Windows 7 vs XP

[nexialys]

Now I suppose you could say they no longer carry that "Yuppie" label anymore.

actually i'm a geek...

and for the stats, yeap, they were old, based on the early-90's... sorry if i badly interpreted them as up-to-date... rofl i'm not visiting US schools often.

as a side note, i largely prefer the Vista engine to the XP, basically because it look more like a "flavor of the moment" system... translucident and cool buttons, some features are even better than on a Mac, but hey, that's normal. I did not see any "great" improvement from XP to Vista, maybe because i do not use the core elements, i use my PC-side to play big games, that's all.

btw, i did not test the Windows 7 yet, i didn't have a copy, but i plan on testing it as soon as someone share its copy... lol

[Wayne Luke]

Personally, I hate HP systems (PC World springs to mind), my sister has one and they are a bag of junk! But then that's the case with most mass produced computer systems (remember TinyPC who went bust). You simply can't beat a custom built PC using top (seperate) components, that you can change at will to keep it up-to-date. Unlike the Dell, HP's systems which become outdated 12 months down the line, and there's little you can do to update it because of the way it's manufactured with everything built on-board (the motherboard) like graphics to sell them very cheap as good looking systems with top specs etc.

All my computers are HP. Have never seen a better quality machine built for retail sales. Not only that but I can buy the base machine for cheaper than I can build my own. I just upgrade the components I need to like video and sound. My computer cost $600.00 retail. Is a dual-core 2.6 GHZ processor, 500 GB Drive, 6 GB of RAM, Windows Vista Ultimate (running Windows 7 now). It is two years old. I have upgraded the video twice. Now it is running an NVIDIA 9800 card. My wife has an HP with a quad-core 2.4 GHZ CPU, 8 GB of RAM, 750 GB harddrive and NVIDIA 9800 Graphics. It is one years old. Hers was off-the-shelf as well for $680.00.

[MRGTB]

I'm guessing you had to disable the on-board graphics and sound in the Bois, so you could then install a separate graphic and sound card. No offence, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. To install stuff like that, you normally have to disable the on-board hardware built into the motherboard because they are not separates. And really, what you've done there is about all you can do hardware wise really with an HP to expand upon it.

Yes it's cheaper (I've been there and done it), but the reasons are obvious. You get what you pay for in the long-run. It's not as though you can shove a new motherboard in it like a top of the range gaming Asus or Gigabyte motherboard, or change the case to an all singing and dancing SilverStone case, or use a different brand memory that faster like Corsair memory, installed much better brand Hardrives like Seagate, and turn it into a full raid system etc. Without you basically having to throw 98% the computer away and turn it into a custom machine that's no longer an HP anymore.

They are good for the first year spec wise for your bucks spent (that's the appeal of them - bang for bucks "at the time"), but after a year they are usually pretty outdated, and you can do very little with them after that apart from buy another new one. That's not the case with a custom built PC. All you need buy is a new motherboard, CPU, and maybe new graphics card to bring it up-to-spec. The advantage of a custom PC is everything is separates, and you not limited by hardware brand.

[Allan]

Better, yes, more speed, no.

[Wayne Luke]

Yes it's cheaper (I've been there and done it), but the reasons are obvious. You get what you pay for in the long-run. It's not as though you can shove a new motherboard in it like a top of the range gaming Asus or Gigabyte motherboard, or change the case to an all singing and dancing SilverStone case, or use a different brand memory that faster like Corsair memory, installed much better brand Hardrives like Seagate, and turn it into a full raid system etc. Without you basically having to throw 98% the computer away and turn it into a custom machine that's no longer an HP anymore.

I can't change the motherboard and call it an HP. However, I can change anything else everything is off-the-shelf parts including the power supply. My next upgrade will be Solid State Drives in both my wife's and my computers. Also haven't disabled anything in the BIOS. The system is smart enough to disable onboard devices if I am not using them. Each to his own I guess. When I was younger, I used to build all my own machines and was constantly tinkering with them and always upgrading this component or that. Now, I can't be bothered. I want to take it out of the box, plug it in and be online in 35 seconds. I have more important things to do than build computers these days. If I need a more powerful computer than I will go buy it and donate my current one to a niece or nephew.

[bigwater]

My day job is a sign manufacturer and as such I do a lot of graphic design. My brother has a Mac, and he's also a graphic designer, but for desktop publishing rather than manufacturing. I love it's ease of use and intuitive nature, but unfortunately I can't justify purchasing a Mac just for design work, especially when the files are mostly incompatable with the PC needed to output the files to my manufacturing equipment.

