Windows 7: Impressions

I downloaded the Windows 7 release candidate and loaded it up on my 6 year old laptop, just to see if it would work. My plan was that if it didn’t work I would either reload the Windows Vista Ultimate that seemed to work okay, or just replace Windows all together with Ubuntu Linux.

Installation was very quick. Right around 20 minutes after inserting the disc, I had Windows 7 up and running on this very old laptop (which is what I am using to write this post as I am not home with my desktop.)

After playing around with it for a few days, I have some general opinions about it; a few pros and cons.

PROS:

• Windows 7 boots up to the login screen in less than 30 seconds. This is much faster than any other operating system I have ever worked on.
• The system, for the most part, runs well with just a Pentium 4 and 1 gig of RAM.
• The whole system is very Vista-like (which I love) yet very different at the same time.
• It is very intuitive to work with. While Vista had a bit of a learning curve attached to using it, 7 just seems to be logical in it’s placement of information, buttons, etc. Now, this could be because I am used to working with Vista, so it’s easier for me, but it just feels like a very cohesive, intelligent and logical system.

CONS:

• While 7 does run well, I have yet to get it to recognize that there is actually a sound card in this computer, so I have no sound what-so-ever. It won’t even load a generic driver just to give me beeps or anything.
• It took me several tries to get the proper driver for the video card. I still cannot play even Solitaire on this computer because 7 tells me it doesn’t support the card. So I cannot play movies or games on this system. This is probably due to the age of the computer more than anything, but come on, I can’t play Solitaire?
• As stated earlier, it takes less than 30 seconds to load to the login screen, but it takes a further 2 minutes once you log in for the system to finally settle down enough to open a program and start using it.
• For some reason, every time I try to use an SD card in the media slot, it completely locks-up the computer, something that never happened with XP or Vista. So far, this is the only thing that has caused any kind of lock ups or freezes on the computer. And each time, I have to hard crash it in order to get it up and running again. Hopefully this will not be an issue when 7 is released retail.

This last item can be a pro or a con depending on who the individual person is: The funky, psychedelic comic-like backgrounds!

Was someone on drugs when these were approved? Some of them are so out there and have so much in them that I was getting headaches. I use a simple waterfall background now.

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give Windows 7 a solid 7, especially as I am operating it on a very old computer.