Is it worth it for Vista users to upgrade to 7?

[Calum Veteran]

Vista seems really sluggish to me, XP just seemed faster. I will upgrade to 7, I just hope people who upgrade from Vista get a discount or something.

That's unfair because the only people I know of who had problems with Windows Vista was those people whose hardware wasn't up to scratch or wasn't even average.

[Brandon]

Just came off of using 7 beta for the past 5 months. It was fun, but after reinstalling Vista SP2 with a clean install, I don't notice much of a difference. Truthfully, only the Superbar...

And the Superbar isn't worth $100 to me.

[soumyasch]

Been using Windows Vista 32-bit SP1 and testing Windows 7 RC x64. While 7 is faster and does offer several compelling new features, I did run into reliability problems. Things are great while it lasts, but sometimes start behaving wildly - sound stops working (and when this happens, trying to play any media in WMP hangs it), window thumbnails stop popping up reliably, problems with ClickOnce deployed applications, WinForms (at least some controls) are slower than in Vista and others. Add to that with some backwards steps including removal of tag editor and navigation of videos by artists in WMP12. Most of these problems I would attribute to lack of maturity in driver and application ecosystem around Windows 7.

That I don't have any issues with Windows Vista SP1, I can wait a few months longer before I move to Windows 7 as my primary OS. Hopefully, that extra time will be enough to roll out a few reliability updates across the drivers, applications and the core OS itself to smooth out the initial turbulence.

[rakeshishere]

Vista SP2 is enough for my needs untill Windows 7 hits RTM. :)

[Thunderbuck]

Will I upgrade to 7 from Vista? Already have.

Using the RC on three "production" machines and my experience has been nearly flawless. Two of those machines are running demonstrably better than they were on Vista RC1 (the third was recently built and never had Vista--I suspect that what few issues I've had on that machine with Win7 wouldn't have been far off from what Vista would have done).

Windows 7 presents a compelling upgrade proposition for a few reasons. Calum's post nicely describes the UI enhancement of the SuperBar, and I second his sentiments. It is a nice improvement and helps make Aero Glass a genuine functional step up from Aero Basic. I would agree, though, that the SuperBar isn't a good reason to upgrade on its own.

First, I expect Windows 7 to be the first client where 64-bit will be in the majority. I don't know how it's breaking out with the downloads, but I think it's a safe bet that Microsoft and OEMs have agreed to limit the number of new machines with the 32-bit version. As 64-bit support spreads, a majority of Vista users will feel some pressure to upgrade, if only for the additional RAM support. While they could upgrade to Vista x64, my guess is most of those users will just go to Win7. The vast majority of systems built in the past three years will support x64, and I know I deliberately built and bought 64-bit-compatible systems just to keep them (relatively) future-proof.

Gamers on Vista (and there many more now than there were even a year ago) will upgrade because of the new memory model for graphics that no longer maintains a duplicate of the drawn windows in RAM. This is the reason why Vista grinds to a halt with too many windows open, and Win7 dispenses with it. Of course, gamers are pathological upgraders anyway...

Hardcore geeks and power users will like the new XP Mode. The integration features in the latest beta for VirtualPC are fantastic, and point the way to a new way to maintain legacy compatibility.

I liked Vista. It represented a significant shift in Windows archetecture with new subsystems like Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation. The only real problem with Vista was the way it conflicted with legacy hardware and software. In the past two years much more of the "ecosystem" has come to depend on WPF and WCF, and less dependent on legacy technology. Win7 is pretty much perfectly compatible with Vista on these counts.

[kiyoshi]

I would upgrate if it was FREE, i won't pay for another windows again, i'm fine with vista sp1 and sp2 will be great.

[Srugie Veteran]

I will definetly be upgrading to Windows 7.

[-KJ]

I'm sure if I tried Windows 7, I would have gone with a solid "Yes", but I haven't tried it yet and I'm not as excited over it as some of you are, so as it stands, "Not sure" is my answer.

I got Vista last year and didn't see what all the fuss was about. I guess all the kinks were rolled out of Vista by then? It works very well for me... aside from the forgetful folders that can't remember my view settings.

[brewman]

I've been using both Vista 64 sp1 (Legal) and Win7 64 RC (dual boot) for graphics/video apps.

On my main rig (E6750/8gb), any performance differences are slight at best. Definitely,

DOES NOT justify paying for the upgrade (Vista to Win7).

However, clean installs of Win7 RC on my older 2gb WinXP machines resulted in noticeable performance increases.

To answer the threads question ... "Is it worth it for VISTA users to upgrade to 7" ....

the answer for me is no.

Obviously, your poll results will be skewed considerably by the non-paying warez crowd.

[Lee G. Veteran]

I will definitely upgrade to Windows 7, and my experience with Vista has been great.

[Vice]

Maybe I'll upgrade to 7, my main issue isn't really Windows its the eco system surrounding it. NVIDIA drivers for example have never really been pro quality for me in Vista and nothing has changed with 7. I'm not ready to pay up for Windows 7 if NVIDIA can't even get their drivers sorted out.

[coresx]

I won't pay for it just to replace Vista. New computer is when I will upgrade and that isn't happening any time soon. I've never been one to upgrade the OS on the same hardware.

