Windows 7: Cheaper than Vista

[Duke{CLR}]

Nope. I'm on Vista Home Preminum 32 bit, so my RAM is throttled back to 2.8 gig.

-Rand

I am thinking of upgrading to 64 bit on the desktop and i'm wondering how complicated the process will be.

[Dead...Again]

I would recommend doing a 64bit install. I have had no problems finding 64bit drivers for Vista, and Windows 7 should be about the same. Being able to use all of your RAM is a definite plus. In addition to that, I think 64bit is a little more stable (could be my imagination ). Also, more apps are being written to be 64bit compatible.

The only drawback is that you will have to do a full reinstall. You can't upgrade from a 32bit OS to 64bit.

BTW, I don't know how many of you have Microcenters near you, but they have preorder coupons for $10 less than Best Buy. The Home Premium upgrade is $40. I saw the ad on their website, but I can't find it now.

[{CLR}geneSW]

I would recommend doing a 64bit install. I have had no problems finding 64bit drivers for Vista, and Windows 7 should be about the same. Being able to use all of your RAM is a definite plus. In addition to that, I think 64bit is a little more stable (could be my imagination ). Also, more apps are being written to be 64bit compatible.

The only drawback is that you will have to do a full reinstall. You can't upgrade from a 32bit OS to 64bit.

BTW, I don't know how many of you have Microcenters near you, but they have preorder coupons for $10 less than Best Buy. The Home Premium upgrade is $40. I saw the ad on their website, but I can't find it now.

Eh, they fixed this small problem in the Windows 7 RC install. It moved all of my old folders that where 32bit into a Windows.old folder, this way I wouldn't loose anything. Just means you need a large HD to do this though.

[Dead...Again]

Eh, they fixed this small problem in the Windows 7 RC install. It moved all of my old folders that where 32bit into a Windows.old folder, this way I wouldn't loose anything. Just means you need a large HD to do this though.

Sweet! All the more reason to do 64bit!

[juneau]

Is Win7 as much of a resource hog as Vista? I only have 2gb RAM which is doing more than fine under XP, and i don't want to upgrade the base of my PC anytime soon.

[Grisu]

Well, it eats memory for breakfast as well.

With 2 GB I would not upgrade to Win7.
Save your bucks for newer hardware instead.

[{CLR}geneSW]

It would be fine for a basic desktop, but a gaming machine will need 4gb of ram with this OS.

[juneau]

It would be fine for a basic desktop, but a gaming machine will need 4gb of ram with this OS.

Pathetic tbh. I'll stick with XP. MS needs to stop cluttering up peoples RAM with useless crap. I was expecting to be able to at least game on the machine with 2gb.

So considering the whole 4gb of RAM at least scenario. What have they actually done in Win7 that make it so much better than Vista. RAM usage should have been at the top of their fix list.

[Grisu]

(...) What have they actually done in Win7 that make it so much better than Vista. (...)

The marketing is much better. No joke!

My system uses around 1,1 GB in idle. Whereas XP used to eat around 300 MB.

[Duke{CLR}]

I agree Juneau but with RAM so cheap lately why build one with less than 4 Gb. I will probably throw another 2 gigs in my desktop when/if I upgrade it.

[juneau]

I agree Juneau but with RAM so cheap lately why build one with less than 4 Gb. I will probably throw another 2 gigs in my desktop when/if I upgrade it.

The price isn't the problem. The problem at least for me is, as Grisu has stated above, what's making the OS go from 300MB to 1.1GB?

[Duke{CLR}]

The price isn't the problem. The problem at least for me is, as Grisu has stated above, what's making the OS go from 300MB to 1.1GB?

It's a good question and if you figure it out let me know. The software side of computers escapes me so I just throw hardware at the problem and hope it disappears.

[{CLR}geneSW]

We'll I don't generally go above 900MB of ram being used total for my system unless i'm gaming.