Windows 7 User Report

I hope that all of you have had a happy holiday season, and now that 2009 is coming to a close, the hectic holiday pace has subsided and I can take a breather to post here again.

This post may seem a little late, since Windows 7 has been out for a couple of months, but I needed some time to use Windows 7 on a daily basis to see what problems I might encounter before expressing an opinion on it.

In October, I switched my primary work computer from Windows XP to Windows 7. I can report that the switch has been a positive one. While Windows 7 looks a lot like Windows Vista - it outperforms Vista in nearly all aspects. In fact, I find that my Thinkpad T60p is performing better on Windows 7 than it did on Windows XP. I have experienced very few application compatibility problems with Windows 7.

My experience with my work computer encouraged me to switch the OS on 2 of my home computers. First to change was my desktop computer that serves as my media center. I have run this computer on Windows XP Media Center, Windows Vista Home, and now Windows 7 Home. Once again, performance of the system on Windows 7 is much better than it was on Windows Vista, and performance is probably similar to when the computer was equipped with Windows XP.

Lastly, I changed a Toshiba laptop from Windows Vista to Windows 7, and again have seen an increase in performance and stability.

The key to a successful and satisfying transition to Windows 7 is the hardware. Each of the computers that I have transitioned to Windows 7 was initially built to specifications to support Windows Vista. You may encounter problems with drivers for peripherals. I have a scanner that I cannot use on the Windows 7 machines because there are no drivers available for it.

Based on my experience, I make the following recommendations:

If you are buying a new computer, have it loaded with Windows 7 unless you know that you have incompatible applications.
If you have older hardware running Windows XP, you may have problems with finding appropriate drivers for Windows 7, so it may not be worth the trouble to switch.
If you have a computer running Windows Vista, switch to Windows 7. I think you will be pleased with the improved performance and stability.

Happy New Year!