New PC - Windows 7

[Leaky Waders]

No complaints with Win 7. Just wish I had it on all of my computers not just one.

 

[krzywica]

So, I bit the bullet and I've gone and ordered a new PC for my family to use. Our old PC isn't that old, but I just had to rebuild it after random acts of randomness kicked in with Vista.

The current PC is decent enough, but kind of weak. It's also a HP, which I've had horrible luck with and don't consider as a manufacturer I trust at all.

So, a new Dell is coming. Their new 8300 with an I7 processor (3.4Ghz) and 8GB of RAM.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-8300/pd?oc=dxdkms3&model_id=xps-8300

I'm super concerned about it having Windows 7 on it. I've got a lapto at work (HP again) which has Windows 7, and it's given me nothing but issues. Also, a Toshiba laptop at home with Windows 7 which I had to reload within a month of getting it due to software issues/BSOD.

I'm hopeful that with Dell I am starting with a far more stable and robust platform to work from, but am terrified of Windows and the significant headaches which Microsoft has introduced since releasing Vista, and continuing with Windows 7.

Have others found to be W7 and improvement over XP, or am I just having a run of extremely lousy luck?

Note: No gaming on these machines. Web surfing, photo editing, maybe some video editing work, and watching streaming content from time to time.

I use Windows 7 on 3 machines myself and have installed it on at least 20 machines and I have yet to have anywhere near the number of issues that I have had with ANY previous Windows OS. In fact most of the time I can do a fresh install in less than an hour.

For prebuilt PC's I only use Dell and have been very happy with the quality of the machines. This is everything from their basic machines all the way up to Precision Workstations and Servers.

I try to stay away from HP, Toshiba and especially Sony. They always seem to be the ones that I am fixing for people or are generally unstable.

As you have had issues none of this will probably make you feel better about the issues you have had. I will also say that most of these are in an office environment. When it comes to my friend's and family's personal machines they always seem to be able to screw up even the most stable machine.

Brand loyalty is a very gray area in the OEM PC sector. Foxconn makes the motherboards for Dell, Apple, and many other name brand OEM's, where as Asus makes a lot of the boards for HP, and a few others.

Now for your W7 question. I have had nothing but good experiences with Windows 7 so far, its leagues better than Vista in many many ways even though they share the same kernel version (Windows 7 is just a kernel revision of Vista). I run it on 4 machines at home 2 of which get very heavy usage and one of which is my workstation that gets extreme usage and I do not have any issues with stability or functionality whatsoever.

I hope for your sake your luck changes.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Windows 7 is a new OS much better with vista, but some applications are not compatible with windows 7.

This post is absolutely useless.
If you need to pad - do it here:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49318

 

[pzaur]

Windows 7 is a new OS much better with vista, but some applications are not compatible with windows 7.

...and wrong. Every program which can be run on XP, Vista, 2000 can be run on Windows 7. Someone just needs to learn how to use the Compatibility Mode properly.

-pat

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

...and wrong. Every program which can be run on XP, Vista, 2000 can be run on Windows 7. Someone just needs to learn how to use the Compatibility Mode properly.

-pat

+1
and If compatibility mode fails, there is always XP mode (free)

 

[Nemo128]

It could be a P.I.C.N.I.C error. Those are about the most prevalent error I have seen out there through the years. It doesn't matter what M$ does to the code base, they can't seem to squash that particular problem.

PICNIC aka PEBCAK, agreed. Biggest problem with the Windows community, especially when 80% (or more) of the computer-using world is running Windows.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

PICNIC aka PEBCAK, agreed. Biggest problem with the Windows community, especially when 80% (or more) of the computer-using world is running Windows.

Are you suggesting it's issue with ID-TEN-TEE ?

 

[Nemo128]

Are you suggesting it's issue with ID-TEN-TEE ?

You are correct sir!

 

[pzaur]

I just looked those up. Nice!

-pat

 

[krzywica]

+1
and If compatibility mode fails, there is always XP mode (free)

Yup XPM is a godsend for legacy applications, you do however have to have certain versions of 7 to run it. I think it Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional versions only last I checked.

 

[woofersus]

Are you suggesting it's issue with ID-TEN-TEE ?

Or the infamous IQ85 exception...

Seriously though, I spent a few years repairing computers for a living. It's true that most viruses and malware are the fault of users who don't know the difference between browser windows saying "you have a gazillion threats, click here to make everything alright!!!" and an actual windows notification, like updates for example. (it always baffled me how people could faithfully ignore all windows updates for years on end but still manage to install something bad voluntarily) However, some amount of user ignorance has to be assumed and planned for. To that end, Windows Vista and 7 are significantly more secure than XP. You do need to install MS Security Essentials, which if it were any other company would be preinstalled, but Microsoft is everybody's favorite antitrust target.

Both Windows Vista and 7 are totally stable at this point barring harmful software, bad drivers, or hardware problems. An occasional BSOD was to be expected and accepted during the Win9x era, (much like Android phones today) but you should NOT have random weirdness with either of those OSes on your HP laptop after a fresh installation. If you do, either some HP-installed bloatware is causing a conflict, you need to download newer drivers for all your hardware, (the stuff on manufacturer-supplied disks is frequently woefully out of date) or there is a hardware problem causing gradual data corruption.

 

[Hi Ho]

I did some work on an HP laptop the other day. It was running Windows 7 but it was running quite sluggishly. The cause? Bloated A/V software (Norton) and a TON of crapware installed by HP including the "TouchSmart" bar thing at the top (it doesn't even have a touch screen). All of that crap was loading at every boot and using lots of CPU cycles and memory.

Why do manufacturers do this? Do they want consumers to think that this is how a PC is? I believe that many peoples view of PC's would be very different if they all came with a 100% clean Windows installation without all of the crap "enhancements" that manufacturers add.

Microsoft is finally doing this with their Microsoft Stores. A "Signature PC" from a Microsoft store has no crapware, exactly the way they should all be. Microsoft should really crack down on the practice of loading up PC's with bloatware.

This issue is just one of the reasons I build my own machines.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I did some work on an HP laptop the other day. It was running Windows 7 but it was running quite sluggishly. The cause? Bloated A/V software (Norton) and a TON of crapware installed by HP including the "TouchSmart" bar thing at the top (it doesn't even have a touch screen). All of that crap was loading at every boot and using lots of CPU cycles and memory.

Why do manufacturers do this? Do they want consumers to think that this is how a PC is? I believe that many peoples view of PC's would be very different if they all came with a 100% clean Windows installation without all of the crap "enhancements" that manufacturers add.

Microsoft is finally doing this with their Microsoft Stores. A "Signature PC" from a Microsoft store has no crapware, exactly the way they should all be. Microsoft should really crack down on the practice of loading up PC's with bloatware.

This issue is just one of the reasons I build my own machines.

I agree 100% with above, expect one problem - you can't build your own laptop and they have same bloatware issues like desktops.

 

[Hi Ho]

I agree 100% with above, expect one problem - you can't build your own laptop and they have same bloatware issues like desktops.

True, but you can do a fresh install of Windows with any Windows disc (of the same version) using the key that came with the laptop. That's what I do.

Or you can buy a laptop from the Microsoft Store. They don't have the biggest selection in the world though.