Windows 7 Versus XP: Which Belongs On Your Netbook?

[thartist]

Personally, i'd like to see:
1) more programs tested
2) in a real notebook, not on super crap Atoms that perform like PCs from the 90's

and yes, XP was made for PCs from 8 years ago.
it's MORE THAN A MIRACLE that Windows 7 behaves so well.

 

[Guest]

I feel that 7 hides its slowness better than xp does. With superfetch it keeps most apps you would use on a netbook in ram. This helps alot with slower JMicron controlled SSDs. I find that slow screen redraws are alot better on 7 than XP. With XP the screens are drawn in cpu with hardly any acceleration from the gpu. DWM really steps up the redraw.

 

[Guest]

@battlebuddy: That was retarded. Linux is open-source, if you think they're hiding some backdoor into your system, you should go find it and post it on the internet... Wait a minute... That's NEVER happened('cause it's not there)... The kernel is in constant development, although most distros get a new release and kernel once or twice a year... Is that somehow like Windows update? Besides, if people don't spend money on OS and software, they'll find something else to spend it on. You don't have to worry about anti-capitalists saving their money and not spending it. Thanks to our fiat money system and the inflation it brings with it, there's never any good reason to save money, it'll be worthless in 20 years...

Seriously, your retarded, just STFU...

 

[Luscious]

Win 7 will make much more sense on a Pinetrail platform than anything available today. I would wait for the second generation of netbooks to ship with Win 7 and a Pineview CPU later this year.

 

[Honis]

[citation][nom]harshavardhanr[/nom]Windows RC1 installs the ULTIMATE edition by default whereas netbooks that come installed with Windows 7 will have the STARTER edition installed. The Starter edition should be able to perform better and last longer on netbooks because it is (supposedly) optimized for them. Also, it will have far fewer services running in the background compared to the Ultimate edition.Hence, the conclusion, THE ABOVE COMPARISON IS POINTLESS.[/citation]

What this guy said. Go through and turn off none essential services in both XP and 7 then rerun these tests. I saw huge performance improvements in 7 when I did this on a Pentium 4 with 1 gig of RAM.

 

[belardo]

What version of Win7 was running on the notebook? Home, Basic or Starter?

Perhaps the basic version would be best and without a Aero would help... Also when Win7 is being installed on a netbook, it REALLY should do a minimized install... so instead of sucking up 10~15GB of HD space, it really shouldn't be any more than 4~5GB. Really NOT put on anything that the machine can live without.

Or install Linux and be done with it.

Also... netbooks SHOULD be allowed to come with 2GB... Win7 would enjoy it.

Netbooks are an excellent size little notebooks. Geez, in the OLD days - 11~12" screens were the norm, and people wanted bigger and bigger notebooks. But for $300~350, you get an excellent little computer that comes with XP (today). A friend is about to retire is old HP 17" for a 10" netbook. In the end, the weight, battery and size makes up for the loss in power... but for web browsing and doing some word docs while on the road... its good enough.

 

[mitch074]

Ubuntu being a battery drain: I have yet to see it on current supported versions. Latest benchmarks on the contrary show the opposite, since the kernel hits the disk only when really needed.

Needing to update the kernel every few weeks due to hacked drivers: no; kernel updates happen when there is a possibility that a kernel bug could be used for an attack (and the attack may cause a system hang; it's even rarer that an attack could lead to system overtaking). Even then, you don't HAVE TO update until next (re)boot: the fix is in before a hack is even envisioned, but it gets applied only when convenient.

On the other hand, as soon as you get an update for Windows, either the system becomes unusable (constant nag for reboot - XP) or it reboots on you no question asked (Vista/7 if you work as limited user or without UAC disabled).

But hey! You need Windows because insert-name-of-game here doesn't run under Linux, well, do use Window. insert-name-of-game-here won't run on a netbook anyway.

 

[ademiller]

Not really sure comparing an RC of Ultimate with old drivers tells you much about what the October released version or Starter will really be like.

More details of how to install Windows 7 RC can be found here:

http://www.ademiller.com/blogs/tech/2009/05/windows-7-rc-on-the-samsung-nc10-netbook/

Ade

 

[bobjones003]

I just repaired old turion ml-34 notebook which has 1.5 gb ram. I then promptly installed windows 7 from vista. Well I have not tested battery life yet. The main thing that I notice is that laptop is lot more responsive. For easy stuff like word, email, surfing the web, it is seems lot be responsive. But for anything hard like video editing and gaming it about the same. OF course if did test it is a 3-4 year old battery. Just my 2 cents. I have done battery testing on my newer laptop between fedroa 10 and vista. on stuff were laptop was almost idle vista one,but stuff were the machine had to actual work fedroa one

 

[americanbrian]

I think we all agree that this is pretty much a pointless "filler" article.

I don't believe the drivers crap for a second personally. newer OS needs more overheads shocker! The only app that runs faster is supposedly photoshop with SOME filters. Unlisted filters at that. I wonder how long it took them to find something ANYTHING that would beat XP. They certainly did a marginal job there.

Marketing hype crap article on a now barely relevant site with very few interesting new articles.

There I said it. This site is killing itself writing at the wrong market. They patronize their user base with crap like this.

