Compared to the nightmare that was Vista, this is an absolute dream. If Windows 7 was a man, I'd fuck the shit out of it.

Please don't tell me about Windows 7. I am looking for a new computer myself with Windows 7, a minimum of 4GB of RAM, and no less than a dual core processor (preferrably Core 2 quad or AMD quad core) for under $500.

728huey said:

Best Buy had an HP just like that but it was sold out. They may still have other brands under 500 though.

My classmates have it They seem to really like it. At first they had some issues with a couple of applications that wouldn't run, but I think they fixed them quickly

Vendetta1 said:

I know. I've seen a lot of computers under $500 and even quite a few under $400, but they don't have all the specs I'm looking for. I've been checking out Tiger Direct, MicroCenter, and NewEgg.com for some deals too.

The fella and I just bought the family upgrade thingo for a few reasons.

My desktop is XP and has specs (like memory) that require 64-bit Windows. If I upgrade this one It'll be a much better PC.

My laptop was Vista and it sucked arse on speed. Fella's laptop was older than mine and was Vista and was excruciatingly slow. Also he got stuck in a Windows Upgrade loop which effectively killed the laptop.

So far I've upgrade both laptops to 7. His laptop is now twice the speed it originally was with applications. Mine is noticeably faster. I'm holding off on the desktop because as I have to do a hard reboot I want to get a larger hard disk at the same time. My music is in FLAC format so it takes up soo much space.

Soon the desktop will jump from 3gb memory to 8gb! I'm so excited.

Recommoneded to everyone based on the improved performances on our laptops.

I won't touch it. I still use Windows XP Pro, and I'm quite happy with it. I've used Vista for a short time, and never really had issues with it, but didn't see that many pluses to it either. It LOOKED good (and Microsoft has since admitted to copy most of what Vista/7 is from Mac's OS X.....DUH), but what did it offer than I didn't have before with XP? Not a lot, that I saw.

I had windows vista ultimate and never had an issue, I upgrade to windows 7 ultimate when it came out and the speed is like 4x faster, but I never had problems or stability issues with vista so beside the speed I can' really tell a difference expect for the task bar, but I figured that out.

ernestsewell said:

The major plus I've found is network capability. I'm not tech-savvy as much as most (I kind of lost track in the 90's) but it's much easier to set up the house and hook in visitors now.

lazycrockett said:

I always had problems with Vista and booting up was slow as hell. It is definitely faster.

I got my laptop 2 yrs ago..it came pre-loaded with Vista...i HATED it..a few wks ago i started getting alot of problems like not being able to download Updates from MS. so i reformated & got Win7

FRIGGIN LOVE IT

vista was utter shite...glad its gone. Oh...& my laptop is FASTER NOW!

sonic said:

I hated Vista!!! I'm glad it's gone too!!

Jess does on the new laptop we gave her - she likes it

Vendetta1 said:

R.I.P. to the evil beeeyotch that was Vista!

Yes, and so far, so good. I know it's heresy on this board, but I'ma say it: I don't like Macs. That said, I hated Vista with a passion, so I'm happy that Windows 7 is (knock on wood) smooth sailing so far.

connorhawke said:

I've noticed a peak and valley with Windoze and their OS releases since the 90's. When I say "love" below, I mean that people seemed to like it more than the ones listed as "hate", overall.

95 - Love
98 - Hate
98 SE - Love
ME - Hate (but loved the NT 2000 version)
XP - Love
Vista - Hate
7 - Love

That means in about 2 or 3 years, people are gonna be hatin' again.

It came on the laptop I just got not too long ago. So far, so good. I can't compare it to Vista though since I never upgraded from XP to Vista. From the reports, I'm glad I didn't.

ernestsewell said:

hehe. same pattern as in the Star Trek movies

Vendetta1 said:

Iv avoided it because 3 professional reviewers have said it's screwed thier computer up and took 15 hours to reach 60% installed.

They've probably sorted by now though.

