My Impressions on Windows 7
With Windows 7 RC1 being released to the public soon (not just developers) I thought I’d write a little something about my impressions of Windows 7 since I’ve been using it.
A few months ago Windows 7 build 7000 came out, I signed up for the beta and downloaded it. I figured I’d give it a shot. I had been using Windows XP on my MacBook Pro for a bit and I wasn’t really into Vista much so I decided, what the hell. I installed the 32-bit version on my computer (I know my laptop is 64-bit but there’s a weird issue with installing 64-bit windows on this version of the MBP, can be fixed but didn’t know at the time) and began using it.
The first thing I noticed was the look and feel of the OS. It’s very aesthetically pleasing; much nicer than XP and a small step up from Vista. I noticed that the taskbar at the bottom was now like the dock in OS X, programs show up there when running (icon only) and you can “pin” the icon there permanently for later use; also, if you mouse over the icon you get a small snapshot of the window or program running, clever. Windows 7 ups the graphics a bit in some visual effects which drastically challenges your graphics card at times, but of course the effects can be disabled; however, I only noticed this issue with it when attempting to run Windows 7 in Parallels (note to self, don’t try again).
Another thing I noticed about 7 is that it’s fairly speedy and responsive. After installing my MBP drivers on the system the computer runs very nicely; no hiccups, no glitches, no lockups, very solid. I began testing some small duties on it after a bit: typing, searching, surfing, etc. I have yet to install and heavy programs like Premiere Pro or Photoshop yet, but that’s only because I don’t need to…I use Mac OS for that. The main use of my Windows install is for Steam. I installed steam and Left 4 Dead (among other games) and the games play fine. I have had only one lockup playing Left 4 Dead and I don’t think t was a Windows issue. The game loads FAST so I have no complaints about that.
I’ve also been using the latest Windows Media Player on it; another program which I used to avoid at all times. The new WMP is pretty nice; it plays what I want it to play, and it looks better. I even like how it organizes your music when loaded up with album art.
One surprising thing I was very happy to find was when I was repairing my girlfriend’s Sansa View media player. In Windows XP you can load it up like a regular drive, or using windows media player, it only gives the option to open or play, thats really about it. I was shocked to see that when I plugged the player into Windows 7 it gave me a window with the correct product, the ability to update the firmware, sync pics music and videos, play, etc. This made me very happy to see it had built in Sansa support (and if it didn’t at first it downloaded it from the internet!). It made it so much easier to fix the player and organize the music on the player.
Now Windows 7 isn’t completely without it’s problems. While the interface is beautiful it does do some work on your graphics card at times. I have an ATI Radeon x1600 with 256MB video memory in my MBP, the graphics did hang sometimes (not too much) but it was definitely doing something. It might also be about the drivers, ATI has released some Windows 7 beta drivers, but again they are only beta. Another thing I noticed was that I couldn’t install some programs; MacDrive and Symantec EndPoint Protection. This is possibly the case in Vista also, but it did kinda suck that it wouldn’t install them. The system also still complains a lot about security issues which gets annoying after a bit, but you can decrease the sensitivity of the annoyances to a certain extent.
So, the good definitely outweighs the bad here and I’m looking forward to seeing Windows 7 when it’s complete. I believe that if this beta is this good, then Windows 7 has a damn good change of being “the next XP.” Overall, I’m very happy with Windows 7 and I’m very happy to see a Microsoft OS that functions well and is easy on the eyes.
Note: I am running Windows 7 build 7000, I have not installed 7100 or RC1. I may have to update if anything changes with later builds, but for now I’ll leave it at this.
