Is Windows 7 upgrade worth $50?

I just got a new laptop with vista 64-bit. I really like Vista.
But is it worth it to upgrade to 7?

 

Yes 10 char

 

Yes, 100%.

 

They say Win7 is the Vista that works.

 

Yes. It is worth it if you get Windows 7 at the promotional upgrade price. It packs a bunch of new stuff to make it worthwhile.

What I don't understand is how Apple is charging for Snow Leopard, which is just like a service pack. Windows 7 brings a ton of new features on the other hand, making it worth paying for.

 

It would be nice if someone would give a complete answer as to WHY it's worth it, instead of just a "yes".

 

It's worth $49.99 to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium.

 

VISTA is a Vista that works.. so that doesn't really sell me..

 

Just got the RC, testing it now, definitely going to get it even if for the slideshow desktops!

 

def worth it!!! I love Win 7 RC, can't wait for final product. I don't usually buy things right off, but I will Win 7 Home Premium x64 as soon as it's released, of get it off my Technet account

 

Vista is known for having issues with a lot of users. Win7 is an updated OS supposedly have fixed those issues. If you didn't have any problem with it, you do not need to upgrade. It's completely up to you.

 

Man I'm wondering the same thing. I wasn't going to upgrade from XP but for $50 I'm not sure anymore. Still trying to weigh the benefits of 7 over XP. Aside from the nice new gui I'm not really sure.

 

Ihave a bunch of vista machines about 4 will I need to pay 50 each? Also will I need a physical disc or can I just download it and will I need to do a fresh install and loose all my other stuff on my machine?

 

Yes. 1 per.

 

aslo all of my machines are 1 year old so do I get the 50 dollar price?

 

Yes. You can get the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $50/license.

EDIT: Actually, you can only get up to 3 licenses at that price according to Microsoft. The promotion ends July 11th, or until they run out of "supply", whichever comes first.

 

Dude you serious? Win7 versus a 10 year old buggy OS? I guess you like how it can help you set up a dial connection lol (joke)

So if I ever have to reinstall WIn7 on this computer will it give me a problem or can I reinstall as much as I want?

 

As long as you don't change the hardware too much (such as replacing the motherboard) you'll be fine with re-installations. You might have to install Vista or XP and then perform an upgrade to Windows 7 though, which could be a pain. So take care of your machine!

 

Win XP is probably more beneficial for older systems. Also, we don't really know "yet" if Win7 would fail as VISTA did. It's definitely a case to worry.

 

I don't know if XP can be classified as more beneficial for older machines, unless you have a really old one that maxes out at 512 MB of memory for example.

In my opinion, Windows 7 should not fail as Vista did since it essentially uses the same guts (although it's efficiency has been heavily improved). Vista suffered because hardware manufacturers were late in providing reliable drivers for Vista's new hardware driver model. Granted, Microsoft's own drivers had some trouble in the beginning, but NVidia was just as bad. Since Windows 7 uses the same driver model, and now that manufacturers have had 3-4 years to improve upon their products for Vista, there should be much less headaches.

 

well, not counting netbooks


but people shouldn't be like "Vista sucks!" when they're using an IBM aptiva

 

What's the real difference between Windows 7 home premium and Windows 7 professional? Is going with pro worth the xtra 50 bucks?

 

Not unless you are a business user

 

Home Premium will be sufficient for most users at home.

 

yeah as long as you use another program to backup stuff you're fine

 

What about this "running xp programs" thingy?

 

business programs

 

If your happy with Vista I see no reason to upgrade to 7, I have used the beta for awhile, and it has a few improvments but nothing that will really change the OS for me, just a new taskbar is the thing that will effect me the most.

But $50 for a new OS is not much so its worth it if you want to upgrade.

I'll stay on Vista for my laptop as I do not have working video drivers in Win 7, but will probably move onto 7 for my desktop.

 

to sabricaze: why do you want to pay money for updating such old systems anyways? win7 doesn't run that nice on such old systems anyways (mainly because the hdd sucks, too). if it's worth buying a win7 licence, it's worth buying a new pc (as you won't get the upgrade for those systems for 50$ anyways, and a new one will have the os with it, and more ram for the apps too).


else, yes, as vicious said. i stay with vista, win7 has no gains for me. i will try it out for the media center once, to see if there are improvements. but i doubt that it will warant the switch to the new taskbar..

