Three practical advantages of Windows 7

[bkoop]

My PC with Windows XP (32 bit) was destroyed when my Antec SmartPower 2.0 500 Watt Power Supply failed. Since I only have used Windows XP, I would like to know three useful features of Windows 7 (64 bit) besides the ability to address more memory. Old PC had 2GB and the new PC has 8GB. I am not interested in Microsoft marketing says, but what real people say about Windows 7. I have an HP Laserjet 1012, that is quite old, but still fine for my needs and concerned about support for that.

 

[bwrlane]

For me:

1. Aero snap. I find the ability to make a window fill half the screen, all of it or the full height of it by dragging it in a particular way genuinely productivity enhancing.

2. Search. I almost never start an app by clicking on it. Just press the windows key and type the first two letters of the program and it launches.

3. It's just better and nicer to use than xp. Much more robust and less error prone, feels faster and looks better, and doesn't fall over as often.

4. Much better at managing networks and connectivity.

Ok that's 4. Personally I really like W7.

The OS is important, but the thing that will transform the whole experience with your computer is getting an SSD.

 

[rdc85]

First memory 4+ Gb will benefit only if u chose 64 bit version of windows.......

The benefit

1. Directx 11.
2. As secure, stable, lightweight as XP (most apps works fine, driver are plenty now)
3. Look good and had many good tool with Aero, resource monitor, etc... (windows update much better than Xp one)
4. As Bwelane said it had better support for SSD, and u can feel when transfer data (move / copy) is much faster than XP even on normal HDD

w7 -64 bit is my recommended OS ....

edit: about the printer, I cannot said for sure but I had old HP deskjet 930c... it works fine using generic windows 7 driver ( I'm also once tried using vista driver, it works too... )

 

[Pinhedd]

My PC with Windows XP (32 bit) was destroyed when my Antec SmartPower 2.0 500 Watt Power Supply failed. Since I only have used Windows XP, I would like to know three useful features of Windows 7 (64 bit) besides the ability to address more memory. Old PC had 2GB and the new PC has 8GB. I am not interested in Microsoft marketing says, but what real people say about Windows 7. I have an HP Laserjet 1012, that is quite old, but still fine for my needs and concerned about support for that.

Windows 7 is drastically different than Windows XP, so much so that it's hard to list all the advantages. I'll try to list the "practical" ones

1. Better application support. Microsoft overhauled tons of APIs when they switched from XP to Vista. Windows 7 is a very refined version of Windows Vista, Windows 8 is a further refined version of Windows 7. Almost everything that ran on Windows XP will run on Windows 7 without much of a fuss.

2. Better stability. Many of the core system components have been moved away from native code which is hard to lock down and onto the MSIL (.NET) runtime environment. This means that Windows components play nicely together in a way that no prior operating system has ever done. Additionally, many of the drivers have been moved out of the kernel and into the user space, plugging in a buggy device will no longer cause the system to crash. There's also some very thorough native driver support for older devices.

3. Better user experience. Aero, nuff said.

If you want, you can try Windows 7 for 30 days before having to make a purchase decision. Just grab whatever installation disk you want from the link below and install it with an empty product key

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/3316.2-1-microsoft-windows-7-official-iso-download-links-digital-river.aspx

 

[rdc85]

Wkwk it much more elaborated ....

I just wanna add, 32 bit apps run perfectly at win 64bit OS, in my experience....

(I found 64bit version apps run more bugy than 32bit one, strange. maybe because it modified from 32bit apps not new build)

 

[13thmonkey]

much better USB support too imo XP had usb bolted onto it, and hence was a bit ropey.

snap is wonderful, really miss it on works xp machine.

 

[bkoop]

Best answer selected by bkoop.