforementioned updates and device drivers I and they too were pleasantly surprised that Vista runs better than when the systems were brand new. Of course leaving off the "crap" on a fresh install can make a big difference. Both seem very stable to me also.