Windows 7 RC

[hippo24]

As many of you know the Release Candidate of Windows 7 has been [URL="http://gizmodo.com/5240211/windows-7-release-candidate-1-available-right-now" (title,target)]released[/URL]

and I have a few questions to those of you that have already used it or the beta.



Should I take the plung?

Have any of you been using the RC or beta?

How bad Is compatibility for games and drivers?

Is the performance a step forward or back?

How hard are they making it this time to rollback to vista?

What are your overall Impressions?

 

[Cortheya]

I regularly use windows 7 and it is leaps and bounds ahead of the past 2 OS's There are very few compatibility issues and when there are it lets you run a compatibility mode which is convenient. Over all, I love it and I plan on buying it when it comes out

 

[Horticulture]

As many of you know the release canidate of Windows 7 has been released
http://gizmodo.com/5240211/windows-7-release-candidate-1-available-right-now

and I have a few questions to those of you that have already used it or the beta.



Should I take the plunge?
Sure.

Have any of you been using the RC or beta?
Beta, since open release.


How bad Is compatibility for games and drivers?
Overall pretty good. There are a few issues, but most are minor. I'm still using Vista for gaming because I can't get Company of Heroes to authenticate properly between Steam and Relic's online system, and the current nVidia test driver doesn't support aspect ratio scaling (my monitor doesn't scale). Stability and performance in games that run (the vast majority) has been indistinguishable from Vista/XP.


Is the performance a step forward or back?
It boots noticeably faster than Vista, and seems responsive. Stability seems about equal.


How hard are they making it this time to rollback to vista?
No clue. Once the few compatibility issues are addressed (still using beta build 7000), I don't see any reason to use Vista. They might even already be ironed out in RC.

What are your overall Impressions?
Very positive.

 

[I_LIKE_CAKE]

I am using RC right now, and I ran the beta as my primary OS since installation. Compatibility issues are few and far between, if it worked with Vista, by and large it will work with 7, and compatibility modes allow it to run programs Vista can't. Performance is a huge step forward, with some really nice visible features, and even more under the hood work if you are interested in that kind of stuff. I recommend Windows 7 to everyone.

 

[hippo24]

Spoiler: snip

I am using RC right now, and I ran the beta as my primary OS since installation. Compatibility issues are few and far between, if it worked with Vista, by and large it will work with 7, and compatibility modes allow it to run programs Vista can't. Performance is a huge step forward, with some really nice visible features, and even more under the hood work if you are interested in that kind of stuff. I recommend Windows 7 to everyone.

Spoiler: snip

As many of you know the release candidate of Windows 7 has been [URL="http://gizmodo.com/5240211/windows-7-release-candidate-1-available-right-now" (title,target)]released[/URL]

and I have a few questions to those of you that have already used it or the beta.



Should I take the plung?
Yes
Have any of you been using the RC or beta?
Yes, for a few weeks. 64bit. E8400, 6gb RAM, 8800GTS SLI
How bad Is compatibility for games and drivers?
found a few issues, daemon tools and x-fi drivers are shocking. Fortunately someone hacked the x-fi drivers for Windows 7. UT3 pops up a warning about driver compatibility not being great with my current nVidia drivers. Other than that, really bad
Is the performance a step forward or back?
Certainly forward. Performance, or the feeling of lack of performance (i do feel the latter might have been the bigger issue with Vista, it felt stodgy) is not a problem in Windows 7. I actually installed the Windows 7 and haven't been back into XP since. Whereas i booted into Vista used it for two days. I'll also state the new UAC is liveable. What i've discovered is i don't mind the UAC popup, i just can't live with the greying out of the screen.
How hard are they making it this time to rollback to vista?
Uncertain, but it is fairly likely a downgrade program for OEM sales will exist. I'm pretty certain it has a for a few versions of Windows before. Personally, i'd equate downgrading from 7 to Vista as verging on an offence which could end up with a person being committed to an asylum.
What are your overall Impressions?
Extremely favourable. I really like that Resource Manager in the Task Manager (wasn't aware of it in Vista). I also like the new system tray and how configurable it is (though i'd like the option to kill bubble tips whilst having tray icons visible). A quibble would be MSN doesn't show in that corner any more and due to how the new bar task bar works it is very easy to completely shut down MSN messenger.
Overall it's much more slick than Vista and at worst on a par with XP.

Spoiler: snip

As many of you know the release canidate of Windows 7 has been released
http://gizmodo.com/5240211/windows-7-release-candidate-1-available-right-now

and I have a few questions to those of you that have already used it or the beta.



Should I take the plunge?
Sure.

Have any of you been using the RC or beta?
Beta, since open release.


How bad Is compatibility for games and drivers?
Overall pretty good. There are a few issues, but most are minor. I'm still using Vista for gaming because I can't get Company of Heroes to authenticate properly between Steam and Relic's online system, and the current nVidia test driver doesn't support aspect ratio scaling (my monitor doesn't scale). Stability and performance in games that run (the vast majority) has been indistinguishable from Vista/XP.


Is the performance a step forward or back?
It boots noticeably faster than Vista, and seems responsive. Stability seems about equal.


How hard are they making it this time to rollback to vista?
No clue. Once the few compatibility issues are addressed (still using beta build 7000), I don't see any reason to use Vista. They might even already be ironed out in RC.

What are your overall Impressions?
Very positive.

