bass_man1989
Active Member
Alright, so I said I would do it and here it is. I installed 7 a few days ago on my main laptop to give it a try. So you know what I'm using this is everything I have:
HP Pavilion DV9700t
Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.5GHz
4GB of RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8600m GS
64 bit version of Windows 7, most recent build.
The rest is standard laptop stuff. So here are my impressions...
-Install
I had to do a fresh install since I'm using XP. I have a dual hard drive setup so formatting was only a matter of selecting the correct drive. Since I wanted to keep XP on my other drive I simply selected the empty one. It ran a quick loading bar and it was all said and done. Quick reboot and it did the actual install which was really very fast. Another reboot and I was looking at the desktop. Right away it was telling me to update, so I did. While the updates were running I worked my way to the hardware manager to install my video drivers (wireless networking was already there.) Turns out the updates were actually installing my missing drivers, sound and all the other odds and ends. Another reboot and everything was there. According to the hardware manager I'm missing three items, just my multi-card reader and I'm too lazy to install it. The whole process probably only took about 40min to an hour.
-Interface
At first 7 looks just like Vista but a little shinier. The Aero interface is replaced by a glass type interface. Personally I think it looks a little nicer than Vista. The taskbar and tops of windows are always transparent and very pleasing visually. My biggest complaint with Windows 7 from the beginning was the dock-style taskbar, or "superbar" as they're calling it. I tried using it as is, I really did. One of my main complaints was using "Aero Peek" to switch windows. If you don't know what Aero Peek is, let me explain. When you highlight a window on the taskbar it shows a preview (or multiple previews if you have more than one window open) of the running program, much like Vista. Unlike Vista though, you can move your cursor over the preview to show only that window, and then click on it to select it. Unfortunatly I found that the only way to switch windows of the same program are through Aero Peek, you can probably imagine that being somewhat of a pain for chat programs such as the Steam chat. I actually found Steam chat to be a nightmareish experience. You can also pin items to the taskbar. This simply allows an icon to be a launcher and a manager. Some people may enjoy the dock, but for those of you that don't, you have options. If you go to taskbar properties you can select "never combine" and the taskbar will behave just like a Windows taskbar should (still has the Aero Peek but it's ignorable.) The windows on the taskbar are now the same except they can be arranged (drag and drop) and they have a different color highlight depending on the program. For example Firefox shows up as orange and AVG as green when you highlight the taskbar button for the window.
-Start Menu
The start menu is exactly the same as Vista but with the glass appearance. It has a search function that works very well. Pretty standard stuff actually.
-Windows Explorer
One of the main things keeping me glued to XP is Windows explorer. I've always liked the way everything was organized when I clicked on My Computer. Windows 7 has a similar explorer to Vista but it appears a little more clean. The left shows Favorites, My Computer, Libraries (the new My Documents), Workgroup, and Network. (I think this is the right order, I'm on my XP partition now.) The top of the window now has your stuff such as a hardware manager and it's pretty convient. I still like the XP explorer better but I think this will do.
-Games
My game testing was limited since most of my games are through Steam and I don't have the disks. I selected Left 4 Dead to test (hour and a half download.) On my machine with XP L4D runs smoothly on all medium settings with textures (I believe) oh high and at 1024x786. I set L4D to the same settings on my Windows 7 install. The game was more than playable but definatly more choppy compared to XP. I did notice that it launched faster and the loading times were much shorter, though. I never played Left 4 Dead on my laptop when I had Vista installed, but compared to my other Vista game experiences, 7 was better. Now I'm not saying 7 is lightyears ahead of Vista in the gaming department, but it still is in Beta so I'll start complaining if it's still choppy on the final release.
-Final thoughts
I was not initially expecting to like Windows 7 from the beginning but I have to say it quickly changed my mind. Being able to make the taskbar behave like I think it should was a big plus. For still being in beta, I think 7 shows a lot of promise, it treated me better than Vista ever did. I think (and it's been said before) that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. I really hope this beta is a sign of things to come.
