Winodws 7 upgrade - is it worthed?

[Turaj]

A few months back I had to get a new laptop, At the time I did not pay much attention to the operating software (my mistake) and the new PC arrived with Windows 7 - Home Premium edition. Since then I have found out a few of my programs (mainly my accounting) and certain setup (my printer server) do not work with W7 (for now I have found work around solutions as my wife PC is on XP). I have been told that if I upgrade to W7 - Professional, then I can run XP mode to deal with my older software / equipments.

So the question: does the upgrade worth the $100? Does it work? or am I going to end up upgrading other software and equipments anyway? I have asked both Microsoft and Dell and did not get any clear answers.

Many thanks for all the help

[phrog]

Turaj, I have exavctly the same situation. According to Microsoft's website, the CPU has to be capable of virtualization in order to run the XP Mode. When I checked on Intel's website, I found that my CPU is not capable of virtualization. Therefore, the reason I wanted the PRO edition was not going to help me. Maybe some of the gurus out there can speak to this.

My CPU is the Intel P6100, 2.2 GHz. I found that many CPUs are not capable of virtualization.

PS: I don't have a clue what virtualization in the CPU means. I'm only repeating what I have read.

[Turaj]

Hmm, good point! I will check that out. In case it makes it clear, my processor is Intel Core i7, 2630 QM running at 2GHz. 8 GB of RAM and 64 bit operating system.

I still don't understand why Windows 7 is not backward compatible

[LinuxRandal]

I still don't understand why Windows 7 is not backward compatible

One word, SECURITY. (in multiple meanings)
They are working on eliminating legacy code, which have security/bug (ease of viruses etc), issues.

And Job security. If you just had old software that worked, fewer people would respend money to upgrade.
I still have an old 400 megahertz system, that runs Suse 9.0 as a server that I send files to burn to backup. Probably going to get rid of it soon, only due to wanting to clean out the computer room. It still works fine.

[sailor55330]

I too have run into a few backwards compatible issues. I work on XP daily and the home laptop has 7. 7 is supposed to have a lot of features and be designed for intuitive use, however, I have found that while there are similiarites, Microsoft seems to have changed things just enough that 7 is not intuitive when used to working on XP. My brother-in-law is in the IT field and he absolutely hates having to switch between the two for that very reason.

[Stytooner]

I have a win 7 64 bit with some older software installed in XP mode. If it didn't install correctly in 7, I reinstalled in Virtual PC mode. It is included in higher end versions of 7.
My computer is i7 2600K running at 5 ghz and has 16 GB ram and a 60 GB SSD.
While it works in XP mode pretty well, it too requires it's own software for security like antivirus. I finally knuckled under and upgraded my most used software, so don't really use XP mode any longer.
There is a video at Microsoft showing how easy it is to setup Virtual PC.

[Ed62]

I have a win 7 64 bit with some older software installed in XP mode. If it didn't install correctly in 7, I reinstalled in Virtual PC mode. It is included in higher end versions of 7.
My computer is i7 2600K running at 5 ghz and has 16 GB ram and a 60 GB SSD.
While it works in XP mode pretty well, it too requires it's own software for security like antivirus. I finally knuckled under and upgraded my most used software, so don't really use XP mode any longer.
There is a video at Microsoft showing how easy it is to setup Virtual PC.

OK, I'm a dummy when it comes to computers. What's an SSD?

Ed

[steve-norrell]

I agree with Lee and did pretty much what he did - - got software upgrades that run on Win7. I did try the XP virtual mode for awhile and didn't like it at all. It was a memory hog, seemed slow, and, IMO, didn't work all that well.

WinXP was a good operating system, but IMO Win7 is much better. My spouse has kept XP on her computer and it is becoming a real PITA to keep it running.

Win7 Professional (you might want to look at Microsoft "anytime upgrade options") has a service that allows you to select a compatibility mode that includes WinXP. Right click on the application and then click on the "Compatibility" tab. That works sometimes and might work for you.

Regards and good luck, Steve

[steve-norrell]

OK, I'm a dummy when it comes to computers. What's an SSD?

Ed

A SSD is a solid state drive -- very, very fast. However, as of yet they do not have the capacity of disc drives and are considerably more costly. That said, I lust for one, or two, or three . . . . .

Steve.

[Ed62]

Aha! Thanks for educating me. It's about time for a new computer before long, and I'm trying to do my homework now.

Ed

[phrog]

Turaj, if I understand this correctly, your CPU is not capable of the virtualization technology either. Look at this link:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...tml?proc=52219

Please let me know if you find out differently. Thanks.
Richard

[jziegler]

Turaj, if I understand this correctly, your CPU is not capable of the virtualization technology either. Look at this link:

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...tml?proc=52219

Please let me know if you find out differently. Thanks.
Richard

I'm not sure that page lists the right technology. The virtualization it mentions is for I/O (VT-d). VT-x is the technology for XP mode, and I think that all core i-series processors support it. Intel's website seems to confirm this (see the link below).

Intel has a CPU ID utility that will tell you.

http://ark.intel.com/VTList.aspx

[Cochese]

7 is light years better than XP, even though XP was very good. I have XP VM, and I hardly ever use it. Much rather have a backup XP machine.

As for SSDs, these are not meant for storage in price, size, or lifespan. Put your storage on platters, your system drives on SSD.

[Stytooner]

My mother board is setup to only use the SSD as a cache. I have a 2TB disc sata HD that everything is loaded into.
I really needed a system like this to get the most out of my CAD software. It is PDQ now.

[BigguyZ]

Why would SSD have lifespan issues? I'd imagine they'd be a lot more reliable than disc drives.... Personally, I'd like to have/ build a new computer, and use an SSD for the system, and two RAID drives to make sure I don't loose anything.