Well, I did it. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit edition; this is now my primary operating system. I figured the only way to truly do this right was to "go native".
There’s something in 7 called the Windows Experience Index. This is a scorecard of sorts that gives you information on your hardware and how well the OS will perform.
At present the help section of the OS (which, believe it or not, is actually helpful), describes the WEI as:
The Windows Experience Index measures the capability of your computer’s hardware and software configuration and expresses this measurement as a number called a base score. A higher base score generally means that your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score, especially when performing more advanced and resource-intensive tasks.
More detail in this screen shot:
(click to enlarge)
My computer box was given a score of 3.3, seen here:
(click to enlarge)
Further detail was given to me by clicking "View and print detailed performance and system information", seen here:
(click to enlarge)
From what I understand, anything over a 2 is somewhat decent because that’s supposedly slightly above average. My system is 32-bit, it is a Core 2 Duo (meaning not quad-core or octo-core) and only runs 2GB RAM (which I could upgrade to 4GB for the chump change price of $20).
What I like about the WEI is that the information that matters is given to you in plain English up front. In addition, the scan of your system to get this information doesn’t make you sit and wait for 5 minutes while the OS combs thru the system. If I remember correctly it took only a few seconds.
Aside from all that, this is my personal scorecard for what I believe most people would be interested in knowing:
Did anything not work (hardware)?
All my hardware works. The only thing I had to download was Windows 7 specific drivers from Microsoft for my IntelliMouse which adds a few extra features – and bear in mind that was optional and not required.
The two hardware items that surprised me the most as working with absolutely no issues were the aforementioned mouse and my nVidia video card. I had heard rumors aplenty that Vista had issues with that brand, but encountered zero problems with mine.
Did anything not work (software)?
Out of all my applications, only one didn’t work. It was older video editing software that doesn’t have a Vista release, so I can’t even blame 7 for it. Otherwise, everything worked.
Is Windows 7 slower than Windows XP?
On my system it isn’t. Surprisingly enough it’s actually faster – and bear in mind I’m running the Ultimate Edition.
Applications install faster and run faster/smoother. A good example of this is Mozilla Firefox. Typical wonky issues with FF under Windows XP (e.g. pausing for no reason, crashing) are completely gone in 7.
For whatever way 7 threads applications, it certainly does them right.
Was there a huge learning curve?
No, and solely for the reason that if I had a problem finding things I would do in XP, I just use the search function from the start menu and find it.
For example, I couldn’t immediately locate Add/Remove Programs. So I clicked the Windows "ball" (the start button replacement), clicked in the search field, typed "remove" and ta-da, there it was.
Like this:
Does any part of 7 look unfinished?
Not that I could find so far. In Vista it was all too easy to find things that were rough around the edges, so to speak.
Is Windows 7 difficult to use?
It isn’t easy to give a straight answer on this because it depends on computer experience and familiarity with the Windows environment.
Most people will be upgrading from 2000 or XP to 7. And if that’s you (and it most likely is), you won’t have any issues using 7. Yes, things have been changed around but not so much in a way where it’s frustrating. Personally I did not encounter any frustration using 7 whatsoever. As mentioned above, the reason I was able to get around easily is because of the built-in search so I could find stuff quickly.
Final notes for now
In all seriousness, I am trying to find something to complain about with 7. I really want to yap and gripe about this. But I have no yaps or gripes – and trust me, if I did you’d see it here.
Said honestly it is weird using a Windows OS that actually, dare I say, works right for a change. But a good kind of weird, obviously.
More will be coming on Windows 7 soon once I get myself more familiarized with the OS.
![Jarte, The Ultimate Lightweight Word Processor? [Video]](/videothumbs/jarte.jpg)
Would you actually recommend people to run the RC of Windows 7 as their primary OS now, or to wait for full retail versions to be released before upgrading?
Being it’s an RC I don’t recommend running it on your primary computer. I do it because I’m a daring soul. If you have a spare computer box, sure, go for it. But on your primary, no. Even though the official release is going to be very close to what the RC is now, it is better to use the official.
