Are Hardcore PC Gamers Using Windows 7 Over Vista?

[karmapolizei]

I'm on Windows 7 Pro exclusively. I've been using it since the Public Beta came out (on a test machine, back then), installed the RC to dual-boot from my then-Vista machine, and now, with my new laptop that came with Windows 7 pre-installed, there's nothing else around on my PCs anymore (except for that derelict laptop that can't run anything else than XP properly).

I really think it's a sweet OS, though I didn't have any substantial gripes with Vista. I still wonder what the problem with UAC is - it rarely bothers me, and anyway, if you want to blame anyone for annoying prompts, then blame the third-party developers for still publishing software that needs administrative access.

 

[ethaninja]

Windows 7 is the XP-killer for me. I absolutely love it and it was worth re-installing everything.

Ooo I might give it a try. Vista sucks, it always will, it's like the Movie Based Game of the Operating Systems.

 

[maddog015]

I'd be curious as to knowing what didn't "actually work" in Vista?

Imo this just proves how biased people are and what a difference Marketing can make.

When Vista came out a few people were "oh no, it's so bad" and 90% just repeated that.
Then they slapped a new Interface on it, made a few minor changes and called it "7" and a few people were "omg this is awesome" and everyone repeated "Omg this is awesome" and was happy xD

This.

Completely happy with Vista. Just fixed a few settings, and it leaves me alone. Runs everything fine.

 

[chenry]

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.

I've had no problems with it at all. Everything I try runs fine.

 

[Icehearted]

No wonder you can handle Crysis - you are playing in DX9 mode. DX10 offered a few nice touches, but tessellation with DX11 is amazing. Windows 7 is really fast and much, much better than XP as it's features such as crash and corruption recovery are much, much better.
Plus, tessellation - it really is that good.

I thought the DX10 thing was a gimmick they decided not to push with the follow up (which I also enjoyed, but not as much). I remember all kinds of tweaks and custom settings I was able to activate by manually opening a file (think it may have been an ini, but it's been a while so don't quote me on that), and the only issues I'd had were because of ATI's famously flaky AA. Still, you've piqued my curiosity.

I've upgraded from XP 32 bit to Windows 7 64 bit, and I gotta say all your concerns have been met. The upgrade is far from just cosmetic, it is a very sleek and has a much more efficient UI with clutter going to a complete minimum and with the "Aero" features making orginization much easier and simpler, making things a lot quicker, but the best part about it is that it takes up just as much resources as XP - which is obviously dramatically less than vista. The compatibility mode is much better too and I can run older games like Neverwinter Nights and Total Annihilation.

Win7 keeps everything good about XP, tweaks the vista UI, and gives DX10 and DX11 support. If you want to "boil it down" like that anyway.

Food for thought, my friend. All I hear about is that it "doesn't suck like Vista" or that "it's awesome", but I never hear anything that says it's as good as XP or better, or why. I guess ultimately it must be a matter of trying things out for myself, but you've definitely given me something to think about.


Sorry I'm replying so late, but I hate to leave such thoughtful comments without response.