Win7

[Steve]

whole stack of pics for those interested

http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...h/Windows%207/

[Mstenger404]

This and Vista look so much alike, I don't know if I should upgrade anymore. Everything that 7 does better had better be worth it.

[Steve]

some more info i found.:

I've had 32-Bit Windows 7 build 7000 for a couple of days (which i think is meant to be Beta 1 being released on Jan 5th) and i've been doing a little benchmarking, nothing much though, but thought i'd post my findings....


But first! some improvements worth mentioning:
- Even though i have the 32-Bit version so only 3GB RAM of my 12GB of installed RAM is used, it's atleast as responsive as Vista x64 with the full 12GB in use.
Games also load just as fast even with only 3GB RAM in use.
- Installation is very easy and fast, with less restarts. More simple than Vista's install which was already a big improvement over XP.
- Boots up faster and shuts down faster than Vista or XP. Even with my Vista install on a vastly quicker SSD drive and Win7 on a normal HDD, Win7 is still faster at this.
- Very stable, no crashes yet - Impressive for a first Beta.
- HDD performance seems faster even though in synthetic benchmarks i'm getting the same results.
- UAC is still there but less annoying and does not bother you as much (obviously you can easily turn it off, so i've never understood why people moan about it anyway).
- Drivers, Games and Software that work on Vista, work on Windows 7. Drivers/Games with OS detection will sometimes not install though, displaying a message that Vista is not the OS (like X-Fi drivers). EDIT: Got X-Fi drivers working perfectly, for anything that has this just run the installer in Vista compatibility mode.
- Installing software and drivers seemed a little quicker than on Vista.
- The new taskbar, or "SuperBar" is very nice and customisable with some clever features. But the default setting is just stupid (no text only icons are displayed).
- Slightly less processes running.
- Less memory usage.
- ClearType tuning (comes in handy if you think ClearType blurs fonts too much).
- MS Paint has finally been updated since... XP? Win2K?
- New Media Center.
- New Windows Media Player (Version 12).
- Display Colour Calibration Wizard in Control Panel.
- Other small things like Gadgets can be placed anywhere, one click shutdown button, more customisable in general...
- And stuff worth mentioning that i haven't been able to try: 48-Bit colour support (no GFX cards support this yet), Improved SSD performance, MultiTouch Screen features.


Benchmarks:
3D Mark Vantage (with GTX280 @ 700MHz core / 1400MHz Shaders / 1280MHz memory)

Vista Score:
15,082

Windows 7:
15,101


Lightmark @ 2560x1600 res:
Vista:
271 FPS average

Windows 7:
356 FPS average (this is the biggest improvement i see out of anything)


Unigine Tropics DX10 Benchmark:

Vista:
64.9 FPS

Windows 7:
62.4 FPS


As for Crysis, it's basically the same performance as Vista. Same with other games i've tried (Mass Effect, Left 4 Dead, Dead Space, Tomb Raider Underworld, Doom 3).
It's important to know that Windows 7 is meant to ship with DirectX 11, but i'm reasonably sure DX11 is not in Beta 1. I even downloaded the lastest DX update for Vista, which installed fine. So basically the game benches above might be quite pointless! lol, not to mention that with Windows versions, from Beta to final release theres often a lot of tweaking, performance enhancements, features added and stuff changed.
I'm sure there will be more in depth benchmarks shortly when Beta 1 is officially released.

[Chrispy]

Thanks for the infos Steve.

Maybe Windows 7 will be quite a good operating system. JET had a point comparing how 2000/XP was, with Vista/7. 7 might actually be a whole lot better.

[Hellfighter]

most part i think its sweet

[.Simon.]

I think the quality of windows 7 when it is released, will be a lot better than Vista when that was released.

They say that this beta will help manufacturers prepare their products/drivers for 7, where as with vista, they had to start from scratch when it was released commercially.

But from what im reading so far, it looks really good.

[atholon]

We'll see I might get it on my tablet PC.

[IcIshoot]

Originally posted by .Simon.
I think the quality of windows 7 when it is released, will be a lot better than Vista when that was released.

They say that this beta will help manufacturers prepare their products/drivers for 7, where as with vista, they had to start from scratch when it was released commercially.

That doesn't make much sense, seeing as I had windows Vista RC1 months before the commercial copy came out, manufacturers should have had plenty of time to update their drivers.


I'm looking forward to seeing what windows 7 is like for my self

[atholon]

I had the beta for it long before as well...not RC but it is a start

[Scott]

Looking forward to more little tweaks like thoes that came with vista, thanks for the info steve

[Chrispy]

JET posted this on the squad site - wow:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3236&page=1

That's some damn fine results for 7.

[.Simon.]

Just burnt build 7000 to a dvd, and im getting an error about OSimage not being found.

