How good is windows 7 please?

My laptop with Windows 7 worked really well - until it fowled up - it now works really well with Linux.
My pc with Vista works really well and continues to do so and it's a oem version.

Lucky you! - one of the main reasons why my wife's laptop got upgraded to W7 is that Vista fouled up - and my wife agrees that it now runs much better on W7 than it did on Vista.

Overall, and with the exception of my netbook (but I think that's a hardware issue with the disk) all my W7 installations work better than the laptop with Vista and my previous XP installations on laptops and desktops.

I have a 32bit with service pack 3. Will I need more Ram when installing 7?

My old machine ran XP, the new laptop is Windows 7. The only major problem I've come across is the information from my Epsom printer does'nt seem to appear on Windows 7 so I no idea what the ink levels etc are.Minor problem but annoying.

Can I suggest that you visit somewhere like PC World, tell them what you want the machine for and hopefully they can advise you which of their range might be suitable.

To answer the question in your topic title, Windows 7 is very good, millions of desktop PC's & laptops around the world are using it, but I think you've asked the wrong question. What you really need to know is what hardware you need to run Windows 7 or 8 for your specific requirements.

My suggestion, fastest 64 bit CPU you can afford, as much RAM as you need (8Gb minimum), modern graphics card that is supported by modern CPU intensive software that can take advantage of the processing capability of the graphics card, 2 x 2Tb RAID mirrored HDD backed up to external 2Tb USB3 drive (preferably 2 or more), built-in card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, USB3 ports, DVD writer.

Couple of caveats to the above:
XP & W7 32bit can only address around (IIRC) 3.65 GB, so anymore than 4GB is wasted, and I would certainly advise upgrading to at least 4GB ( but 64bit can work in up to a lot more.).

If you do have less than 4GB, then a memory upgrade is complicated by the following factors:
a)w many memory slots the motherboard has (probably 2 or 4),
b) what type of memory module is already fitted (Probably, I suspect, "DDR2" if the machine has been running XP for some time - which means you can only upgrade with DDR2 modules, not the faster DDR 3, or others),
c)the maximum memory that the motherboard can take and
d)the number of such modules already fitted (could be anything from 1 to 4 existing modules, depending on the number of slots available and the modules that are fitted).

If you have it, the motherboard manual should give you info on a), b) and c), and the answer to d) may mean opening the case to take a look, although there are some diagnostic packages which will tell you.

Things to remember:
If all the memory slots are already full, then you will need to remove some of the old ones and replace with new higher capacity ones, and always do that in pairs because:
d) As far as possible the new and old modules should be exactly the same types and speeds
e) Memory modules run at the speed of the slowest one fitted, so adding a faster one to an existing one will add memory but not speed.
f) mismatched modules may not actually work with each other and you would gain nothing.

BTW, provided you can access the memory slots easily, then actually changing DDR2 memory modules is also very easy, and there are lots of visual guides on the net on how to do it if you don't already know.

Just ensure you take your time and some "antistatic" (ESD) precautions, such as touching the metal of the case of the PC before you touch the modules (and the PC should be switched off at the wall, but the mains plug should be left in the socket to provide a earth path for any ESD energy).

Not really any caveats. My post clearly indicates that a 32-bit os should be okay with 2Gb (max 4Gb ram on a W7 32-bit os). W7 64-bit will not normally run higher than 8Gb ram. The theoretical maximum ram in a W8 64-bit is, I believe, 512Gb ram, but since none of us here are planning deep-space missions into parallel universes, then we won't need that much ram!!

TBH: if the system Louise is currently running is that "old" and becoming expensive to upgrade the individual components, she might be cheaper to buy a desktop unit. These can be bought seperately, as well as part of a system. I recently bought a Compaq 2930EA tower for around £300. Only drawback is that it's upgradeability is somewhat limited (CPU soldered to the board, only one port for the DVD drive, 2 mounts for the ram, no pci-express bus. That said, I'm upgrading my old HP desktop, which now has a 64-bit os (the old mobo was config'ed to 32-bit), I've got a blu-ray writer and a dvd writer on board, 8Gb ram, an Nvidia graphics card, plus I'm in the process of adding a 4-port usb 2.0 card, and a 4-port usb 3.0 card. Currently, I have 2Tb (2 x 1Tb) HDD on board, plus a tv capture card installed.

All this is very well, but it should be clear that the OP does not have more than a very basic knowledge of computing. Following this increasingly esoteric advice would likely be a total disaster.

Even the suggestions of what is basically "needed" are way over the top, when what is really needed here is just about any commonly available laptop or desktop machine.

It isn't even necessary to upgrade Windows XP....

John

The guidance given by various people so far does vary in complexity, I grant that, but the OP is not a position to easily take her machine to somewhere to get the work done - and a lot of the guidance has been about how to determine what hardware she actually has and whether it does need upgrading, but not necessarily doing that herself

The memory spec is commonly available TODAY, but any machine running XP is probably a few years old and may well only have 2GB.

As for it not being necessary to upgrade XP, please remember that part of the original post was about Microsoft withdrawing support for XP in the relatively near future - and that will leave any "XP" machines more vulnerable to "intrusions" and the like.

Finally, and it has to be said, (and I am sure I will have some supporters on this point!), if you don't much about a subject then one of the best ways to learn about it is to have a go at it yourself and see how you get on. That's how I and many others started with computers and its just as true about those as it is about photography - just sticking your head in the sand and trying to get someone else to do it for you can lead you to spending a lot of time and money (and don't WE know the latter) but not getting very far.


John

John - agreed - if AuraTodd is happy with the performance of the machine and can run all the software she needs/wants to do, then leaving well alone is a great strategy.


Andrew

Hmm all I'll add to this is my favourite motto

If a thing ain't broke DON'T fix it

Works for computers as well as cameras

My only comment is that my primary machine is a 10-year-old Dell mini-tower, still on Windows XP, and with only 1 GB of RAM!

I admit that it is slow at times, but I can run Photoshop Elements and have just upgraded my wordprocessor from Word 2000 to MS Office 2007. That alone is enough to put me off upgrades - my productivity in creating documents has dropped badly because I find the way Word 2007 works is so different that I waste time hunting about trying to do something that was second-nature in Word 2000.

I dread having to move on from XP, but recognise that sooner or later I shall have to, after support is withdrawn next year. A colleague of my wife's, who is a museums professional, is still struggling to regain productivity since the department upgraded to Windows 7 or 8, and wishes she still had XP available.

If you are looking to purchase a PC / Laptop I suggest that you contact the following who will be happy to discuss your requirements and build a machine to your requiremants

I have recently spec'd and purchased a machine from them running W7 Home Premium (64bit) and 16GB of RAM. Adobe CS6 / Camera RAW are quite happy now having moved from XP.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

K7 and K5iiS

I'm thinking of upgrading from XP to windows 8, I have a Pentax *istD.
Went on microsoft windows 8 compatability web page, this iindicates that most pentax cameras are compatible with win 8 but specifically stated there was no data re Pentax *istD.
Is anyone able to advise as to whether or not I will have a problem with win 8 and my 10 year old *istD which still takes excellent photos.