To Windoze 7 or not to Windoze 7 (help me, computer smart people!)

[grolby]

One of the myriad things distracting from my actual job today was an email that came in today, reminding me that I can download Windows 7, Home or Professional Edition, for $30. Hooray for stoodent discounts! Of course, the question is whether or not I should get it

Comments

[repura]

Yes, the core 2 duo T7300 is 64-bit compatible.

Seems like 4GB is the maximum your laptop will take, so you won't be able to go past that. And you shouldn't expect much of a performance gain, the difference between the old OS (vista, I'm guessing?) and the new one will probably be much greater than the one between 64 and 32 bit binaries.

Being a 64-bit (linux) user for a couple of years (since I got my previous athlon64), I'd suggest not switching unless you don't really have any reason to stick to 32-bit. In that case you won't regret the switch, but it won't change your life either.

On a side note, it shouldn't take too long for everyone to start releasing 64-bit versions of their software. I'm surprised some companies still don't.

[grolby]

Oh right, forgot about the old system. I'm actually running XP Professional with SP 3.

So, it sounds like 64-bit wouldn't be worth the compatibility hassle, but XP to 7 might be a good idea?

[repura]

Well, I've heard good things about Vista->7, but then I heard some real bad things about XP->Vista, so XP->7 could be good or bad. I've never used 7 (and when I used XP I disliked it while most people did like it), so I'll let someone else answer that one. :)

[darkamazon]

Hm. If you don't need to upgrade, I actually wouldn't recommend upgrading just yet. I went from XP to 7 because I just got a new computer (never really used Vista), and frankly, I miss XP. 7's alright so far, but I found XP easier to use.