 

What are you talking about? Might want to re-read the discussion...

 

At least there are only 3 "main" retail versions of Windows. The features between Home, Pro, and Ultimate are very similar. The majority of users will want Home. Those that need business domain tools will want Pro. And Ultimate is a complete waste of money unless you desperately need Bitlocker for some reason.

Vista had the most ridiculous SKUs by far! Talk about convoluted and confusing!

 

might have missread/missinterpreted your statements. you talked a lot about old computers, somehow i thought you ment if it's worth upgrading to them, and somehow thought you ment yes.. i guess i'm wrong?

 

I think that for those who are happy running Vista on their machines, the best thing to do is play the "Wait and see" game. Doubtless the Windows 7 one year from RTM will be smoother and more mature than the day of release, so there is nothing to be lost by waiting a while and seeing how others react to using it.

 

Yeah letting others test the waters first is always a good idea unless your wanting to do it yourself.

Vista had a few reasons to jump in early, as it was a requirement for DX10 gaming, but Win 7 is not bringing anything new to the table IMO that requires an upgrade.

Once SSD is more mature and cheaper in price I think TRIM is supposed to be Win 7 exclusive, that will be my first real incentive to upgrade. Though I am going to go ahead and get one of those $50 upgrade disks while they are on sale for pre-order. As a reviewer I sort of have to get things for the sake of what I do.

 

How long it MS going to support Vista for? I am ok with Vista on my laptop. I also don't see anything that Win 7 would do for me.

 

Slated for April 2012 where the support ends. But I would not hold my breath since MS is known to "extend" Support Cycles way beyond the drop dead date

XP is still "alive" until 2014.

Ditto - Happy with Vista, stay with Vista.

cheers ...

 

that would be funny if vista ended before xp did

 

A very funny scenario indeed. Wondering how MS gonna survive that

cheers ...

 

I agree that's it is not worth it unless you have Vista Home Basic today and are interested in the Windows DVR functionality, in which case $50 is probably what you would have paid for upgrading to Vista Home Premium so then it's worth it.

 

i went for it but not for the functionality, but for the efficiency. I've never played with w7 so i'm talking out my ___ right now... it's just what i've read in reviews, how w7 is better in that regard. I also have the upgrade bug

 

I'm very happy with vista (Home Basic, in fact). I have had none of the issues that make others despise it. It works.

That being said, I still preordered W7HP. $50 is a steal. I might not even install it for a while. I have vista set up exactly as I want it. I do like that W7 is lighter and the requirements are less than vista.

 

Windows 7 is based off of the same kernel code that Vista uses, just more efficient so why hold up using Windows 7?

And I agree that Home Basic is quite good, if you don't care for Aero or Media Center.There are free app's that replace those quite well anyway .

 

Yeah Aero and media center are definitely unnecessary for me.
I'll probably install 7 when I get it. I was just thinking about all the tweaks I've done to vista to make it work better for me. If 7 functions similarly I'd have no problems doing the same tweaks.

 

don't you need to have Vista Home Premium in order to do the $50 upgrade to W7 Home premium? I'm like 90% certain of this...

 

I would get Windows 7 $50 upgrade, thing is that I can't get it cause I'm the Philippines (please correct me if I'm wrong), since I want the efficiency and functionality of 7 to replace this aging Windows XP.

 

Windows 7 will be supported longer then Vista so yes it's very much worth it.

 

i live in australia so i cant 'get it' here in australia...

i just ordered it from amazon.com and got it sent to a friend in the US so thats a way to do it...

@sublime...
you can upgrade to any version of 7 from any version of 2000/xp/vista

you will have to do a clean install if you go from 2000/xp/lesser version of vista and/or going from 32bit to 64bit or visa versa...

so if you want to go from vista ultimate to w7 home premium it will have to be clean but if its vista home premium to w7 home premium or better etc etc...

hope i helped

cheers
mtarm1

 

No. To do an in-place upgrade you must follow the Microsoft guide; all other upgrades are clean installations using the upgrade media.

 

Vista home basic or vista home premium gives you W7 home premium. Plus I ran the windows 7 advisory program and it said I could do an in place upgrade. I'll still be clean installing though.

 

0) Because the UAC is less intrusive

1) Because it's a little faster than XP, which was a LOT faster than Vista

2) They seem to have fixed some of the Windows Explorer annoyances

3) It auto-downloads the latest drivers for any attached hardware.