I was really looking forward to Windows 7, since I skipped Vista altogether. But now I see that I will have to completely reload all my software when I upgrade to 7 from XP. All of my software is legal, and I have the system disks for all of it, but what a pain in the @ss! I was really looking forward to being able to run 8 gb of ram.

I'm waiting for my free copy of 7 ultimate 64 bit (had to attend an incredibly tedious microsoft thing for this and hte dorks gave me 32bit WTH?!?!? So I byatched and am supposedly going to get the 64 in the mail)

I can't see how it could possibly be any worse than Vista 64 so I'm thinking that once all the data is safely backed up the upgrade is a no-brainer

I Am already on Windows 7 RTM, speed is nicer than vista, and all my stuff has been working excellent;

PS, LR, Plugins, apps... all very nice. No issues.
Running a Asus Rampage Extreme with i7, 12GB of ram and 10K RPM drives...I am waiting for SSD to come down (like everyone I imagine) and then I will move to that.

Once I receive the 64bit ultimate I'll move over to that. I am on 64bit now and love it...

I was really looking forward to Windows 7, since I skipped Vista altogether. But now I see that I will have to completely reload all my software when I upgrade to 7 from XP. All of my software is legal, and I have the system disks for all of it, but what a pain in the @ss! I was really looking forward to being able to run 8 gb of ram.


Huh. No comment.

well i have to say though a POA its what i do each time i do a upgrade. oh by the way the vista you skipped i've been running for 2.5 years w/o touching it.

i like a clean start when dealing with a new OS. i have 7 machines that i have done it to already. i have run ultimate on 2 of them and found pro does the job. ultimate has product in it i don't require for use so it is going out.

Been running windows 7 at home since the release candidate.
Have been running RTM at work since it came out through our MSDN account.
All the IT staff have been testing it out on the systems(i started that tread )

so far i love it. though i never had a problem with vista. Still prefer OSX over windows 7, but i'm still happy with having sold my mackbook pro to build my i7 system

oh, running Windows 7 Ultimate at home, and Enterprise at work.
Try out the Windows XP virtual machine, its awesome and comes in handy at work for some of our legacy programs

Because you don't want to spend the couple of hours reinstalling software you are going to skip out on the possibility of using more RAM, having an OS that has better security, and has better support for newer technologies (multicore processors, trim on SSDs, etc)?

IMO, if you are 'upgrading', i.e. installing a new OS, it is a good idea to format your hard disk and reinstall everything anyways.

Always rebuild from scratch. Upgrading an existing OS install is like putting clean underwear over your dirties

I pre-ordered it. My Laptop uses Vista, so it'll be an upgrade.

E

I've been using Windows 7 (various betas and now the RC) since February on 1 computer, and 7 RC1 on my laptop since a month ago.

XP is fine, Vista really was better if your computer could handle it, and 7 is what Vista probably should have been. It's really been smooth.

My pre-ordered production disks should arrive in the mail on or about the 22nd.

As for reinstalling your software - Vista and 7 both are huge changes from XP, it should come as no surprise that you need to reinstall it. Especially if you're going from a 32 bit system to a 64 bit system. And as others have noted, it's really a good idea to do it. i usually just put a new hard drive in, install the new OS, install the s/w and then copy over what I want from the previous disk, it's easier than trying to do any of that migration crap that MS wants you to do.

I installed Windows 7 64 bit on two of our production workstations and two of our laptops. I am running PS CS3 and Lightroom 2.5. Both run perfectly. 64 bit on three of the systems and 32 bit on an older laptop.

The memory management is much better than Vista. The systems are very stable. Every printer, accessory, application that we used with XP works perfectly with 7.

If you have been waiting to upgrade older systems, now would be a good time. Feed Windows 7 some new hardware and it will really shine.

There has never been a better time to get new hardware. The choices are wide and prices are good. If you build your own system, you have a lot of choices from new multi-core cpu's to groundbreaking new video chipsets. RAM has come down considerably as well so load it up.

I am running i7 920, ATI 4890, Corsair 12Gb, WD 750Gb Black.

With PS CS3 running and LR 2.5, with everything turned on in visuals for Win 7, I am still under 50% memory.

I work with Mac and Win both when doing consulting work for School Districts and like them both. I prefer Windows for the flexibility of applications and the fact I can custom build my own systems. In a house full of computers, when my main workstation gets a boost, every machine down the line gets upgraded with the "hand me downs". This way the cost is much more manageable than full system "re-purchases" to manage multiple machines and keep them all capable of running the latest apps.

If MS continues their track record, I'll probably get it after the SP1 is out.

Ive been running it since beta, and now on RTM.
I have an 8 core system with 16gb of ram, runs like a dream, nary a problem.
Still prefer OSX.

TrojanHorse wrote:


XP is fine, Vista really was better if your computer could handle it, and 7 is what Vista probably should have been. It's really been smooth.


.

that pretty much sums up how i explain windows 7 - how vista shoulda been


i love it been using it since beta

Been testing RC for a few months and installed the RTM when it was released to Volume License customers a few weeks ago. Its nice, quicker than vista, but IMHO for a business environment there are a lot of things that make my job more of a PITA over XP like all the rights management, the licensing server (KMS, MAC keys, etc). So far most of the software I use works, and hardware for the most part except printers has been fine.

n0b0 wrote:
If MS continues their track record, I'll probably get it after the SP1 is out.

no need for that. its very very stable and fast.

its nothing like vista was before sp1 was released for it.

Just a question for those that have used Windows 7...

