Win 7 starter edition users please give feedback

I am looking to buy a new machine for my young son. We currently have a Dell Studio 15 running VISTA at home. Apart from the short battery life I don't have many complaints against Dell and might go again to them.

This time I am considering the Inspiron Mini 10 but I have no clue about Win 7 , let alone its starter edition. The machine has just 1 GB RAM. So my question-

1) How is Win 7 Starter edition performance in your netbooks? Assuming a full featured Win 7 Home premium on a 4 GB RAM machine is 100, where will u rank starter - 80, 60, 50?

Another question which doesn't really belong here but will ask anyway - is netbooks a good choice for a growing son (he is just 10 now and plays simple online games, some music, emails)?

 

hi
cant really give you a % on the starter as running a gaming laptop with much higher spec but you can check out Tinderbox's post on the various window 7 versions HERE

 

I've used many Windows 7 starter netbooks side by side with netbooks running XP. The ones with W7 are just as fast from what I've seen. Most of the features of Windows 7 are still there, except for a few graphical features removed to improve performance.

A netbook is a great first computer, especially for such a young child! This way,
even if he breaks it, you're only out a few hundred dollars, instead of a thousand.
I would always recommend a netbook as a first computer.

 

I was reading this
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/05/29/let-s-talk-about-windows-7-starter.aspx

and this is what bugs me the most


Windows 7 Starter does not include:

Personalization features for changing desktop backgrounds, window colors, or sound schemes.

My son changes his desktop more than he changes his clothes

Lack of XP mode might break some of his old games but that's not that bad.

Thanks for the replies

 

Im not 100% sure but i think this may be referring to the ability to have an auto slideshow style background.

 

Nope. This literally means you cannot change the desktop wallpaper w/out installing various community made add-ons, or using utilities that some netbook makers include on their systems. It's ridiculous, but done to please various wireless companies selling subsidized netbooks on contract, because everyone enjoys seeing a huge "VERIZON WIRELESS" logo when they boot up! /sarcasm

As far as performance goes, I have my family on a XPS 400 upgraded to Windows 7 Professional on 1 GB of RAM with no issue, Aero effects (it does have dedicated graphics, but any integrated part in a netbook now will run Aero just fine) and all.

 

Forget the Mini10 and Windows 7 starter. You are way better off finding a Acer 1410 with a full Windows 7. The dual core even at 1.2 GHz and GMA 4500 will more than suffice. This alows net, youtube and hulu with no issues.

XP mode is not for any type of 3d gaming, so don't sweat that either..........

 

QFT.

I'd also like to point out that Windows 7 Starter is an EXTREMELY crippled Windows 7. The inability to even change your desktop background would me off no end, and would probably do the same to your son. Hell, I even remember hearing that you can't have more than 3 programs open at any given time, although I can't confirm this.

Even connecting to wireless internet with security settings is more difficult in Starter, you actually have to manually add the network through Control Panel. What a pain.

EDIT: Also, from what I can remember of my friend's Mini 10, the build quality isn't great either. The plastic bezel around the screen even has little slivers of plastic from the mold that should be trimmed off.

 

Untrue, you can have more than three programs running at the same time, and there's only one way to connect to a wifi network even with security: From the networking icon in the notification area. Even attempting to add one via control panel pops up the list in the notification area instead.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/view-available-networks

 

The three program thing was abolished early by Microsoft as it was just too limiting. I can't speak for other limitations but I'll agree the no desktop background change is a deal breaker for me as well.

 

Well, my network set up actually does make it harder to connect to, as it doesn't recognize it's security by default. Not that Ultimate does either, but it's a more painful process to set it up in Starter, as you have to go all through the Control Panel and manually add it.

The security set up is WPA2-Enterprise, with a certificate, and different credentials for each person who joins it. If a user wants to connect, they will need to have an account on the main server.