I've just finished up nearly three months with an activated retail copy of Windows 7 Ultimate and I wanted to report my findings. I've become an unusually early adopter of Win7 as I previously waited until SP1 to upgrade to XP and I completely bypassed installing Vista altogether. All agreed, seven years with XP is quite a good track record but it was undeniably getting a little outdated. XP lacked support for newer technologies such as DirectX 10 and the 64-bit Edition, launched in early 2005, never caught on. Disappointingly, even the 64-bit edition of Vista SP2 was a better alternative than XP 64.
During the spring and summer, I previewed both the Release Candidate and the Retail Version of Windows 7 but those reviews lacked the real-world experience of living with it as my daily OS. Granted, it was difficult dropping XP cold-turkey as using Win7 was like moving into a new house where I didn't know where anything was. Several times, I found myself stumbling across what would have otherwise been simple tasks in XP, such as setting folder views or managing documents. For instance, I discovered the hard way that there is no Documents and Settings folder in Win7. Instead, all the data is housed in the C:\Users folder.
I also had to choose a mail client as one is not included with Win7. Since I liked the Windows Mail app in Vista, I downloaded the newer Windows Live Mail from the Windows Live Essentials bundle. And while I was at it, I also grabbed the Windows Live Photo Gallery in hopes that I wouldn't have to install a third-party app like ACDSee. I was also pleasantly surprised at the native support for burning ISO images-- it even burned a dual-layer DVD with no problems. However, the interface is a little rudimentary as it doesn't let you choose a recording speed or display the time remaining. But overall, it performed competently burning all sorts of music and movies. I've also enjoyed the new and improved Disk Defragger utility which, unlike the cumbersome one that shipped with Vista, actually displays the progress and works so well I can kiss Diskeeper goodbye.
Regrettably, I resigned myself to using the 32-bit version of Win7 even though I prefer the superior 64-bit Edition. For instance, I tapped an unused 2GB jump drive and recruited it for ReadyBoost duties. With a total of 6GB ram, I shaved an additional ten seconds off my boot time in Win7 64. And some products, such as the Cinebench 64-bit client, performed noticeably faster in benchmarks. However, other 64-bit programs such as SiSoft Sandra, Microsoft Security Essentials, and Internet Explorer 8 all experienced issues. Since, I wanted the most stable experience possible, I sacrificed a little speed and stayed with the 32-bit version. So far, the only program that wouldn't run on Windows 7 is the video editing software that came with my 60GB Panasonic HDD camcorder and the only issue was a fluctuating volume that I traced to the microphone and disabled in the sound properties.
In gaming, Windows 7 is a winner right out of the box and that's a good omen considering the poor track record of its predecessors. In 2001, XP debuted with no support for the proprietary Glide API. Not only did such a decision turn my $275 Voodoo 5 5500 video card into a fancy paperweight overnight, but it also single-handedly sunk 3dfx as a company. And in 2006, Vista's highly-touted DirectX 10 premiered to performance that was 50% slower than XP and graphic enhancements only an optometrist could spot. Unbelievably, the Resident Evil 5 benchmark actually ran better on Win7 in DX10 than it ran on XP in DX9. And I've run through many hours of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Need for Speed: Shift and Wolfenstein with no problems whatsoever. Furthermore, DiRT 2's DirectX 11 Hardware Tessellation looks stunning and I'm eager to try it out when it becomes available in December. I just hope that unlike DX10, there are some tangible advantages to DX11 for end-users and just not developers.
Prior to Windows 7, it would have been impossible for me to imagine a new OS that could so quickly and completely replace XP. Granted, it's not perfect, some tasks are still slightly slower than XP, and it uses (in my opinion) too much memory, but I feel that's justified by the new technology. And lest I forget, there were similar stumbling blocks on the upgrade path to XP. If you're in the market for a new PC, you can't go wrong with Windows 7.
During the spring and summer, I previewed both the Release Candidate and the Retail Version of Windows 7 but those reviews lacked the real-world experience of living with it as my daily OS. Granted, it was difficult dropping XP cold-turkey as using Win7 was like moving into a new house where I didn't know where anything was. Several times, I found myself stumbling across what would have otherwise been simple tasks in XP, such as setting folder views or managing documents. For instance, I discovered the hard way that there is no Documents and Settings folder in Win7. Instead, all the data is housed in the C:\Users folder.
I also had to choose a mail client as one is not included with Win7. Since I liked the Windows Mail app in Vista, I downloaded the newer Windows Live Mail from the Windows Live Essentials bundle. And while I was at it, I also grabbed the Windows Live Photo Gallery in hopes that I wouldn't have to install a third-party app like ACDSee. I was also pleasantly surprised at the native support for burning ISO images-- it even burned a dual-layer DVD with no problems. However, the interface is a little rudimentary as it doesn't let you choose a recording speed or display the time remaining. But overall, it performed competently burning all sorts of music and movies. I've also enjoyed the new and improved Disk Defragger utility which, unlike the cumbersome one that shipped with Vista, actually displays the progress and works so well I can kiss Diskeeper goodbye.
Regrettably, I resigned myself to using the 32-bit version of Win7 even though I prefer the superior 64-bit Edition. For instance, I tapped an unused 2GB jump drive and recruited it for ReadyBoost duties. With a total of 6GB ram, I shaved an additional ten seconds off my boot time in Win7 64. And some products, such as the Cinebench 64-bit client, performed noticeably faster in benchmarks. However, other 64-bit programs such as SiSoft Sandra, Microsoft Security Essentials, and Internet Explorer 8 all experienced issues. Since, I wanted the most stable experience possible, I sacrificed a little speed and stayed with the 32-bit version. So far, the only program that wouldn't run on Windows 7 is the video editing software that came with my 60GB Panasonic HDD camcorder and the only issue was a fluctuating volume that I traced to the microphone and disabled in the sound properties.
In gaming, Windows 7 is a winner right out of the box and that's a good omen considering the poor track record of its predecessors. In 2001, XP debuted with no support for the proprietary Glide API. Not only did such a decision turn my $275 Voodoo 5 5500 video card into a fancy paperweight overnight, but it also single-handedly sunk 3dfx as a company. And in 2006, Vista's highly-touted DirectX 10 premiered to performance that was 50% slower than XP and graphic enhancements only an optometrist could spot. Unbelievably, the Resident Evil 5 benchmark actually ran better on Win7 in DX10 than it ran on XP in DX9. And I've run through many hours of Batman: Arkham Asylum, Need for Speed: Shift and Wolfenstein with no problems whatsoever. Furthermore, DiRT 2's DirectX 11 Hardware Tessellation looks stunning and I'm eager to try it out when it becomes available in December. I just hope that unlike DX10, there are some tangible advantages to DX11 for end-users and just not developers.
Prior to Windows 7, it would have been impossible for me to imagine a new OS that could so quickly and completely replace XP. Granted, it's not perfect, some tasks are still slightly slower than XP, and it uses (in my opinion) too much memory, but I feel that's justified by the new technology. And lest I forget, there were similar stumbling blocks on the upgrade path to XP. If you're in the market for a new PC, you can't go wrong with Windows 7.
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