If you have been holding off buying a new computer, then Windows 7, the latest operating system (OS) from Microsoft, will give you a good excuse to buy one. Windows 7, or Win 7, is largely believed to be better than Microsoft’s previous OS Windows Vista and way more advanced than the last generation Windows XP. But is it really all that?
First impressions
While it is easy to get infatuated with a new design and swanky features, the viability of an OS is only determined when you begin using it eight hours a day. We used a preview copy of Win 7 for over 12 hours and we have to admit that we do prefer it over Vista because it’s more stable and did not crash out even once.
We installed Win 7 on a desktop with 1 GHz processor and 4GB of RAM. The OS took a little over 30 minutes to install on the PC that had Vista Home Basic edition (time to install could vary depending on hardware profile and existing OS on your PC). Decisively, Win 7 loads faster than Vista, which takes hours to install.
Win 7’s minimum hardware requirements are roughly similar to those of Vista Home Basics — both require a 1 GHz processor and 15-16GB of hard-drive space, although Win 7 demands a minimum of 1GB memory, while Vista Home Basics needs 512MB memory.
Let’s be honest here. Win 7 is both a sigh of relief and breath of fresh air, after Vista. Built with a renewed focus on performance and ease-of-use, Win 7 is poised to succeed where Vista couldn’t.
Why is it better than Windows Vista?
Haunted by sluggish performance issues, from playing games to complicated disk access programmes to poor networking features, Vista was undoubtedly Microsoft’s biggest failure. Win 7, by contrast, will run fine on most of the existing netbooks as well as older PCs.
Win 7 delivers a completely revamped user interface and some brand-new features designed to make organising and sharing your files easier. Simply put, the user gets much more than new wallpaper and a different colour taskbar.
The taskbar, in addition to showing the applications being used by the user, also hosts shortcuts to the most commonly used applications (say Word or Media Player). When the mouse pointer is moved over the taskbar shortcuts, the user can preview the application.
Unlike Vista, the re-designed user interface of Win 7 gives the user intuitive shortcuts like ability to maximise a window by dragging it to the top of the screen, minimise it by dragging it to the bottom, maximise to half the screen by dragging it to either edge, or (our favorite) minimising all opened windows by shaking the one you want to focus on.
Is it really more secure and easier than Windows XP?
In one word — yes, Win 7 is way more secure than Windows XP and a step ahead of Vista too. Even though it is eight years old, Windows XP still remains the world’s most widely used operating system and almost completely dominates the netbook market.
But Windows XP users have a lot more to gain by going to Win 7. Vista had introduced some great features, such as fast searches of the entire hard drive, which, of course, are present in Win 7 too. Such features will be quite an attraction for users who haven’t yet used them on their Windows XP machines.
All technical tirades aside, Win 7 is the back-to-basics operating system. Moving beyond the eye-candy features, Windows XP users can customise how the user account control functions, or how tray icons work to suit their needs. This was never there in Windows XP.
What type of PCs and laptopscan run Windows 7?
The basic requirements of a PC to run Win 7 are a 1 GHz processor, minimum 1GB of RAM and 16GB hard drive space. In simple words, any hardware that worked with Vista will work for Win 7 too.
Since Microsoft is targeting future generation of casual users who use computers for mainly emails, office documents, Internet and video among other things, Win 7 could be an ideal choice for future PCs.
HP India has started retailing Win 7-preloaded PCs at between Rs 27,990 and Rs 90,000, while Acer PCs with Win 7 OS will be priced at between Rs 15,000 and Rs 35,000. Acer notebooks with the new OS will be priced at Rs 21,000-70,000.
Should you get ready to pay for the upgrade?
That’s a million-dollar question, if you are a Windows XP user. Is it worth Rs 5,800, that a Windows XP users will pay to get the new features in Win 7? Probably yes, as a superior OS also means a more secure and functional PC. But this is not necessarily a must-have upgrade for all the existing Windows XP users.
Although those users who will be upgrading from Vista will find it easier (and cheaper) to adopt Win 7, those who are migrating from Windows XP might need to completely wipe their hard drives and re-install their applications.
What you pay and what you get
* Windows 7 Starter (via OEM only): Up to three concurrent applications, ability to join a Home Group, improved taskbar and JumpLists.
* Windows 7 Home Basic: For Rs 5,899, users get unlimited applications, live thumbnail previews that enhance visual experience and advanced networking support.
* Windows 7 Home Premium: For Rs 6,799, you get Aero Glass and advanced windows navigation, improved media format support, enhanced Windows Media Centre and media streaming, and also multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition.
* Windows 7 Professional: For Rs 11,199, users can join a managed network with the Domain Join feature, protect data with advanced network backup and encrypting file system and print to the right printer at home or facilitate intuitive printing with Location Aware Printing option.
* Windows 7 Ultimate (worldwide): For Rs 11,799, it is meant for advanced users who want to protect data using the BitLocker feature on internal and external drives, deploy DirectAccess for seamless connectivity over corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2.
WHAT’S NEW WITH WINDOWS 7
# In Win 7, when you hover over a taskbar icon, you get actual previews that are placed side by side. In simple words, it offers the ability to snap a window to half your screen size simply by dragging it to the left or right of the screen
# Has a cool new feature with which users can drag windows to each side of the screen and they automatically size themselves so that each takes up half the screen
# User Account Control in Win 7 gives users easy control options without complicating the process like Windows Vista
# Win 7 replaces the taskbar context menu with a useful list of frequently used documents and tasks, and even allows you to pin documents or shortcuts to the menu
# Windows Explorer gets a facelift in Win 7. Some minor changes like while browsing between various tabs, you will now see a sliding windows effect, a nice visual effect
# Once you have installed the OS, the first thing you will notice is the faster shutdown and boot. Even the time taken by the machine to enter and come out of the sleep mode is less than Vista and XP
# For those who love to open an array of windows while working, the new Aero Peek feature in Win 7 lets you preview individual windows from the grouped taskbar applications, and even close documents from the thumbnails themselves. Aero Peek becomes a handy tool for users who like to multi-task
It is nice to see that Microsoft is learning from other operating systems. All these new win 7 features were there for many years, in the world of Mac and Linux, with decent security, for sure! If it was not for the MS Office, many would not have even thought about using Windows.
"That's a million-dollar question, if you are a Windows XP user"
"Is it worth Rs 5,800, that a Windows XP users will pay to get the new features in Win 7?"
Million Dollars = Rs. 5800?
Nice writing, Priyanka - If you are in the 8th std. Buy a copy of Strunk and White.
Vista was not at all the worst OS Microsoft put out. Everyone says that because the first like 6 months of the release was a little buggy. My installation regularly has uptimes of around 10 days with no decrease in performance. The worst OS they ever put out was Windows ME. Ask any IT guy.
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