Seven Things To Know About Windows 7
Written on October 24, 2009 by Kay
Microsoft has finally unleashed Windows 7 to a public still suffering from the burns of such delights as Windows ME and Vista, but everyone agrees that Windows 7 is light-years ahead of Vista, and the consensus seems to be that Win 7 will take over for XP as king of the desktop in the Microsoft world. So, the question on a lot of users’ minds is this: Should I upgrade or simply buy a new PC with Windows 7 already installed? To put this question to bed, you’ll need to consider the type of computing you do and how old your current rig and its hardware is.
Will Windows 7 run on my PC?
If your current PC was purchased within the last 5 years, you’re in luck. Your CPU, memory requirements, and disk space will almost certainly meet Microsoft’s recommended criteria for an nice Windows 7 experience. A 1GHz CPU, 16GB of storage, and 1GB of memory are the minimum requirements for Windows 7 to run acceptably, but these scant specs won’t cut it when it comes to the newest and most exciting features of Windows 7. For an optimal experience, make sure that you have a dual-core CPU and at least 2GB of memory in your box.
Give the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor a spin, which will run through your hardware and software, checking for any Windows 7 incompatibilities. An OS upgrade is never flawless, and there are always going to be driver issues for some hardware and software that won’t play nicely with a new operating system. If you’re already running Vista, your Windows 7 transition should be smooth and without snags.
Will Windows 7 like my current hardware?
Windows 7 may run above-par on your current hardware configuration, but you may be missing out on the newest and greatest features of Windows 7, like multi-touch support and native support for SSD storage devices. SSD drives packed with the amount of terabyte storage of today’s mechanical drives are unheard of, and SSD drives are still very expensive, but the incredible speed increases you’ll gain when reading and writing your data to disk are nothing to scoff at.
XP Mode to the rescue
Some popular applications just can’t let go of XP. They’ve been specifically written for XP or utilize some kind of quirk that only XP has; as such, these programs won’t run on Windows 7 without dropping into XP Mode. XP Mode allows Windows 7 users to run apps designed for XP, inside a virtual machine. You must have good hardware specs to run a virtual machine at a decent clip, and your CPU must support hardware virtualization. Be sure to check your PC’s specs first if you need XP Mode.
Do I need 64-bit computing?
32-bit Windows can only handle so much memory, but 64-bit versions of Windows can handle a whole lot more. Today, it’s cost effective to install scads of memory into your box, and we all know that the more memory the better. If you need to go beyond the 3GB boundary of 32-bit systems, considering a 64-bit version of Windows 7. Surfing the web and composing e-mail won’t tax your computer as much as video editing and compiling humongous amounts of source code, so a 64-bit version of Windows may be overkill for your needs.
Should I just upgrade my hardware for Windows 7?
An upgrade for Windows 7 professional is $200 USD, and Home Premium will set you back $120 USD. While you could buy more RAM, or a faster CPU, or more storage space, and then shell out some greenbacks for a Windows 7 upgrade, consider investing that chunk of change into a new PC already running Windows 7. New hardware may also come stock with today’s newest technologies, such as Blu-Ray and HDMI. On the other hand, if your current hardware setup is perfect for your needs, and you’ve already calculated that it’ll handle Windows 7 nicely, a simple upgrade might be just the ticket for you.
