Windows 7 vs Windows Vista

gary7788

I am currently running a HP laptop at home using Windows Vista operating system.I am thinking of downloading Windows 7 from the microsoft website to replace Vista on the laptop.
What are the pro and cons of Windows 7(home premium) against Windows Vista?
What would i gain for the £99.99 outlay of doing this?
Any advice would be appreciated
Thank you

TakeThis

For £100 I would forget about it. If I had a student in the family I would consider using this to bring the cost down to perhaps less than £40.

gary7788

Thanks for the reply, but what if i have not got a student in the family?

JJ_Egan

Possibly wait for Windows 8 .

Question i would ask is do you need Windows 7 at £100 .
Yes its better safer more reliable than Vista but if Vista works for you i would leave it .

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/windows-compared-windows-7-vs-vista-vs-xp-615167


jje

victor2

I ran standard installations of XP, Vista and Windows 7 on the same machine. XP and Win 7 showed similar startup, shutdown and basic operation times, while Vista was something like a factor of 3 slower. Win 7 is much more like Vista than XP, but works properly! I've stuck with it and am pleased with it.
If you can go back to XP at little or no extra cost, I'd seriously consider that. Difficult to say if Win 7 is worth the £99 cost to you and not sure what sort of deal you could get without student pricing.
If you have older hardware, such as a printer, run the MS upgrade advisor to see if it has a Win 7 driver. Just because it works with Vista doesn't guarantee it will work with Win 7, as I found out with my HP printer. Took a bit of work to get round the issue and the HP website said Win 7 is not supported for it, but got there in the end.

TakeThis

gary7788 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, but what if i have not got a student in the family?

Then get one. Court a woman who has a child at uni who already has a Windows 7 machine.
Though what you might save on the licence, you will lose again on birthdays and Christmas and anniversaries.

googler

victor2 wrote: »

I ran standard installations of XP, Vista and Windows 7 on the same machine. XP and Win 7 showed similar startup, shutdown and basic operation times, while Vista was something like a factor of 3 slower. Win 7 is much more like Vista than XP, but works properly! I've stuck with it and am pleased with it.
If you can go back to XP at little or no extra cost, I'd seriously consider that.

I also went from Vista to XP; the only downside for me is that Vista was faster for searching folders and directories. Everything else is better with XP.

Hammyman

Nothing is better with XP. Its as secure as a having wide open door with an usher to show you in and give you a tour of the valuables worth nicking. Networking in XP has been broken since its inception. Hardware support is terrible on XP compared to Windows 7. I have a couple of USB to Serial adapters that I could never get to work in XP. I plugged them into a computer running Win 7 and it just went off and got the drivers and they're working flawlessly. In fact since running Windows 7, I can't recall the last time I needed to use the driver installation disc that came with a device.

When you've used Windows 7 for a bit then go back to XP, you'll realise just how dire it is and how it is long past its sell by date.

closed

You'd gain, not a lot.

Millionaire

At £100 I would not upgrade. Windows 8 is out next year.

googler

Hammyman wrote: »

Nothing is better with XP. Its as secure as a having wide open door with an usher to show you in and give you a tour of the valuables worth nicking. Networking in XP has been broken since its inception. Hardware support is terrible on XP compared to Windows 7. I have a couple of USB to Serial adapters that I could never get to work in XP. I plugged them into a computer running Win 7 and it just went off and got the drivers and they're working flawlessly. In fact since running Windows 7, I can't recall the last time I needed to use the driver installation disc that came with a device.

Everything is better apart from slower folder searching. It loads quicker, responds quicker than Vista, and it doesn't gradually fill up a WINSXS folder on the hard drive with crud that you can't delete....... it also doesn't nag that it 'needs my permission to continue' every time I do something out of the norm....

Your implication is that within 10 minutes of powering up an XP machine, it'll be virus-ridden. Not in my case.

I have two XP machines and one Vista remaining (OH's), and they Network just fine.

Whilst you may have had hardware issues, I've had no need to add any hardware for months, possibly years, so again, no problem there.