To Switch or Not To Switch?

[whitedragon551]

Ok I have Vista x64 Ultimate on my laptop. Ive been contemplating Win7 x64 Ultimate. Although Im not sure if the extras are worth the extra disc space. I cant really think of any of the Vista Ultimate extras that I use. Ive also read that the only real improvement is more Mac like eye candy. I do a fair bit of gaming on my laptop. I havent dabbled with Win7 yet, but I do like some of the new looks. Ive been considering running a dual boot with Fedora or Ubuntu and Vista Ultimate. I havent decided on what to run. I also use my laptop for college.
Current specs are as follows:

Asus M50SV-A1
1440x900 WXGA Native Resolution
3Gbs Ram
Seagate Momentus 5400.4RPM HD 8Mb Cache
NVIDIA 9500GS 512Mb GPU
Realtek HD Audio Card

I also have a built in mic, webcam, and fingerprint scanner. Im concerned my laptop manufacturer doesnt have Win 7 x64 drivers.

Im also concerned that my most common software and games wont work.

This is where my question comes in. Is it worth it to switch to Win7 or should I just keep Vista and dual boot with a flavor of linux?

[lodore]

check out the feature tables at winsupersite.
work out if you would use any features in windows 7 ultimate. im sure you could get away with pro which would save you alot of money.

all the programs you use on windows vista 64bit should work the same on windows 7. you can even use windows vista drivers on windows 7. sometimes you may need to right click on the installer and select run as and in the drop down menu select vista.

even if you do get windows 7 still do a dualboot. its fun trying new operating systems.

HTH

[whitedragon551]

I have made the switch over to Win 7 x64 Pro. I am still configuring things. I am having troubles with my firewall though.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Hard to answer because we don't know what you use the rig for.

I'd lean towards Windows 7 because it's lighter than Vista, and on your rig with only 3 gigs of RAM and a slower 5,400rpm drive..I'd want a lighter OS.

What version..such as Pro or Home or Ultimate or whatever, you should compare the differences and see if any are important to YOU.

As to what *nix distro to run, again..that's up to what features each has and which YOU like better. Very easy to test drive a few and see which work best for YOU, simply download a live CD of each and test drive them.

[whitedragon551]

I did go with Windows 7 Pro x64. Now Im stuck on which distro to use. Ive had bad experiences with Ubuntu on my HP laptop and the wireless card. However I wont be installing it on that laptop. I will be using my gaming laptop. I take it to school with me every Tuesday and Thursday for the majority of the day. Outside of school I primarily use Windows for gaming.

[chrisretusn]

If I was going to dual boot and planned on sticking with Windows I'd go with Win 7 Pro and Linix.

[xandros]

win 7 premium

[whitedragon551]

-{ Quote: "win 7 premium" }-

Not a choice. Please read the thread and post an informed post. Dont just spew useless garbage.

[Montecristo]

Windows 7 Ultimate for me because of the ability to work in multiple languages. That is a very useful feature for me even with the higher product cost.

[bigc73542]

Running XP Pro and still satisfied for now. I have Win 7 but haven't installed it yet. But as to the question of the poll I think the best choice for the average user would be Win 7 x64 Pro

bigc

[Mrkvonic]

-{ Quote: "If I was going to dual boot and planned on sticking with Windows I'd go with Win 7 Pro and Linix." }-

Second that, if you gonna dual boot, go for Windows and a flavor of Linux ...
Mrk