Windows 7 Worth The Upgrade?

[Dashuu 11]

Would it be wrong for me to point out that Windows 7 is already cracked and released in the torrent community? In a month or two I'm sure it'll be as stable as any other cracked windows release, if it's not already.

[JonasV 9]

I think I'll count my $40 for a legit copy as a win. Anyone with a valid .edu e-mail from a participating institution can get the student rate of $30 + $12 for the disk.

The company doing the student retail version borked the extractor and M$ didn't include an iso image anyway so now you have to do a workaround to create one. M$ paranoia in trying to protect the iso and spiting everyone who bought it as a student = epic win.

[+Henry Spencer 117]

So is it even worth it? I know I won't be updating my desktop for a long time, and idk if Bootcamp works with Windows 7 yet.

[JonasV 9]

The version was retail so yeah, if they had given us the iso and not made us fricken work this hard to make a bootable disk.

[ePsoN 47]

Any idea if Europe gets this discount? My brother is in a university and has an .edu e-mail.

Give me a link where you got your copy

[JonasV 9]

I know the UK does. Not certain as to the rest of Europe.

[Robertos 0]

Would it be wrong for me to point out that Windows 7 is already cracked and released in the torrent community?

Dont think so.

I use Windows 7 for 4 months now, and I like it. It's faster and more stable than XP or Vista. They say that Vista is probably more like, the ''beta'' of 7, because Vista just fails.

And I think I'll buy it, the legal way.

[ePsoN 47]

I know the UK does. Not certain as to the rest of Europe.

Give me link.

[Mana 3,867]

I've been using Server 2008 (legit) instead of Vista (Pre-Win 7). The code for Vista and that got forked during development and the server team was clearly more competent. Also it had the option to install all the Vista "pretties" so... Eventually (SP1?) they merged the server code for Vista but by then it was too late.

[JonasV 9]

I'm liking 64bit Pro. Only thing that doesn't have decent drivers atm is my Via HD Audio chipset, so I'll probably be stuck with the Windows standard ones for a few weeks. Sound is OK but is having issues with multiple audio streams. I just like having all my memory back and Win7 does a better job of multithreading.

[Oww My Nose 19]

so i just saw this. it seems pretty useful. link to the app link to where i saw it

[Graedus 9]

Is really the only 64 bit "con" finding 64 bit compatible versions/drivers? How hard is that for the majority of things anyway?

[Super Sean 1]

Is really the only 64 bit "con" finding 64 bit compatible versions/drivers? How hard is that for the majority of things anyway?

Most of the drivers I have aren't even 64 bit. I wish they were though; my computer would probably run better.

[Mana 3,867]

Is really the only 64 bit "con" finding 64 bit compatible versions/drivers? How hard is that for the majority of things anyway?

Easy. I have a Pentium 4 (this means old) here somewhere with 64bit support. Both Vista and Windows 7 had all the drivers automatically installed for it during setup. Same for every other PC that I have in the house.

I'm sure there are people with certain special configurations which won't get drivers automatically installed on setup. But even my main PC with all sorts of parts from multiple video cards, TV tuners, sound card, and so on had all the hardware installed correctly. If the part you're using isn't super old then chances are you can get a 64bit driver.

The only annoyence caused by 64bit for me was a missing ethernet driver back when Windowx XP x64 first came out. I just had to use a different PC to download the driver from www.realtek.com.tw/.

Most of the drivers I have aren't even 64 bit. I wish they were though; my computer would probably run better.

Then you must be running a 32 bit OS because 32 bit drivers are not compatible with a 64bit OS. They won't install and even if you somehow forced them to install... the 32bit Dynamic Link Libraries (.dll) can not be linked with 64bit programs, they are incompatible. Just like how a 32bit .exe can not link with a 64bit .dll.

Try to install a 64bit 90 day trial of Windows 7 Enterprise to test hardware compatibility.

PS: You can use that .iso to install any other version of Windows 7. So if your disc copy doesn't wanna boot or something, just use this one. Oh you need to delete ei.cfg from the .iso for that to work.

[Super Sean 1]

Then you must be running a 32 bit OS because 32 bit drivers are not compatible with a 64bit OS. They won't install and even if you somehow forced them to install... the 32bit Dynamic Link Libraries (.dll) can not be linked with 64bit programs, they are incompatible. Just like how a 32bit .exe can not link with a 64bit .dll.

Try to install a 64bit 90 day trial of Windows 7 Enterprise to test hardware compatibility.

PS: You can use that .iso to install any other version of Windows 7. So if your disc copy doesn't wanna boot or something, just use this one. Oh you need to delete ei.cfg from the .iso for that to work.

Oh, I have XP Pro 64-bit. It runs 32-bit software, well, for the most part. Although some 32-bit software won't run. I can't think of which ones, but I know a few haven't.

And I'm downloading that trail right now. I'll just partition it so I can be like, "Oh my! This is awesome, dawg!"

Edited October 26, 2009 by Super Sean

[Graedus 9]

Thanks, Mana. I was able to piece together the pros of 32 vs 64 but never really understood the cons (if any).

On an amusing side note, I tried that Windows 7 Compatibility program and the only thing it had a problem with was my video card (EVGA 8800 GTS) which supposedly can't handle the awesomeness of Aero. Yeah right.

I'm not planning on getting 7 until I start my new build and that won't be for a few more months now that I got my current PC working again.

[JonasV 9]

I have an eVGA 260 and it said the same thing. Aero works just fine.

As a side note I have had very few problems with Win7 so far. Most notable, when I run some games at less than my desktop res they start windowed and it's kind of a pain to pop them to full screen. Still no new VIA HD Audio drivers, and AMD Overdrive does not work in Win7.

So yeah all pretty minor, nothing to worry about IMO.