So ill try and burn it again but ive also read about a few people having to replace their DVD Drives, so i may need to do that because mines a good few years old now.

[Hellfighter]

will double check the cables to it

[Steve]

How does Windows 7 beta 1 compare to Vista and XP in terms of performance? That’s a question that’s been hitting my inbox regularly over the past few weeks. Let’s see if we can’t answer it!

Important note: Before I go any further I feel I need to make a point, and make it clear. The build I’m testing of Windows 7 (build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400) is a beta build, and as a rule beta builds are usually more geared towards stability than performance. That said, the performance of this build should give us a clue as to how the OS is coming along.

Rather than publish a series of benchmark results for the three operating systems (something which Microsoft frowns upon for beta builds, not to mention the fact that the final numbers only really matter for the release candidate and RTM builds), I’ve decided to put Windows 7, Vista and XP head-to-head in a series of real-world tests to find out which OS comes out top.

The tests

There are 23 tests in all, most of which are self explanatory:

1. Install OS - Time it takes to install the OS
2. Boot up - Average boot time to usable desktop
3. Shut down - Average shut down time
4. Move 100MB files - Move 100MB of JPEG files from one hard drive to another
5. Move 2.5GB files - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB to 100MB) from one hard drive to another
6. Network transfer 100MB files - Move 100MB of JPEG files from test machine to NAS device
7. Network transfer 2.5GB files - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB to 100MB) from test machine to NAS device
8. Move 100MB files under load - Move 100MB of JPEG files from one hard drive to another while ripping DVD to .ISO file
9. Move 2.5GB files under load - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB to 100MB) from one hard drive to another while ripping DVD to .ISO file
10. Network transfer 100MB files under load - Move 100MB of JPEG files from test machine to NAS device while ripping DVD to .ISO file
11. Network transfer 2.5GB files under load - Move 2.5GB of mixed size files (ranging from 1MB to 100MB) from test machine to NAS device while ripping DVD to .ISO file
12. Compress 100MB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
13. Compress 1GB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
14. Extract 100MB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
15. Extract 1GB files - Using built-in ZIP compression
16. Install Office 2007 - Ultimate version, from DVD
17. Open 10 page Word doc - Text only
18. Open 100 page Word doc - Text and images only
19. Open simple Excel doc - Basic formatting
20. Open complex Excel doc - Including formula and charts
21. Burn DVD - Win 7 beta 1 .ISO to disc using CDBurnerXP
22. Open 10 page PDF - Text only, using latest Adobe Reader 8
23. Open 100 page PDF - Text and images, using latest Adobe Reader 8

These series of tests will pitch Windows 7 build 7000 32-bit against Windows Vista SP1 32-bit and Windows XP SP3 32-bit. The scoring for each of the tests is simple. The winning OS scores 1, the runner up 2 and the loser scores a 3. The scores are added up and the OS with the lowest score at the end wins.

The test systems

I’ve used two desktop systems as the test machines:

• An AMD Phenom 9700 2.4GHz system fitted with an ATI Radeon 3850 and 4GB of RAM
• An Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200 2.2GHz fitted with an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS and 1GB of RAM

The results

Here are the results of the tests for the two systems:





Conclusion

The bottom line is that the more I use Windows 7 the more I like it. Sure, we’re looking at a beta build here and not the final code, so things could change between now and release (although realistically final code ends up being faster than beta code). Also I still have some nagging issues relating to the interface, and some concerns that the UAC changes will break applications and other code, especially installers, but overall Windows 7 beta 1 is a robust, solid bit of code.

Sure, Windows 7 is not XP, and never will be (thankfully). And if you’re put off by things such as activation and DRM, then Windows isn’t the OS for you (good news is there are others to choose from). But if you’re looking for a solid OS then Windows 7 seems ready to deliver just that - a fast, reliable, relatively easy to use platform for your hardware and software.

Source:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3236&page=1

[.Simon.]

Used Steves advise from another post, but i installed it from Daemon Tools. Surprised it worked to be honest.

So far it looks very good, the layout is nice and not too different from Vista, so its easy to navigate if you're used to vista. It seems a lot more network orientated, with 'Libraries' that are shared over networks.

Im having to use an ethernet cable because theres obviously not many wireless drivers (if any yet), so i have to bring my pc downstairs

But so far, so good. Ill try and get some screens up later on.

[atholon]

Where the fetch did you get the beta?

[Steve]

torrent i imagine?

[Chrispy]

Doesn't the beta officially come out today/tomorrow?

[atholon]

THey are not supposed to release it until the Microsoft Conference.

[.Simon.]

You imagine right, but im not sure if we're allowed to talk of such things here so i didn't want to say lol.

It's already been released to a few select beta testers, so someone must have leaked it.