I'm a slave to the software that is supported by my hardware. The hardware manufacturers didn't find Vista robust enough to even bother writing drivers for. Maybe 7 will be a different story. We'll see.

[MRGTB]

Vista got bad press from day one more or less, I remember it was getting more bad words said about it, than good words. But with this new Windows 7, I've honestly yet to read anything where people are slagging it off.

[Reeve of Shinra]

I built a core2duo for use as a Windows Home Server. I spent maybe a $100 more than I would have spent on the Acer unit with an ATOM proc. I'm deff getting more value and better expansion ability here.

That said, I tried assembling a PC for a friend and everything went wrong with it. I had to RMA two MB's, new ram, and tear the thing about a dozen times before I finally gave up and another friend finished it up. It was so bad I was tempted to buy my friend a prebuilt just so I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore. It was a very frustrating experience and I can see the appeal of a Dell or HP or a Mac. It just works!

I'm not sure about the upgrading thing though...

I built my last PC (a Pentium 4) with top of the line gear and two years later it was mediocre. I could've upgraded the proc and the video card but thats like tossing money away when Core and Core2's were around the corner. I think its cheaper just to build a new middle of the road pc every 2 / 3 years than go bleeding edge for nothing.

[MRGTB]

Well, you can get carried away. At one point when I was building mine. I spent £700 just on two graphics cards to run side-by-side in SLi Mode. Which give me 2GB memory (1GB each). The problem was though, they took up 4 PCI slots which left me struggling later to install other add-ons. So I downgraded them to two 512 cards that gave me 1GB in total, plus two PCI slots back. I didn't mind as the two I bought to replace them were made by EVGA for gaming.

[Anvil3]

Personally, I don't see how people still use XP unless their computers are older than 2 years. On newer computers using 64-bit Vista is an improvement over XP in both usability and performance. Windows 7 just builds on Vista making it faster and more resource friendly. Even some of those older computers can run it.

Only have one computer in the house running XP now. It is a 5 year old obsolete piece of junk. I can't wait to replace it and either donate it to the local highschool for their computer repair lab or turn it into a Linux DVR.

people still run XP cause they dont have a Job to pay Hundreds for a newer OS? thats when they turn to Ubuntu or other linux Distributions

[Wayne Luke]

people still run XP cause they dont have a Job to pay Hundreds for a newer OS? thats when they turn to Ubuntu or other linux Distributions

$120 in 5 years isn't overly burdensome in costs. That is the amount of time between RTM dates for XP and Vista. It is 8 years if you consider Windows 7. That is less than 40 coffees in that period of time.

[lazar]

what is xp and windows 7?

[Anvil3]

$120 in 5 years isn't overly burdensome in costs. That is the amount of time between RTM dates for XP and Vista. It is 8 years if you consider Windows 7. That is less than 40 coffees in that period of time.

Wayne, im gonna ask you a Question. im assuming i'll get an answer,

do you have a Job or no? do you have Kids to feed? do you pay your own bills? do you recall the world going through a Recession not so long ago, infact i think we are still in it yes?

[Wayne Luke]

Yes to all the above. In fact I have three teenagers in high school and have pre-ordered two copies of Windows 7. Have paid my own bills since I was 17. During a recession in the 80s, while I was in highschool, I paid my parent's bills for six months because I was working and they were not.

I am not really worried about the cost of an OS upgrade. Will upgrade two computers and replace a third with one that runs Windows 7. We spend more on ice cream, cookies, and soda in a month than the $50.00 each copy of Windows 7 cost me. Though that was a presale price.

[Anvil3]

Yes to all the above. In fact I have three teenagers in high school and have pre-ordered two copies of Windows 7. Have paid my own bills since I was 17. During a recession in the 80s, while I was in highschool, I paid my parent's bills for six months because I was working and they were not.

I am not really worried about the cost of an OS upgrade. Will upgrade two computers and replace a third with one that runs Windows 7. We spend more on ice cream, cookies, and soda in a month than the $50.00 each copy of Windows 7 cost me. Though that was a presale price.

well im glad you have a Job an can afford hundreds on a new WindowsOS but as i live in australia do you have any idea how much we have to pay just for Windows7 Home Premium? probably not. might be cheap for americans an or Europeans or People in the UK but us aussies pay more than you guys an you have to wonder why a lot will still pirate the OS. im not on a Great income so i cannot afford the money M$$ is asking whether that be upgrade or Full