Spoiler: snip

I regularly use windows 7 and it is leaps and bounds ahead of the past 2 OS's There are very few compatibility issues and when there are it lets you run a compatibility mode which is convenient. Over all, I love it and I plan on buying it when it comes out

Thanks for the input, I'm downloading it now.
Hope its more impressive then vista was.
Thanks!

 

[cleverlymadeup]

there is some nice stuff in it, however there are a ton more things that they need to add, such as multi-monitor taskbar

tho i did laugh at the betta fish wallpaper they had for the default wallpaper

 

[skorpion352]

im using the rc now, having just upgraded from the beta. when the beta first came out, i had to wait jsuto ver a motnh for an updated driver for my wireless adapter to connect to the intnet with 7, but with the rc i didnt have that issue.

overall, 7 is quicker than vista and loads up much faster. it does take a bit of gettign used to (some things are in different places) but im much happier with 7. one thingi love is the ability to have more than one image as your desktop background, and have the image change agter a rep set lenght of time, with several settings available

 

[Horticulture]

im using the rc now, having just upgraded from the beta. when the beta first came out, i had to wait jsuto ver a motnh for an updated driver for my wireless adapter to connect to the intnet with 7, but with the rc i didnt have that issue.

Did you have to format and reinstall for the RC, or was there an option to upgrade-in-place?

 

[mooncalf]

It's no quantum leap, but it feels like an improvement compared to both Vista and XP, I will be going Win7 come October.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

I'm comfy with Vista at the moment.

Oh, Vista. No one loves you but me.

 

[ViolentlyHappy91]

Windows 7 is the only Windows version i've used since before XP was released that works really well. My games run fine, performance is up from XP and Vista in certain areas (most of them, any standard user won't run into a slow-down) and it's really nice to look at.

 

[Valiance]

The performance is similar to XP.

Actually, it really just feels like XP with a Vista skin.

Most newer games and drivers work.

My friend had a problem playing Quake 2, but compatibility mode took care of it.

I personally have used the beta, but do not have a computer with it installed currently.

 

[Abedeus]

I've got yet to try it out, but in few days I''ll download it and dual boot with my XP. But from what I've tested in Open Beta, the new OS is awesome like XP and looks like Vista. So it's win-win scenario.

Oh, and it's got DirectX 11.

 

[hearty0]

Can anyone give me a flat comparison between Windows 7 and XP please? I'm thinking of trying it, but am currently too unhappy with problems running games that I don't want to do ANY real thinking to get it working, and I really don't want a OS that demands a gigabyte of RAM.

 

[skorpion352]

im using the rc now, having just upgraded from the beta. when the beta first came out, i had to wait jsuto ver a motnh for an updated driver for my wireless adapter to connect to the intnet with 7, but with the rc i didnt have that issue.

Did you have to format and reinstall for the RC, or was there an option to upgrade-in-place?

you have the option of upgrading from vista but not from 7 beta or xp. i did a clean install as i had the 32 bit vita, but was upgrading to 64 bit 7 and it wouldnt let me do an upgrade

 

[L33tsauce_Marty]

I'm running it now, it's amazing.
Everything works with everything, it runs like XP...it's a dream really.
I installed it on my 'home' PC first and that thing had performance issues, and Windows 7 eliminated them. One thing that is amazing: I can finally watch MP4 (x246 video) in Windows Media Player! Goodbye quicktime lagfest! I still have my old files and such (even my user's icons I put up!) after the transfer.

Really I am blown away by it.

GET IT NOW DON'T BE A FOOL!

 

[foggy666]

unfortunately for me and my now legacy x1950xt, ATI no longer support my card, hence no Windows 7 drivers for my card

 

[Ancientgamer]

I've never done an OS upgrade before,what about game compatibility? Will it break any file paths? How many programs would be un-installed?

Basically, how big a deal is it switch operating systems, beyond getting used to the interface?

 

[edinflames]

I'm comfy with Vista at the moment.

Oh, Vista. No one loves you but me.

I run 64bit Vista and with the exception of the first day of use (before all the countless updates had downloaded and installed) its been an absolute joy for approx a year now.

Hell even Empire: Total War hasn't crashed once for me. Now that must mean something...

I've never done an OS upgrade before,what about game compatibility? Will it break any file paths? How many programs would be un-installed?

Basically, how big a deal is it switch operating systems, beyond getting used to the interface?

Its a big enough deal to not really be worth doing unless your current OS is hell for you.

If your current OS supports all your games/drives/software/media then what is the point in upgrading?

The W7 evangelists will say that their experience has been wonderful but they tend to be experienced computer users and neglect to mention all the work they put into getting the new OS to make friends with their old hardware.

Can anyone give me a flat comparison between Windows 7 and XP please? I'm thinking of trying it, but am currently too unhappy with problems running games that I don't want to do ANY real thinking to get it working, and I really don't want a OS that demands a gigabyte of RAM.

Don't do it. W7 will not use less hardware power than XP, cold hard fact. My advice is if your comp is getting slow either reformat or upgrade (or even better, both).

 

[skorpion352]

I've never done an OS upgrade before,what about game compatibility? Will it break any file paths? How many programs would be un-installed?

Basically, how big a deal is it switch operating systems, beyond getting used to the interface?

that really depends on how you upgrade and how compatible the new os is with your old one. if you go with the upgrade installiation option, there wont be any problems other than compatibility issues. if you go with a clean install, then you will have to back everything up. i went with the clean install option and it actually saved all my old stuff in a folder it named windows.old. all my documents were there, all my music was there and it even seems to have saved some of the programs i had installed, but i had a proper look in there yet other than to get all my music and documents and some of my settings.