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I'm helping a friend who's new to computers. She wants to buy a new desktop. I have a question about new OS's that are on the cusp of being released to the mass public, as it pertains to buying a new computer with the paramount goal of the OS operating at top notch effieciency:
All of us know that if you buy a computer today it comes pre-loaded from a factory in China with Vista already installed on it. I don't know what that pre-load circumstance is called. I'll wait for someone to come along and tell us what the proper geek terminology is for that specific circumstance. For now I'll just call that condition 'pre-loaded.'
With the same scenario in mind, if you buy a computer today in September 2009, Windows will let you 'upgrade' to Windows 7 (upgrade online without the CD I think) when Windows releases it to the public in late October 2009.
I've overhead snippets of conversation where people claim that if you do an online upgrade that that type of OS installation is vastly or somewhat inferior to an OS that comes pre-loaded straight from the factory. Is that fact, or fiction? Cause my friend was wondering if she should hold her horses and wait until next month to buy a computer that comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 as opposed to buying one today with Windows Vista. Advantages? Disadvantages? Your thoughts, please.
The license that ships with pre built computers is called OEM, it is pre-loaded, so that's as good a term as any. As far as the upgrade being inferior, Microsoft has a long history of their upgrade process going to crap in a handbasket on occasion, I have been recommending my customers to wait until October for new purchases. You also have to keep in mind that not all versions of Vista qualify for the free upgrade to Windows 7.
Windows 7 is what Vista should have been imo - I would just wait until you can buy a Widows computer with 7 pre-loaded rather than deal with Vista, then an install to 7. I'm not sure if the upgrade (if you qualify) won't require Vista to be in place first, so that would mean any future clean installs would require you install Vista and then 7 each time, or twice the work.
Wait for 7. Definitely. Vista has been nothing but problems. If you NEED a computer, go with the Dell Outlet and find one with XP on it, and be prepared to wipe it clean and buy Windows 7 when it comes out, because there is no upgrade path from XP to Windows 7.
I would wait just because it is the new windows. That said I have two computers with Vista and no problerms at all. I like it better than XP that I had on several computers.
Wait for 7. Definitely. Vista has been nothing but problems. If you NEED a computer, go with the Dell Outlet and find one with XP on it, and be prepared to wipe it clean and buy Windows 7 when it comes out, because there is no upgrade path from XP to Windows 7.
Not entirely true,Much of Vista's bad rap is due to OEM's like Sony and HP loading their computers up with bloatware which causes the system to run poorly or lock up, but Vista gets the blame for the problems.
Not entirely true,Much of Vista's bad rap is due to OEM's like Sony and HP loading their computers up with bloatware which causes the system to run poorly or lock up, but Vista gets the blame for the problems.
And which they will no doubt continue to do with Windows 7 and possibly make it worse by pre-installing crapware on it that's not quite 100% Windows 7 compatible. If that happens, someone might actually be better off with a computer with Vista. I would personally wait until PCs are coming with pre-installed with Windows 7 with an actual Windows 7 DVD in the box. Dell still ships actual Windows DVD's instead of crippling you with a "restore" DVD set which reloads all the crapware you're trying to get away from. Once you have a license and DVD for Windows 7, you'll be able to wipe it out and reload just Windows if needed, resulting in a much cleaner and more stable system.
BTW, I've been running the final Windows 7 for a couple of weeks now and really like it. The new taskbar is nice but since it's different, there's a few quirks and I'm sure some people will freak out and long for the old style. Stability has been great (just like every NT based Windows I've used) and it's definitely quicker than Vista was but it is hard to compare a brand new install to a 2.5 year old one.
MS spent much more time working with third parties for W7 - something it didn't do with Vista, which was one of the huge problems with Vista and things like missing drivers, OEM bloatware or not.
MS spent much more time working with third parties for W7 - something it didn't do with Vista, which was one of the huge problems with Vista and things like missing drivers, OEM bloatware or not.
Well the driver model didn't change with Windows 7 so it can use most Vista drivers. Vista didn't have the luxury of being able to use the previous OS's drivers so of course there were a lot more issues.
The gist is, MS didn't put in the level of QA it should have when it released Vista, and the net is a failed OS that required a whole new marketing campaign and OS name after spending millions in a futile effort to get people to buy Vista.
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