Vista vs Windows 7 - Help me decide

I have Vista Business on my laptop and am pretty happy. I installed Windows 7 on my wife's laptop two days ago and am contemplating whether i should move to Windows 7 as well.

My initial impression of the new taskbar was average. I like having control over swiching Windows and like the thinner Window Vista taskbar. I was able to enable windows having a tab on the taskbar but the thicker taskbar with windows seems odd.

Overall Windows 7 seems more fluffu compared to Vista which seems more serious.

Speedwise I did not find a significant improvement. Boot-up seems around 10-15% faster but once logged in things appear a bit more sluggish. I guess this coule be because I am used to my comp having slightly better specs than my wife's but they are not much different.

What are other user's impression of Windows 7 in these three regard?

 

It really depends on how much it will cost ya.

 

It's really whatever you prefer. If you prefer Vista, stay with Vista, if you prefer 7, get 7.

You could always set up a dual boot like I have or set up a virtual machine, using VMware or something like that.

 

2nd that. Depends on what you prefer. Had Vista and always enjoyed it very much...When I switched to Win7..Woah...finding it fantastically awesome, and have had very few problems since install.


Cin...

 

Did you change to use small icons on the taskbar? That will make the taskbar significantly thinner. I can't remember how thick the taskbar was with Vista, probably was a difference but I don't notice any longer.

 

In Vista it's about two thirds as tall. But the main difference is that while Windows 7 has the hard edge, it is a lot more soft in Vista, and it makes the bar look more rounded.

 

The thickness of the taskbar bothered me as well, but as deeastman stated there's a fix for that. What really got me was the grouping of the icons. I hated having to address each application as a group even when I had multiple windows open.

 

if your task bar is such an issue thats not a problem

right click task bar> properties> use small icons

>taskbar buttons>never combine

TADAH vista looking windows 7..

Windows 7 is more solid when it comes to gaming for me World in conflict crashes in vista but in 7 doesnt, and plugging in USBs and installing hardware is MUCH MUCH FASTER AND FLEXIBLE than vista, that really got me.

everything is much more snappier and accessible and your background can change every now and then.

Also transfer of data goes way way way faster in 7 than vista, how could you not afford to upgrade to 7

 

..........

 

I saved a screen image of Vista before I installed Windows 7. When I compare the size of the taskbars side by side at the same magnification I really can't see enough of a difference that it was noticble to me once I used small icons.

 

Windows 7 gives the icon a larger area around it that is clickable, making it easier to hit.



Here is an example. I'm using small icons for the taskbar.

 

Also took the plunge and installed 7 on my laptop. Am pretty happy so far.

I guessed i missed the option to "Use small icons" which helped. Only annoying things now is I have to click two buttons to open a window. Right click and select "Open new window". Previously with the quick launch was only one. Minor thing i have to get used to unless someone has a sugestion.

 

Windows 7 is the same as Vista Business.

If Vista works for you I see no reason to waste time, effort (protentially money) to get Win7 to run as it offers no benefits.

And 10 seconds gained during startup wont change your life.

 

I prefer to dual boot Vista and W7.

 

This. Or a virtual machine.

 

I can't pinpoint why, But for me there is a noticeable better user experience when using Win7 vs the feel of Vista. And I was pretty happy with Vista.

You might not need Win7, But is also not a loss if you get it. Your good eithier way. That being said I recommend Win7.

 

Make mine Se7en, primarily due to the inclusion of jumplist and quicker file transfers.

 

Simple reason.

Companies just didn't think it was necessary to write drivers for Vista...
Then it was sold on outdated hardware and got a bad reputation.

Windows7 - essentially the same - gets marketed as a new OS... this time companies still didn't invest a lot of time time into drivers, but the Vista ones work.

 

I like Win 7 while gaming and Vista while doing other stuff as 7 has been backfiring to me lately with stupid problems.

 

Why on earth would you do that?

 

Vista for a nice looking stable OS.
Win7 for a horrible looking OS with good performance.

 

I'll give MS props for making the install/upgrade process very simple in Win7. I upgraded my Sony laptop from Vista and everything went fine. My initial impression is that Win7 is lighter on its feet than Vista, noticeably faster in most file operations and in launching applications. That being said, you might find a better way to spend $120 if you've tweaked up your Vista and are happy with it. I have Vista 64 on a desktop and it is rock solid and fast, so the old rule applies that you don't upgrade if everything is working fine. I expect though that people with older hardware will be happier with Win7.

But for my small office network, I'll keep XP Pro until the bitter end. For my business applications, neither Vista nor Win7 offer any additional functionality over XP so why pay MS for 5 licenses when all I get is a prettier GUI. Heck, I'm still using Office 2000 Pro. One good thing about software is that it never wears out.

 

And hardware upgrades are less frequent with older software because nothing has changed.

NT4sp6a + Office 97 until an upgrade was forced by wanting to run a portrait display. Now running Windows 2000