Windows 7 versus xp SP3

[milesius]

I downgraded my laptop, 1 year old, from Vista to XP when I got it, and now that 7 is available I am wondering if it would be worth upgrading? Will I get any performance increase or reliability improvement?

 

[outlw6669]

Windows 7 is the future, Windows XP is dead.

TBH, I would probably use the restore disks and reinstall Vista.
With the latest service packs it really is a quite nice OS.

 

[RetiredChief]

Got a coin, flip it. From a performance issue, maybe a nickels worth of difference. I would give Win 7 the edge in stability, that is recovering from a wayword app.

XP may be dead, BUT it's a long time to burial.

Is it worth the cost to upgrade - ??? depends on if you need a feature. IE I have a 128 Gig SSD for laptop (#3), win 7 has trim, XP does Not. As far as applications go, Mine all run on either, I have none that requires Vista/Win 7.

If Money is tight, don't, if money is not a object and / or you need a funtion that is in Win 7 and Not XP - by all means get it.

Do not let the "Future vs dead" enter into it - When it becomes YOUR future - GET IT.

PS have 3 Laptops, 1 XP, one all three (Have a 3 HDD one with ea) and One Win 7 on SSD, Vista on HDD).

 

[outlw6669]

Vista can offer just about everything Win 7 can and you already have a free copy.
Just saying....

 

[RetiredChief]

Except Trim, Which is a biggy if you plan on using an SSD.

you have a valid point on "already have ME, opps mean Vista. If I had downgraded a laptop from vista to XP SP3 (I Have), I would have to look long and hard at reloading vista - Finding all the drivers. Just not that compelling. In my case it would be easier as I kept the Orignial HHD intact. Bought a new HDD and put XP on it Have not had a need to stick vista back in, from a performance, nor reliability standpoint.

 

[daship]

Is trim compatible with all SSD or just intel?

 

[outlw6669]

Not all SSD's and not all Intel drives either.
The Intel G2 drives along with Indilinx Barefoot drives have support for trim with the latest firmware.
I believe Samsung's latest controller has support also but am not 100% sure.

OCZ's Vertex SSD's also have a cool feature with FW 1.5, Trim + Garbage Collection support.
Garbage Collection is like a passive trim function that automatically frees up deleted blocks.
Basically the same thing as Trim but OS independent.

 

[milesius]

Outlw6669 I don't know why you like vista, but I already know that it sucks compared to XP or Win 7. SO, since that was not one of my options, I thank you for your time and effort.

RetiredChief I appreciate your response, and I agree with what you said BUT I was looking for some data or strong opinion that shows how one benefits the hardware over the other. I don't know what you mean by trim. I turn off all desktop enhancements that are not useful, and run in basic/classic appearance mode most of the time.

As far as compatibility, 7 seems to be 90% great for my applications. Only one or to apps might have trouble.