Is it worth upgrading to Windows 7

So I have a PC running Windows XP with the following spec:

OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 RAM: 3GB DDR3 HDD: Western Digital 250GB SATA CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 @ 2.13GHz Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD3850 512MB PCI Express Motherboard: Gigabyte EX38-DS4

However, is it worth making the upgrade to Windows 7?

If I do upgrade, then I will put my Windows XP install under a Virtual Machine which I can access on demand using VirtualBox.

By the way, don't worry about the money side of Windows 7 as I can get a student discount on it.

Hope to hear from someone soon, Adiman423

This question is marked "community wiki".

asked Dec 08 '10 at 13:45

Adiman423
66●31●33●35

6 Answers:

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If you are upgrading to win 7 and keeping xp then to me that is pretty illogical. Unless you fix peoples comps and need to remember xp, I for example have xp in a vm because I run linux mint kde and my printer only works under windows.

However I have win 7 installed and can say that it's pretty good. It's just basically more eye candy. But nothing exactly revolutionary. I honestly could not justify the full retail price (but you are student so ok). People say that win xp cannot support new hardware but my quad core with gigabit lan works the same as it does on win 7. Yeh, win 7 looks prettier and is nicer to use but I would say it's not that great of a leap forward.

However for gamers it's essential to go to win 7 for dx11 support, I think there is a patch for dx11 in vista too, but that retails the same as win 7 so it's pointless. Although you can still defer to dx10 and run the latest games in XP with the right spec.

All things considered, win 7 is nice but is a lot the same as vista (just faster) though people say the newest vista patches make it fine. Everything i've thrown at win 7 seems to work.

By the most useful addition to win 7 (think it was in vista too) is the live partitioning so you can easily change partition sizes on the fly (though linux has had that for ages :P).

From 95 to win 7 - it will like a revolution.

From an XP to win 7 it will feel like a nice jump.

From vista to 7, it will just feel like what vista was supposed to be. You might even feel ripped off for having to buy a new os vs it just being an upgrade for vista users.

From Linux kde, it's about the same, but with some of the best screen widgets missing.

answered Dec 08 '10 at 18:22

SignOff
(suspended)

0	Absolutely! Windows 7 is an excellent upgrade over XP and with your specs, you should be just fine. answered Dec 08 '10 at 17:06 DazOwen 5.9k●77●104●159

Windows is just the operating system that you access your programs through, its no big deal which os it is.

I dont see all of the hype in "OS Wars" just pick an OS and stick to it, dont cause yourself inconvenience by changing it. I Use windows 7 because that is what came with my pc.

answered Dec 09 '10 at 13:49

Louis Jenvey
591●6●9●20

yes, it is just what you run your programs in. but some are better than other. If you bought a computer with 2Gbs of ram and had an os that used 1.8Gb, would you keep it, or would you use one that used 1.2Gb or even less. It is down to how well the code uses recources

(Dec 09 '10 at 13:51) Tim Fontana

Well for the average user they're not concerned about what OS they use. Power users are more picky about what they use, it must have the features and functionality they need, otherwise they won't use it.

Choosing an operating system isn't something that should be taken lightly in my opinion, you need to know what you need the OS to do be ore investing money in buying it.

"OS wars" isn't a hype at all, its a matter of opinion, different people have different opinions on what OS to use and why, we don't have these debates because we want to, they happen because everyone is different.

(Dec 10 '10 at 16:26) DazOwen

0	So I have an update for you all. After a few days of trying it out, I am going to upgrade to Windows 7 pro 64 bit. Here are the new things to be added to my spec. 1TB SATA HDD 6GB DDR2 RAM answered Dec 10 '10 at 08:18 Adiman423 66●31●33●35

0	It's absolutely worth it answered Dec 10 '10 at 08:26 FilipinoPower 13.0k●137●219●313

0	I if you are using windows vista, then yes it is. Best part is that you won't get a blue screen after you install it just because it didn't mess up with drivers. answered Dec 10 '10 at 16:30 blackbird307 3.7k●52●65●105

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