[wideglide21]

Been an XP user for many years; Looking to purchase new computer ; should I go with the cheaper Vista models or wait till end of year and pay more for the newer models with the Win 7 sys? I've heard so many bad things about VISTA and am thinking maybe the extra money is worth the wait; allthough in these times, money is tight!

[drmsucks]

It is my opinion that you absolutely want Win 7, but, that doesn't necessarily mean waiting. Just be sure that the computer that you buy has a FREE upgrade to Win 7 when it comes out - set for 10/22/09. blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1791.


Also, for either Vista or 7, get at least 2 GB of RAM and more if you can afford it. Remember that a 32 bit OS will not be able to use more than approx 3 - 3.5 GB but get up to 4 GB, if you can afford it anyway to allow the OS to max out it's RAM use. A 64 bit OS can address >128 GB, so there is no practical RAM limit. Bottom line: get at least 3 GB for 32 bit Vista or Win 7 (4 GB if you can) and 4 - 8 GB for 64 bit Vista or Win 7.



Best of luck!

[tek101]

Be patient ...At the end of next month ..you will see more retail stores offer FREE upgrade to Wds 7 if you buy pc with Wds Vista ...

Make sure ... you get some kind of written agreement ..Just to be in the safe side ...

[wideglide21]

Thanks for the info, it helped with my decision! JR

[RonSWinTeam]

Here's all the Windows 7 info you'll need to know: http://www.microsoft...7/default.aspx.

From there, you can also download and install the RC (release candidate) of Windows 7 and try it out for free.

Cheers,

[drmsucks]

Your wait is over!!



http://gizmodo.com/5...ood-news-mostly

[rgreen4]

The free upgrade program started today. Check with the website of the manufactuer of the machine you are looking at for details.

[smax013]

rgreen4 said:

The free upgrade program started today. Check with the website of the manufactuer of the machine you are looking at for details.

This should help...there are links on the page to the "participating" PC Manufacturers:

http://www.microsoft...rs/upgrade.aspx

[jimj]

A free upgrade likely has the added benefit of trying both and if you don't like Win 7, reverting back to Vista. From what I've read (haven't tried Win 7), I see some likely positives with Win 7 (new Task Bar, perhaps a bit faster, some features (reportedly) easier to turn off, elimination of Win Media Center & Photo Gallery), but also some negatives (elimination of Classic View Start Menu, elimination of Shortcut Toolbars, elimination of Movie Maker 6, some likely reduction in UAC effectiveness, Library approach to file management - - never liked this in any prior app or program, missing folder tree in the navigation pane of windows explorer and the handy, second window Vista added to the navigation pane, continuation of the bloat of numerous features I don't use and/or find unnecessary). Then there are those great Vista annoyances which I don't know if Win 7 fixes (highly unstable folder view settings, the inefficient compressed dialog boxes for Save, Save As and Full Search which I must alway expand to do anything, the shrink volume feature for hard drives that doesn't work after the first week of Windows use, Shadow Copy hogging 15% of the C-Drive, and the largely useless Sync Center which has a hard time finding anything to sync with, and (in my case) liked to capture WMP and pervent it from opening. So I see a lot to access re the relative value of the two programs to each PC user.