You're right about Vista though...by the time your computers started up with it on your computer is so old it's time to by a new one....so unecessarily slow!!!

728huey said:

why do you need so much RAM ?
i'd say 1 GB is sufficient
[Edited 12/23/09 4:44am]

Dewrede said:

I'm assuming for gaming purposes, but I don't want to speak for Huey! I have 2 GB, but all I use my laptop for is downloading media files and whatnot. I'm curious to how well a PC game will load and play on it. Hmmm...

It's nice. I like most of the changes they've made to it. Just a word of warning to folks trying to install the 64 bit version. THe OS install defaults to 32-bit, doesn't it? Does anyone know how to install it in it's 64 bit configuration?

I like the dock-like app bar (forget the name), and it seems to run smoother than Vista (though I wasn't too familiar with Vista). Windows Explorer was already more feature-rich than Apple's Finder, but it Windows 7 they made it even better. Apple should take a few ques from Windows Explorer.

Other than that, I still think OS-X is sexier. I would let Snow Leopard pee on my face just to see where it came from.

Imago said:

ernestsewell said:

for me, XP is still perfect. Granted I am not using it heavily, but for basic stuff it's been trouble free since about 2002

Imago said:

No, no, 1000 times no! One of the reasons I ran away from Windows years ago was the incessant need to add features just for the sake of features. The Snow Leopard Finder is fine. You can use Path Finder if you want more.

AlexdeParis said:

What incessant features about Windows Explorer did you take issue with?

It's more powerful and user friendly than the mac finder.
I'm a mac fan and think OS-X is far superior to the Microsoft offering, but Microsoft's windows explorer is simply better. There's no two ways about it.
And Microsoft's office offering is better than the Apple one too.

Other than that, I don't think there isn't much else in Windows that can
compare to Mac OS-X.

But seriously--I'm not flaming, but what 'incessant' features of WIndows
Explorer did you not like?
[Edited 12/23/09 17:24pm]

Imago said:

The one that immediately comes to mind is integrating web browsing in Windows Explorer for Windows 98, which was a complete and total disaster. That's definitely one of the worst decisions in the history of Microsoft IMO. Then there's the stupid puppy that "helped" with search (because everybody just loved Clippy). I also recall Explorer having inconsistent drive mapping that used to infuriate me.

AlexdeParis said:

I'm speaking about Windows Explorer in it's current incarnation, not the one 12 years ago.

The integration of the Web Browser was the Microsoft decision to make IE4 ubiquitous to the market and kill off Netscape. The ramifications of that are that major service pack updates where being delivered via the web-browser update, which caused all sorts of problems for those of us who had to support these desktops. IE4 delivered system 32 .dlls, so you had third party applications, specically those that required active x components requiring IE4 to be installed even if the applictions themselves didn't require any web browsing.

So I'm quite familiar with that one. And the 'stupid dog' feature has nothing to do with Windows Explorer, nor the application as it is in it's current incarnation.

Lest we forget, Apple at the time was just coming out of it's lull in which it was running an outdated OS (yes, I'm no fan of OS-9. I think it was superior to WIndows back in 1995, but by the time Windows98/WIndows 2000 hit the market, it was in bad need of updating), and it's desktop offerings were confusing, expensive, and not all that impressive.

My point is, specifically for today... 2009.... what specific 'incessant' features of WIndows Explorer make it inferior to Mac Finder?

.
[Edited 12/23/09 18:09pm]

Imago said:

Go back and read my initial comment. I said:


I never said anything about my experience with Windows in its current incarnation because I don't use Windows anymore (except at work and that's Windows 2000). I've used every Windows through XP and in my experience every new OS saw a slew of unnecessary features added to Explorer.


I'm not sure what you're talking about here, but that dog comes up in the sidebar of an Explorer window when searching in XP IIRC. Maybe I'm wrong.


Here's a question for you: exactly what features from Windows Explorer would you like to see implemented in the Finder?

AlexdeParis said:[quote]

Imago said:

get a cubicle, guys!