*If there's anything else anyone wants to know just leave a comment. My hard drive size is limited so I probably won't keep 7 on here much longer.
HP Pavilion DV9700t
Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2.5GHz
4GB of RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8600m GS
64 bit version of Windows 7, most recent build.
The rest is standard laptop stuff. So here are my impressions...
-Install
I had to do a fresh install since I'm using XP. I have a dual hard drive setup so formatting was only a matter of selecting the correct drive. Since I wanted to keep XP on my other drive I simply selected the empty one. It ran a quick loading bar and it was all said and done. Quick reboot and it did the actual install which was really very fast. Another reboot and I was looking at the desktop. Right away it was telling me to update, so I did. While the updates were running I worked my way to the hardware manager to install my video drivers (wireless networking was already there.) Turns out the updates were actually installing my missing drivers, sound and all the other odds and ends. Another reboot and everything was there. According to the hardware manager I'm missing three items, just my multi-card reader and I'm too lazy to install it. The whole process probably only took about 40min to an hour.
-Interface
At first 7 looks just like Vista but a little shinier. The Aero interface is replaced by a glass type interface. Personally I think it looks a little nicer than Vista. The taskbar and tops of windows are always transparent and very pleasing visually. My biggest complaint with Windows 7 from the beginning was the dock-style taskbar, or "superbar" as they're calling it. I tried using it as is, I really did. One of my main complaints was using "Aero Peek" to switch windows. If you don't know what Aero Peek is, let me explain. When you highlight a window on the taskbar it shows a preview (or multiple previews if you have more than one window open) of the running program, much like Vista. Unlike Vista though, you can move your cursor over the preview to show only that window, and then click on it to select it. Unfortunatly I found that the only way to switch windows of the same program are through Aero Peek, you can probably imagine that being somewhat of a pain for chat programs such as the Steam chat. I actually found Steam chat to be a nightmareish experience. You can also pin items to the taskbar. This simply allows an icon to be a launcher and a manager. Some people may enjoy the dock, but for those of you that don't, you have options. If you go to taskbar properties you can select "never combine" and the taskbar will behave just like a Windows taskbar should (still has the Aero Peek but it's ignorable.) The windows on the taskbar are now the same except they can be arranged (drag and drop) and they have a different color highlight depending on the program. For example Firefox shows up as orange and AVG as green when you highlight the taskbar button for the window.
-Start Menu
The start menu is exactly the same as Vista but with the glass appearance. It has a search function that works very well. Pretty standard stuff actually.
-Windows Explorer
One of the main things keeping me glued to XP is Windows explorer. I've always liked the way everything was organized when I clicked on My Computer. Windows 7 has a similar explorer to Vista but it appears a little more clean. The left shows Favorites, My Computer, Libraries (the new My Documents), Workgroup, and Network. (I think this is the right order, I'm on my XP partition now.) The top of the window now has your stuff such as a hardware manager and it's pretty convient. I still like the XP explorer better but I think this will do.
-Games
My game testing was limited since most of my games are through Steam and I don't have the disks. I selected Left 4 Dead to test (hour and a half download.) On my machine with XP L4D runs smoothly on all medium settings with textures (I believe) oh high and at 1024x786. I set L4D to the same settings on my Windows 7 install. The game was more than playable but definatly more choppy compared to XP. I did notice that it launched faster and the loading times were much shorter, though. I never played Left 4 Dead on my laptop when I had Vista installed, but compared to my other Vista game experiences, 7 was better. Now I'm not saying 7 is lightyears ahead of Vista in the gaming department, but it still is in Beta so I'll start complaining if it's still choppy on the final release.
-Final thoughts
I was not initially expecting to like Windows 7 from the beginning but I have to say it quickly changed my mind. Being able to make the taskbar behave like I think it should was a big plus. For still being in beta, I think 7 shows a lot of promise, it treated me better than Vista ever did. I think (and it's been said before) that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. I really hope this beta is a sign of things to come.
*If there's anything else anyone wants to know just leave a comment. My hard drive size is limited so I probably won't keep 7 on here much longer.
