Are Hardcore PC Gamers Using Windows 7 Over Vista?

[thebackupfreak]

You know, I never had many problems with Vista; none of the prolific crashes that seemed to affect my friends, nothing was deleted from my hard drive, the format was clean and efficient, and all of my games worked with only minor adjustments. Sometimes I think that Vista was just unlucky with the problems I had. With regards to upgrading, it won't be possible until I stop spending my money on videogames. And really, why would I do that?

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

I've never had any trouble with Vista, but I decided to upgrade to 7 when my laptop kicked the bucket at the start of the year. After using it for two months, I've come to the conclusion that it's basically Vista+.

 

[CD-R]

From what I'm reading I get the impression that it's not so much Windows 7 is grat, it's just that Windows Vista was ball bustingly horrible. So is windows 7 better than XP is what I'm more interested in. I'll have to upgrade at some point but I'm afraid to lose my Dragon Age DLC.

 

[Trivun]

Windows Vista always had a bit of trouble getting started. The subject of multiple delays back when it was still Windows Longhorn, Vista suffered from poor driver support and stringent system requirements at its 2006 release. While most of those problems were eventually fixed - I've been using Vista on my PC for going on two years and have had nary a problem - it still had stigma against it, and many gamers (and PC users) stuck with the tried-and-true Windows XP.

So it seems that even some of the good staff of The Escapist, who use computers on a day-to-day basis with extreme regularity and necessity for work as well as play, prefer Vista. I actually feel very reassured by that, as I too have been using Vista with nary a problem for about a year and a half. My parents, on the other hand, stuck to XP, and basically had an extremely bad time of things with everything under the sun going wrong on their PC until they replaced it an upgraded to Windows 7 about a month ago.

Anyway, I consider myself to be a hardcore PC gamer, and yet I'm sticking to Vista. I only plan to upgrade when at least half of the stuff I use regularly, gaming or otherwise, is made so it can only be used on Windows 7 (so, pretty much anything Microsoft after they release the next OS and both XP and Vista become obsolete). This is partly because of cost, but mainly also because I just feel happier with Vista, and I really hate that people keep complaining and hating on it for no real reason.

 

[Abedeus]

While I have XP installed on my HDD, it was only because I stored my W7 image on another drive when I was reinstalling... Had to install XP first, since it was the only OS I had on a physical drive, then install W7 from the image.

Still, W7 has been awesome since RC came out. It only gave me errors when it came to Aion's GameGuard, but hey - they removed it in the end.

 

[Sir Ollie]

You can turn it off you know...

Turn it down a notch. There are 4 levels of UAC in Windows 7, the lowest one is ok.

Thanks but I already knew that. I couldn't stand UAC for more then 5 minutes.

You switched it off or left it going for security? I suppose it's no worse than having an over-protective firewall.

I switched it off as soon as possible I hate the bloody thing. But at least they tried to do something useful for once.

 

[WrongSprite]

I use XP. It works. No problems at all.

 

[mountainfire]

I got the student pre-order ($30 for Pro)... well worth it. There are too many features I use regularly in 7 that even when I use my poor Vista-laden laptop, I feel constrained.

 

[Anachronism]

Windows 7 is badass.

How well do your XP games run on it? That's the main reason I'm holding off from upgrading, to be honest. I want to be able to carry on playing my older games, but I'm a little concerned that they won't run particularly well on Windows 7.

 

[AWAR]

You can turn it off you know...

Turn it down a notch. There are 4 levels of UAC in Windows 7, the lowest one is ok.

Thanks but I already knew that. I couldn't stand UAC for more then 5 minutes.

You switched it off or left it going for security? I suppose it's no worse than having an over-protective firewall.

I switched it off as soon as possible I hate the bloody thing. But at least they tried to do something useful for once.

Then why did you complain gee....

 

[Sir Ollie]

Then why did you complain gee....

*Ahem*

My only complaint is the UAC but you get that in Vista so can't really ***** about that.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

While I like Windows 7 a good bit more than Vista, neither has yet provided me with a compelling reason to upgrade given how much time and effort it would take getting all my stuff reinstalled.

I'll probably only upgrade if an when something catastrophically breaks, Microsoft stops updating XP, or software developers stop releasing games for it.

 

[Izerous]

I picked up vista (ultimate) the day of release and never had issues. The people who complained and had issues all seemed to have cheaped out and bought home versions. Never had driver issues nothing. And XP64 was far worse than Vista64 for support and functionality. Microsoft Zune player/drivers don't even work on XP64.

I also bought 7 the day of release and again went with the ultimate version and have not had a single problem. Also going from vista to 7 doesn't require re-install of everything only xp to 7.

 

[johnman]

I have a windows 7 license key, but am going to buy a new HDD before I install. I pciked it up for only £30

 

[Icehearted]

Still an XP user. It's not that my machine can't handle 7 (it can handle Crysis while running a ton of tasks in the background), I just don't bloody care for the new OS. It offers nothing I need, and practically nothing new. It looks pretty? Oh joy! That's so much better than a something that isn't a bloated resource hog. I know it's basically a better Vista, but I think it's still way too new and not very impressive enough overall to make me want to fork out money to replace something I already have that works pretty darned good.

I don't want a big bulky OS I'm constantly aware of, I want something sleek and fast and nimble that will do it's job without fuss, nag screens, or software compatibility issues.

 

[Jared]

I think when it's says hardcore may mean more "elite"

as long as a game runs, I'll use whatever I have in front of me

 

[AWAR]

Then why did you complain gee....

*Ahem*

My only complaint is the UAC but you get that in Vista so can't really ***** about that.

It's a lie! You just added that now!!

Seriously now, i cant see the problem with UAC since you can turn it off..

 

[mew4ever23]

I upgraded to Windows 7. Key things for me in terms of what it has over Vista: It doesn't hog nearly the amount of resources, Default 7 UAC is less of a control freak (It doesn't bother popping UAC confirmations when you're performing Admin actions on Admin accounts, it just shows the UAC shield on buttons and beside links to let you know that you need your admin powers to perform whatever action), and the new taskbar. Well worth reinstalls of everything.