We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Upgrading from Vista

Options
I have a 4 year old laptop running Vista, no issues with the laptop, just wondering if it's worth upgrading the OS to Windows 7 or 8?
«13

Comments

  • Spankey
    Spankey Posts: 115 Forumite
    i would say yes as win 7 is excellent in my humble opinion, go here and run the win 7 checker to see if there will be any upgrade problems before you buy 7.
    you may need to upgrade your ram too if you have 1 gig or less to run 7 properly

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=20
  • NiftyDigits
    NiftyDigits Posts: 10,459 Forumite
    Brand name and full model number?
  • bluesnake
    bluesnake Posts: 1,460 Forumite
    if it works, and you are sort of happy with it, why go through the stress and cost of an upgrade
  • System
    System Posts: 178,340 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    bluesnake wrote: »
    if it works, and you are sort of happy with it, why go through the stress and cost of an upgrade

    because it's VISTA!
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • Skint_Catt
    Skint_Catt Posts: 11,548 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    7 yes, 8 - wouldn't bother - it's only a front screen to 7 anyway.
  • kwikbreaks
    kwikbreaks Posts: 9,187 Forumite
    I'd say this is a tough one. The upgrade at ~ £65 is a significant portion of the probable value of the laptop unless it was high end one.

    If you buy a new laptop now you may get a discount on a Windows 7 one. Come to that given the state of retailing I'd be looking for a good price on any laptop.

    You've managed to put up with Vista for 4 years so what is the need to upgrade it now? Windows 7 is certainly nicer to use imo but I'm not convinced that I would bother on a laptop that old.
  • bluesnake
    bluesnake Posts: 1,460 Forumite
    edited 21 March 2013 at 6:06PM
    the_r_sole wrote: »
    because it's VISTA!

    Ok, admittedly I do dislike vista either. Windows 7 is superceeded??? and now only after a number of years the person esquires about upgrading. Clearly they must have been happy with this crud, and it has been doing what the person wanted for years, so why change?
  • tyllwyd
    tyllwyd Posts: 5,496 Forumite
    We upgraded my desktop from Vista to Windows 7 a few months ago. The reason was because the various laptops in the house are on Windows 7 and it was easier to have everything the same. And I found I was starting to have trouble with new versions of software not working on Vista (specifically Adobe Reader). To be honest, I haven't noticed a big improvement, and there are some new changes to get used to. So I'd probably say (as a non-technical person) that if you are happy with the laptop at the moment, if it's not broken don't fix it.
  • Lum
    Lum Posts: 6,460 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Combo Breaker
    Vista really isn't that bad an OS these days. It was terrible for the first year or so due to some severe bugs and a lack of hardware support, but two service packs later and that's all sorted.

    These days people are all "LOL Vista" because they remember those bad days and haven't used it recently. This is how Microsoft got away with Windows 7 which is basically a slightly improved Vista with a new start menu and taskbar that lots of people like

    Windows 8 is a slightly improved Windows 7 with a new start screen that everybody hates (though there are plenty of third party apps to fix it)

    Either of them will see a small performance increase, feel a bit smoother and offer very slightly better battery life, 8 moreso than 7 but given that the going rate is close to 3 figures, you have to ask if it's worth the money.
  • Jivesinger
    Jivesinger Posts: 1,221 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Lum wrote: »
    Either of them will see a small performance increase, feel a bit smoother and offer very slightly better battery life, 8 moreso than 7 but given that the going rate is close to 3 figures, you have to ask if it's worth the money.
    Windows 8 Pro upgrade from Vista is currently only £50 from PC World (and probably other retailers will have similar or better prices).

    http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/microsoft-windows-8-pro-17907965-pdt.html
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.5K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.9K Life & Family
  • 257.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.