Is it worth upgrading to win7?

wazza

Got a 3 year old dell laptop running Vista. Has been going slow sometimes. Have been thinking of wiping the harddrive clean and reinstall vista. Daughter is at school and i remember that she can get windows 7 for around £35-40 mark.

Is it worth upgrading the dell to windows 7?

If the answer is yes then..

1. can it be a clean install?

2. is there any benefits of win7 over vista? I remember reading that it is less power hungry.

3. can't find the website which offers reduced wins 7 for student. Do you know of one?

Any other advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

santer_2

One site

http://www.software4students.co.uk/

Is it worth changing to Windows 7 from Vista?

Yes, if only to get away from the " are you sure " check from Vista

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/compare?T1=tab20

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5327

http://www.hardcoreware.net/windows-7-vs-vista-performance-comparison/

You can " clean install " using an upgrade disc, if that is the version you get

Millionaire

Can you wait?

Windows 8 is out next year if no delays.

What's the spec of your machine?

googler

Have you considered backtracking to Win XP? I have, for 2 out of 3 machines in our home so far, and haven't regretted it yet. Truly, the ONLY benefit I found in Vista over XP was the indexing of files and folders, which made searching the same much quicker. Nothing else was of benefit. My typical usage is web browsing, word proc, spreadsheets and storing/playing pictures and music.

What do you typically use your PC for?

As OSs progress, they demand more and more in terms of memory and processors. This may be a limitation for you. Check your processor type and RAM against the minimum requirements for Win 7.

victor2

As santer says, software4students is a good place to get it at a reduced price.
I ditched Vista some time back for Windows 7. No regrets, it is sooo much better than Vista.
Yes, Windows 8 is in the pipeline, supposedly with additional support for tablet computers. Best to let it settle in before going for it, and to let manufacturers produce the necessary drivers.
If going for Windows 7, run Windows Upgrade Advisor, to check if drivers are available for your existing hardware. Don't assume that it will be OK if Vista supports it, although there's a good chance it will.

ada1988

I do think that win 7 is much better than vista,not only the speed but also the looks.
but in recent time,win 8 is coming,so I still think waite for win 8 will be better.

Millionaire

Lee_jones wrote: »

So far Win7 was a success, really fast OS and much better than Vista - let's hope that with win8 they won't repeat this: http://postimage.org/image/xp04gbn13/

I was thinking of that before I posted about Windows 8.:D

Hopefully they can break the cycle.

wazza

Millionaire wrote: »

Can you wait?

Windows 8 is out next year if no delays.

What's the spec of your machine?

Yes i suppose i can wait till next year. Already have a wins7 laptop at home.

wazza

googler wrote: »

Have you considered backtracking to Win XP? ..................

Have thought of doing that a while back. I already have a laptop with win XP which i preferred over vista and wins 7. Unfortunately it died. It has a win xp code which i can use on the dell laptop after i wiped it clean and do a new install.

Daughter uses the laptop mainly for course work and looking at youtube etc. She can do her work on my laptop if need be. Plan to do something about the dell laptop over xmas.

donny-gal

I followed the "slow pc" sticky, on mine, upgraded the ram, and a bigger HDD, certainly made a big difference. DG

wazza

victor2 wrote: »

.....If going for Windows 7, run Windows Upgrade Advisor, to check if drivers are available for your existing hardware. Don't assume that it will be OK if Vista supports it, although there's a good chance it will.

Santer has been kind enough to provide a link to a webpage that will check the laptop to see if it is compatible with wins7. Will check tomorrow.