My Dell Inspiron mini 10v originally came preloaded with Windows XP Home Edition back when I bought it in August 2009. Shortly after that I ditched it for Windows 7 RC Build 7100. And it ran great. No problems or issues to speak of.
However I was also very well aware that the RC expires in March 2010, which is less than three months from now.
I was faced with a dilemma. Do I..
- Buy a license of Windows 7 Home Premium? (This would cost $105 at the time of this writing.)
- "Degrade" back to Windows XP?
- Switch to Linux?
What I tried to do first was switch to Linux. I tried several flavors including Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 and Linux Mint. All ran wonderfully as netbooks "like" Linux a lot, however the issue was (of course) getting the wireless to work correctly. Some distributions will detect wi-fi cards with no issues at all while others require more than just a little command line goodness. And, of course, the distros I actually liked were the ones with the wi-fi detecting issues on my particular netbook, so Linux was out.
Concerning Dell in particular, they do provide Linux drivers on the Resource CD that comes with the mini 10v. But the problem is that what’s provided may not be for the distribution you want.
Purchasing another license of Windows 7 was simply out of the question based on principle. The mini 10v cost just a tick over $300, and I simply cannot justify spending a third of the price of the netbook just for Win 7. It’s simply not worth it.
Ultimately I decided to go back to XP.
Is it usable? Yes, obviously it is. But there are certain drawbacks.
What you will miss by using XP instead of 7 on a netbook
Extra battery life
Windows 7 has more power scheme options. You can get very particular with 7 and the "Power Saver" scheme will get you almost a full hour of extra battery life on a netbook compared to XP. Microsoft put a ton of effort into this with 7, and it shows. The biggest deal with any laptop is to get the most out of the battery.
Per the mini 10v I have, Windows 7 easily achieved 6 hours battery life with the 6-cell battery. This is with wi-fi on and the monitor at medium brightness. XP at most can get slightly over 5 hours using the same settings. Big difference.
Better interface
XP’s interface is a dinosaur compared to 7. There aren’t any "breadcrumb" file paths in Explorer, nor are there any search capabilities for launching apps, nor are there any jump lists. There’s obviously more to 7 than that, but those are a few of the biggies.
I get around the lack of keystroke app launching by using Launchy in XP. As for the breadcrumb file paths in the Explorer, XP has none. There are utilities for XP to add in 7-like features, but that adds in unnecessary memory usage and I like to keep my OS as light as possible. In other words, I just deal with the XP interface mostly as-is.
Faster startup, shutdown, hibernate, standby
Windows 7 runs circles around XP per its starting up/shutting down/hibernate/standby. On a portable computer this is a very big deal. If you have the power button set to hibernate (such as I do), when you press it in 7 the screen immediately fades out and 7 is hibernated in seconds. On XP it takes much longer and is very noticeable.
What you will miss by using 7 instead of XP on a netbook
On the flip side of the coin there are certain advantages of using XP on a netbook compared to 7.
Full-screen text mode
Since Windows Vista, you cannot execute a full screen mode for non-GUI based apps. If you try to do it, you get this:
Since I am the nerdy type, I do periodically use the command line in Windows – and it irks me that Microsoft killed this functionality with OSes after XP.
And let’s not forget the fact a netbook has a very small screen. Full screen text mode makes the command line a whole lot easier to read.
Some proprietary OEM apps will not work
At present, 7 is still so new that several of the apps provided by the OEM simply will not work in 7 because they were designed for XP. On my mini 10v in particular, the webcam works in 7, but the app by Creative provided by Dell to get full functionality out of it doesn’t work at all.
This is not Microsoft’s fault but rather Dell’s. And this is not a Dell-only thing either. All the netbook OEMs are a bit slow on the draw when it comes to making 7-compatible apps across the board. We probably won’t see 100% Win 7 compatibility in netbooks until third-quarter 2010. All the hardware works great in 7, it’s the software to get the full functionality that’s the issue.
Basically put: If you want 100% of everything in your netbook to just plain work, buy one with XP. This is why OEMs are still bundling XP with new netbooks now.
Functionality (edition specific)
There are several netbooks being sold with Windows 7 "Starter Edition", however the limitations of that edition of Windows just plain suck. It’s so watered down that it’s not even worth using.
If you’re going to use Windows 7, use the Home Premium edition at bare minimum. Anything less than that is a complete waste of cash.
It is my opinion that Microsoft should have never released this, and only exists to force people to do a $75 "fast track" upgrade. This is so wrong in so many ways. When people say "Microsoft is evil", this is what they’re talking about.
Which is the better value on a netbook, XP or 7?
Windows XP. But how I came to this decision is different compared how most would think about it.
The two most expensive parts of a laptop are the battery and the monitor. LCD monitors hardly ever bust on laptops these days due to the fact they’re built much better compared to even as little as three years ago.
Being that Windows 7 does give you more battery life based on better software management, you could argue that the license cost is justified because it makes your battery last longer.
The issue however is that netbooks are designed to be disposable computers, evidenced by the fact none of them have any good resale value whatsoever because they’re sold so cheap new. This isn’t to say they aren’t built well (because they are), but the point is that you will never get the money back from installing Win 7 on a netbook. It does not increase the value of a netbook whatsoever, nor does it give you any absolutely-must-have functionality that 7 provides.
Windows 7 when examined strictly as a fiscal advantage only gives you better battery life on a netbook. That’s it. And by the time the battery is ready to be replaced, you most likely wouldn’t bother and just purchase another netbook given the fact they’re so cheap.
What type of netbook should you buy when the XP bundle ceases?
One with a bundled Linux. If Microsoft continues to offer the Starter Edition of 7 on netbooks, the true cost of the netbook will be the price + $75 for that ridiculous fast track upgrade.
Hopefully what will occur is that netbooks by mid-2010 will be offered with Win 7 Home Premium. In that scenario, the price of the unit is the total cost and is OK to buy. But with Starter Edition, I’d stay away from that like the plague and go with a bundled Linux instead.
XP may be old and antiquated, but as of now it’s still the best OS choice on a netbook, if for nothing else than it’s simply the better value.
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