I understood that you were going 64-bit with this OS? I see you’re sticking to 32-bit. For someone who was making a big thing about 64-bit being the future not long ago you appear remarkably reticent concerning the issue.
I currently run the beta in 64-bit, and I’ll be installing the 64-bit RC this week. I’ll be running this on an AMD Phenom x 3, 2.3GHz with 4 GB DDR2 800MHz RAM. I might get another 4GB to add to it.
I’m typing this from the 64-bit Windows 7 RC… More to follow maybe sometime…
Just to clarify my initial comment: I thought Rich would be building a 64-bit system to run Win 7 RC 64-bit on. I think his existing system is in fact 64-bit capable, though I may be wrong.
Anyway. – Having installed the 64-bit RC on the 6th I’m on my 7th day of using it, and I think it’s great. The only programs I haven’t been able to install to this day are: –
1) BT Broadband Desktop Help; which is an ISP-specific program used by some UK BT customers for getting free online help from India along with a lousy computer-fault-self-diagnosis program that usually ends up asking you to open an online interactive dialogue to BT staff in India when it can’t identify the problem after 1/2 hour of tests. It includes a download speed-checker that always tells the customer that the internet speed is fully acceptable and the fastest available; probably even if it’s 2 kilobytes per year. BT obviously need to come up with a version specially for Windows 7; which I expect they will do by the time the next Microsoft OS is in beta. (The problem with it is that it doesn’t see that a Windows 7 administrator account has administrator priveliges; and thus doesn’t install, but says that your administrator account must have administrator priveliges before you can install it.)
2) A Space Invaders game written in DOS and distributed via my blog, labelled “Inv78-02.exe”. It runs fine in XP but 7 refuses point blank to run it.
For those looking for the sound recorder, (”sndrec32″ in XP) it’s been renamed to “SoundRecorder.exe” and exists in the %systemroot%/Windows/System32 folder. I initially though Microsoft had left it out and even went as far as blogging on the subject, only to get an eggy face later when someone pointed it out to me.
I’m installing as much as I can on the RC; because I want Microsoft to receive as much telemetry as possible so that the RTM will be the very best that it can. You may have noticed that ther have already been several experimental updates via Windows Update. (Most of them for the 64-bit version.) – So the RC still has some way to go to be an RTM candidate by the look of things. To my mind the more I run on it, within reason,; whether it actually runs or not, the more Microsoft can diagnose prior to RTM, and hence maybe SP1 will be a bit smaller as a result? – Even if not I like to put it through its paces to some extent just to see if I can push the boundaries and find out more about it.
Holy crap: This is meant to be a comment, not a blog post. I’d better end here.
This is nice post to read on. We were thinking about switching to Windows 7 but were were not sure if we were going to do it or not.
This article really helped us to go on over the edge. Thanks alot I think we will be installing it this week.
I wonder how long it will be before everybody realizes Windows 7 is just a rebagged Vista. They toned down User Account Control and changed the taskbar for Windows 7. Should have just been a service pack to Vista users
Windows 7 is not a “rebagged Vista”, as you put it. You’re only looking at the surface. The kernel is different and improved. App threading (including gaming) is notably better. Driver support is notably better. The OS is stable and solid, and it’s what’s internal to the OS that really makes the difference.
After reading your articles on Windows 7 RC, I decided to download it and will burn it to a disc when it’s finished. But I’m going to try and set it up in VirtualBox as that’s where I have Windows XP, especially since I’m using Ubuntu on a regular basis….
Thanks for all the information, Rich!
I got a 3.3 on my Acer Aspire 5110 laptop.
Now, I’m running 64-bit with 4.0 GB. Processor (AMD Turion 64 X2) is 5.3, memory is 6.1(!), graphics is 3.3, gaming graphics is 3.9 (1919 MB available graphics memory!?) and disk is 5.6.
I see in the detailed list it says that 128mb is dedicated to graphics, and that 1791 MB is available shared.
The install was on a new HD, one that I was expecting to install RTM on, but when a couple of files refused to get copied over for backup, I ran a chkdsk and went from 0 MB sectors bad to over a megabyte of sectors bad. I decided it was time to retire that drive.