I'm currently running Vista x64 (Ultimate) on a reasonably 'fast' platform - e.g. 8GB RAM, Q9550, 10K RPM System HDD + separate drives for files, etc. Although Vista gets bad write ups, I've had no issues at all with it.

Do you think I'll see any 'real life' performance increases running W7? By real-life, I mean will Photoshop and Lightroom start up noticeably quicker? Will running a 'complex' Photoshop Filter on a large file be quicker? Will saving a 7 layer TIFF be quicker? Will browsing (Internet) be quicker? I imagine the answer to all these questions will be no, so please could someone give me an few examples of how W7 will improve my computing 'experience'. I'm currently inclined not to upgrade, but would do if there were tangible benefits.

And sealsphoto - one way which I've managed to make a clean install of OS much easier is robust partitioning - I only keep OS + programs on my C: drive, all data is on separate HDDs. And I keep all my program installers (the exe's that usually come on the CD) and SW keys on one of my data HDDs. That way when I do a clean install (and I do this one a year or so as I find it keeps my PC faster) I can simply format the C: drive, do a clean install of the OS then go through my 'install directory' reinstalling all my programs/drivers/etc. It still takes about half a day to do all this - a lot of this time is spent watching the TV waiting for installs to complete - but it's not too bad!!

Thanks,

Justin

It is on all 3 computers in my house (2 laptops, 1 desktop) and it has been rock solid since the RC was released. The only problem I had was with the power management on laptops didn't seem to undervolt the processor when it was idling. The RTM includes that feature and I cannot wait to get it in the mail for our systems.

Students with an EDU account can get a copy for $29 here- http://www.win741.com/

You can call them up to upgrade your version for free as well.

I've been using it at the office and on my laptop since the RTM came out. No problems whatsoever. Runs everything smoothly and haven't had an issue with drivers or other such wild stories that I see cropping up on the net.

I ran (to test it out) on a 8 core, 16GB workstation and it was as smooth as on my old T61p laptop.

I ran the following, all without incident:

Adobe Photoshop CS4
Adobe Lightroom 2
Canon's software set (had to download the updates from the net)

Definitely worth the upgrade, especially if you skipped on Vista. Most new laptops get a free upgrade anyway, so just contact your manufacturer.

justin1 wrote:
Just a question for those that have used Windows 7...

I'm currently running Vista x64 (Ultimate) on a reasonably 'fast' platform - e.g. 8GB RAM, Q9550, 10K RPM System HDD + separate drives for files, etc. Although Vista gets bad write ups, I've had no issues at all with it.

Do you think I'll see any 'real life' performance increases running W7? By real-life, I mean will Photoshop and Lightroom start up noticeably quicker? Will running a 'complex' Photoshop Filter on a large file be quicker? Will saving a 7 layer TIFF be quicker? Will browsing (Internet) be quicker? I imagine the answer to all these questions will be no, so please could someone give me an few examples of how W7 will improve my computing 'experience'. I'm currently inclined not to upgrade, but would do if there were tangible benefits.

And sealsphoto - one way which I've managed to make a clean install of OS much easier is robust partitioning - I only keep OS + programs on my C: drive, all data is on separate HDDs. And I keep all my program installers (the exe's that usually come on the CD) and SW keys on one of my data HDDs. That way when I do a clean install (and I do this one a year or so as I find it keeps my PC faster) I can simply format the C: drive, do a clean install of the OS then go through my 'install directory' reinstalling all my programs/drivers/etc. It still takes about half a day to do all this - a lot of this time is spent watching the TV waiting for installs to complete - but it's not too bad!!

Thanks,

Justin

the UI is definitely more snapper. As for performance diff - on some games i noticed a few extra frames, but programs (photoshop/autocad/Inventor) nothing i could tell off hand. i did notice a performance difference with 64bit on photoshop/inventor/autocad vs 32bit, but im sure id see the same result with vista.

I'm sure I will continue to use XP until I buy a new computer which comes pre-loaded with Windows 7. But it's such a huge PITA to reinstall software...

I never reinstall an OS. I always buy a new hdd, remove the existing boot drive and replace with the new one. I then install to that new drive. If it all goes T*ts up or i've forgotten to remove anything from the previous hdd its just a matter of swapping it back and everything is then back as it was! Simple...just like me

Paul

Mine's on the way - and the state my machine seems to be in, a clean install is just what I need!

But setting up all my programs again, finding codes for downloaded stuff etc is a PIA.

I've got four computers at home running Windows 7 RTM (Not pirated, I'm an MSDN member). It is leaps and bounds ahead of both XP and Vista. Lightroom & photoshop work well on it.

I've got my laptop with 4GB of RAM running 64 bit Ultimate. My wife's netbook is running 32bit Home Premium, my son's is running 64bit Home Premium, and our seven year old desktop is running 32bit Home Premium. The seven year old desktop runs extremely well with Windows 7, it runs considerably faster than it did with XP even.

And for those of you upgrading from Vista, do yourselves a favor and do a completely fresh install. Installing Win7 over Vista is asking for problems in the future.

Justin - I don't have a lot of in-depth experience running photoshop or LR on Windows 7 because i have my licensed versions on vista still and I dual boot to windows 7. I'll reinstall them when I put the final version of Windows 7 on, the beta and release candidate versions will stop running in July next year. I used trial versions for a while, just to see how they run and they appear to run great, but the 64 bit OS may be responsible for that as much as the actual OS upgrade (I have vista 32, 7 64)

It does seem like all those routine things you do (boot up etc.) are MUCH faster. The suspend feature finally works on my laptop too, I had problems with vista, so that's pretty slick.

It's different though, and different takes a little getting used to.