[Beau Bridges]

It is so much worth upgrading Vista to Seven, there UI is generally the same besides some noticeable tweaks and improvements. The performance is amazingly faster, you can run Seven on a net-book without a problem, not so much with Vista.

Try to dual boot the operating system and see what you like best - yet keep what you had before Windows Seven.

I would upgrate if it was FREE, i won't pay for another windows again, i'm fine with vista sp1 and sp2 will be great.

It is free for just about a year, then Windows will turn your computer off every 2 or so hours until it annoys the living hell out of you - therefore forcing you to buy the official release disk.

Download Windows 7 from the Microsoft Download Page and then burn the disk to a DVD or boot from a Flash Drive if you know how. Try it out, you'll like it and it's completely free.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I'm going to wait until they reveal the prices. I want to upgrade but actually upgrading will depend on the cost of Windows 7. I'm currently running Windows Vista Ultimate and, as you may already know, it wasn't cheap. Also, DirectX 11 support was a big reason for me to upgrade but I found out that it's going to be available for Windows Vista as well. Aside from the various performance improvements, UI tweaks, and superbar, I really don't see any other reason to upgrade.

[NEVER85]

Windows 7 is a hands down winner compared to Vista. There's no way I would think otherwise about it now.

After dealing with a Vista laptop tonight for 4 hours (just finished) - Yeah. Bring on Win7 already!

(In comparison, I also worked on an XP computer tonight, it was done 2 hours ago.)

I love having XP around, but with Win7 having XP-M in it, I get the best of both worlds now. (Y)

*facepalm* Just because you can't use Vista properly (if Vista is really the problem for that computer, taking 4 hours to fix it is downright laughable) doesn't mean it's a bad OS. It's still far and away better of an overall OS than XP ever was. I wonder if XP mode will also introduce XP's inherent failings at malware resilience to Windows 7. Hardly something many people would want, given XP can be credited (or blamed) for introducing most of the worst malware the world has ever seen to the consumer market.

That said, as soon as this resolution glitch I have with 7 is resolved, I'll upgrade to it.

[NEVER85]

It is so much worth upgrading Vista to Seven, there UI is generally the same besides some noticeable tweaks and improvements. The performance is amazingly faster, you can run Seven on a net-book without a problem, not so much with Vista.

The performance is "amazingly faster" on lower-end hardware. I have a decent machine and the pure performance difference between Vista SP2 and 7 RC on it is negligible. In fact, my hardware seems to get throttled by Windows 7. Every fan within the case goes nuts.

[way2quik]

I will not upgrade to Windows 7, I have tried and tested and am still using 7 RC.

I still have great experience with Vista.

[MistaT40]

I've had no problems with Vista at all. There are those rare times though, when it just seems to hang before it does something but like I previously said, Vista has been primo for me. Given that, I'm a sucker for a new OS and Windows 7 is the latest and therefore better. I'll be trying to get my hands on it.

[MagicAndre1981]

For Vista users, there is definitely NO need to upgrade. Vista performs great and the real new features of Win7 (DirectAccess, Brachcache, Bitlocker2Go) are not available to the Home Editions of Win7 and require a Windows Server 2008 R2 server to work.

If you are a XP user throw the XP disks away and move to NT6.x in the form of Win7, Vista users could stay with Vista :)

[Kralik]

I have a notebook and 7 offers improved battery life so I'll upgrade to full version once its released. Also it need less resources so I'll prob also upgrade my sis 1.7Ghz P4 from XP to windows 7 as well..

[soonerproud]

i am going to simply because its the newest OS

i tried the beta and didnt find it much faster than my vista sp2, but i didnt use it much and didnt have much stuff installed on it

I have to agree that 7 on a dual core and 2 gigs or more of RAM will see little to no performance increase. For me the upgrade is worth it simply because of all the polish and nice touches all over the place. When using Vista now, I almost feel about it the way I did XP when using it after Vista. It just seems dated and a little ugly to look at. The cleaner look, improved start menu search results, Aero Peek, the ability to size a window to half the screen with gesture instead of jumping through hoops and the improvements in Explorer are big factors in my decision to switch at RTM.

Then again, I haven't purchased the OS for my new system and am using the RC in the mean time to get me by so i don't have to purchase Windows twice.

Edited May 27, 2009 by soonerproud

[Bhav]

I probably will, just because I like new stuff lol

[soonerproud]

I'm going to say no, Windows 7 offers nothing that warrants spending >$200 on it if you've already got a system that works fine. Upgrade when you get a new computer.

A system builders copy is not $200. Vista HP is only $99 at the egg.

[fix-this!]

Vista SP1 is pretty high on performance. Vista is patched and performs. So why would I move to Windows 7?

I wouldn?t. Windows 7 just does not offer enough new features or any compelling reason for me to spend a hefty sum on an upgrade.

is this a serious question? YES move to 7 but don't EVER upgrade, do a fresh clean install.

[soonerproud]

Any reason why? Or are you still caught up in the Windows-7-UAC-is-unsafe nonsense?

It is not like it is hard to turn the slider up if he/she is worried about the default UAC setting. That is the first thing I do after initial installation of programs, drivers and changing the Windows setting to my taste on a new install.