With its Windows 7 OS, Microsoft gets the basics right. It just works, and after Windows Vista that may be enough to make it a winner. Read our review to find out more (UPDATED September 29, 2009).
Windows 7 Input: Reach Out and Touch Windows 7
The biggest user interface trend since Windows Vista shipped in January 2007 is touchscreen input; Windows 7 is the first version of the OS to offer built-in multitouch support.
Windows 7's new touch features are subtle on a touch-capable PC and invisible otherwise. Swipe your finger up or down to scroll through document files and Web pages; sweep two fingers back and forth to zoom in and out.
Dragging up on icons in the Taskbar reveals Win 7's new Jump Lists. The Taskbar button that reveals the Windows desktop is a bit bigger on touch PCs for easier use.
We installed the final version of Windows 7 and beta touchscreen drivers on an HP TouchSmart all-in-one PC. The touch features worked as advertised. But applications written with touch as the primary interface will determine whether touch becomes useful and ubiquitous. Until they arrive, Windows will continue to feel like an OS built chiefly for use with a keyboard and mouse - which it is.
You might have expected Microsoft to reinvent familiar tools such as Paint and Media Player for touch input. But the closest it comes to that is with the Windows 7 Touch Pack, a set of six touch-based programs, including a version of Virtual Earth that you can explore with your finger, and an app that lets you assemble photo collages. The Touch Pack isn't part of Windows 7, but it will ship with some Win 7 PCs, and it's a blast to play with.
Still, ultimately, the Pack is just a sexy demo of the interface's potential, not an argument for buying a touch computer today. Third-party software developers won't start writing touch-centric apps in force until a critical mass of PCs can run them.
That should happen in the months following Windows 7's release, as finger-ready machines from Asus, Lenovo, Sony, and other manufacturers join those from HP and Dell. And even then, touch input may not become commonplace on Windows 7 PCs. But if a killer touch app is out there waiting to be written, we may know soon enough.
Bottom Line: Is Windows 7 Worth It?
Reading about a new operating system can tell you only so much about it: After all, Windows Vista had far more features than XP, yet fell far short of it in the eyes of many users. To judge an OS accurately, you have to live with it.
Over the past 10 months, we've spent a substantial percentage of my computing life in Windows 7, starting with a preliminary version and culminating in recent weeks with the final Release to Manufacturing edition. We've run it on systems ranging from an underpowered Asus EeePC 1000HE netbook to a potent HP TouchSmart all-in-one. And we've used it to do real work, not lab routines.
Usually, we've run the OS in multiboot configurations with Windows Vista and/or XP, so we've had a choice each time we turned the computer on.
Should I opt for Windows 7 or an older version of the OS? The call has been easy to make, because Win 7 is so pleasant to use.
So why wouldn't you want to run this operating system? Concern over its performance is one logical reason, especially since early versions of Windows Vista managed to turn PCs that ran XP with ease into lethargic underperformers. Our Test Centre speed benchmarks on five test PCs showed Windows 7 to be faster than Vista, but only by a little; we've found it to be reasonably quick on every computer we've used it on - even the Asus netbook, once we upgraded it to 2GB of RAM. (Our lab tried Win 7 on a Lenovo S10 netbook with 1GB of RAM and found it to be a shade slower than XP.)
Here's a rule of thumb that errs on the side of caution. If your PC's specs qualify it to run Vista, get Windows 7; if they aren't, avoid it.
Microsoft's official hardware configuration requirements for Windows 7 are nearly identical to those it recommends for Windows Vista: a 1GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of free disk space, and a DirectX 9-compatible graphics device with a WDDM 1.0 or higher driver. That's for the 32-bit version of Windows 7; the 64-bit version of the OS requires a 64-bit CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 20GB of disk space.
Fear of incompatible hardware and software is another understandable reason to be wary of Windows 7. One unfortunate law of operating-system upgrades - which applies equally to Macs and to Windows PCs - is that they will break some systems and applications, especially at first.
Under the hood, Windows 7 isn't radically different from Vista. That's a plus, since it should greatly reduce the volume of difficulties relating to drivers and apps compared to Vista's bumpy rollout. We have performed a half-dozen Windows 7 upgrades, and most of them went off without a hitch. The gnarliest problem arose when we had to track down a graphics driver for Dell's XPS M1330 laptop - Windows 7 installed a generic VGA driver that couldn't run the Aero user interface, and as a result failed to support new Windows 7 features such as thumbnail views in the Taskbar.
The best way to reduce your odds of running into a showstopping problem with Windows 7 is to bide your time. When the new operating system arrives on October 22, sit back and let the earliest adopters discover the worst snafus. Within a few weeks, Microsoft and other software and hardware companies will have fixed most of them, and your chances of a happy migration to Win 7 will be much higher. If you want to be really conservative, hold off on moving to Win 7 until you're ready to buy a PC that's designed to run it well.
NEXT: our expert verdict >>
WINDOWS 7 REVIEW INDEX:
- Windows 7 Interface: The New Taskmaster
- File Management: The Library System, and UAC Gets Tolerable
- Applications: the fewer the merrier, and Windows 7 Device Management: Setting the Stage
- Windows 7 Input: Reach Out and Touch Windows 7, and Bottom Line: Is Windows 7 Worth It?
- WINDOWS 7: OUR EXPERT VERDICT
Comments
Meghabachani said: Windows 7 I hate the updates which run after I shut down the PC they are distressing like hell Even they sometimes run when I turn on the PC why doesnt Microsoft get the PC updated while we are working on something If the update is on same software we are working on a notification can be generated to make us alert save our work and then update it Even if a part of a processor is used atleast we wont get frustrated to look at the screen so that PC can complete its n number of updates
Gordon_southgate said: You gota laugh windows 7 minimum requirements 1GB RAM eh what planet Anything less than 2GB you will regret They do not mention that this leaves nothing for applications If you have the 32 bit version you are restricted to max 4GB RAM Think before you buy Get the 64 bit version and make sure the PC can pack minimum of 8GB to run the system hungry windows apps Else be prepared to exercise patience Gordon wwwourtechguycouk