 

[Guest]

Vista works great on my 3 year old laptop and the wireless support is awesome. I expect that Win 7 will be a nice laptop OS also.

jja

 

[Guest]

Vista's modern interface with the "functionality" of XP? Sorry but did you just say that? Vista is not "modern", it's all a relative statement, it's simply redesigned to look better than XP's disappointing GUI. I am running windows 7 RC 7100 on an IBM ThinkPad Pentium M@2.00GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 80GB 5400RPM HDD, ATI X300 SE-64MB and i have had no crashes or lag. No lag over 5 seconds when opening a program, but that would be opening Windows Media Center for the first time. Windows 7 doesn't install "Ultimate" by default..windows 7 RC 7100 IS Windows 7 Ultimate as it will be released to OEM's. Microsoft has actually stated that Wwindwos 7 RC 7100 and the final Windows 7 versions will pretty much be completely unchanged except for better driver compatibility and hardware support, as well as some general tweaks to improve performance. This is why i may buy the release but will probably just patch my RC version so i may use it as my primary OS without a time limit.

 

[anamaniac]

Interesting benches.

I'd like to see how starter edition will be optimized for low power systems.
And for those who complain about microsoft saying only heavily limited hardware is considered a netbook... if you have more than 1 gig of ram or a atom, you don't need a netbook optimised version, simple home edition will do.

I wonder how Win7 will do on my old laptop. 1.6GHz celeron and 512MB RAM, with integrated crap GPU that shares 16/32MB of RAM.

 

[nemo888]

Great so now the chrome plated turd which is Vista has been polished and renamed. IT'S STILL A TURD.

I'll stick with XP till the DRM infection is removed from the Vista 7. Stop being Microsoft's bitch. You guys sold out. That empty feeling you have is your missing integrity.

 

[kato128]

Windows 7 runs beautifully on my dell mini 9. Likes the SSD a lot better than xp ever did and doesn't have multi-tasking and slow browsing probs like ubuntu netbook remix. Battery life has been about the same across the board for me so really its about desktop response and 7 has that hands down over xp and ubuntu.

 

[inhackercom]

Windows XP Professional is perhaps the best version of Windows that Microsoft has released. It's rock-solid,

You can make your computer more efficient by using windows XP professional SP2, in place of any home edition.
Compare to windows XP home, XP-professional is more secure, reliable and fast with more in built security and efficiency enhancement options.

about Window 7 many people give a good reputation for it...
but i think it's lil better than vista but not XP

 

[TheZander]

Here's the problem with starter if it doesn't provide a boost in battery life and follows the indications we've seen with their testing here.

Why would I want to buy a license for an OS that runs SLOWER than XP, costs MORE than XP (even starter edition is rumored to cost more per license to OEMs than XP currently does), and eats battery faster, and won't even let me change my desktop wallpaper!!!??!!?!?!

Absolutely worthless. I love windows 7 on my laptop and main desktop at home, as well as my media center. On a netbook I'm honestly not going to give a CRAP about a "smooth interface" or an "exciting Aero experience." I'm going to care about speed, responsiveness, battery life, and PRICE. If this poor excuse for an article (as some of you have pointed out) makes one legit point, it's that Windows 7 (other than "prettiness") is a step backwards in most respects specifically on a NETBOOK. It was STUPID that they didn't test starter. Makes this article a near complete waste.

 

[yao]

chrome os is a good choice too. after all, it is free.

 

[benkraft]

[citation][nom]yao[/nom]chrome os is a good choice too. after all, it is free.[/citation]
No one has seen it yet, or knows all that much about it really. It's probably a year from release. But you feel confident calling it a good choice? Apparently only because it's free?
And that's disregarding any reservations one might have over privacy issues, considering this IS a google OS. (The same topic was quite the issue when the Chrome browser was released, after all...)

 

[Guest]

W7 RC1 is nicer to use than Vista, and feels faster... but it needs work on those drivers. The OS hangs, my apps (including some straight-forward ones) occasionally crash or freeze and data transfer between devices (especially wireless) can be problematic. Microsoft's biggest challange with a new OS is that by the time most drivers are up to scratch many people have already decided the new OS is unstable. Releasing RC1 may overcome this problem as we've all had a chance to identify buggy drivers. We need W7 official release to be at the same part of the OS development cycle as both XP and Vista were when they hit their SP1.

 

[TheZander]

[citation][nom]Watashi[/nom]W7 RC1 is nicer to use than Vista, and feels faster... but it needs work on those drivers. The OS hangs, my apps (including some straight-forward ones) occasionally crash or freeze and data transfer between devices (especially wireless) can be problematic. Microsoft's biggest challange with a new OS is that by the time most drivers are up to scratch many people have already decided the new OS is unstable. Releasing RC1 may overcome this problem as we've all had a chance to identify buggy drivers. We need W7 official release to be at the same part of the OS development cycle as both XP and Vista were when they hit their SP1.[/citation]

Not havin' a single one of those issues, my friend. I don't notice gobs of performance boost either, but I already had a ridiculously fast system to begin with, so going from Vista 64 to Win 7 64 was going to give me minimal boost at best. The system does boot noticeably faster, however, and prefetching is more agressive, which I like. Photoshop CS4 loads in about 1.3 seconds.

That blows my mind.

 

[starryman]

Didn't even mention a very critical point - price! Sure Win7 maybe a good platform but netbooks are extremely price sensitive. XP going for $15 a license for netbooks kept the prices very low. Since XP was so cheap, it made netbooks really cheap, which made adoption of netbooks quick and easy. I suspect a $50-$100 increase straight across the board. If that's the case I'll just get a low-end notebook for $500-600 and say bye bye to the days of $300-400 netbooks.

 

[Guest]

I was pretty set on getting xp for my 2.0ghz sony vaio p series netbook the thing is so tiny fits in my pocket so worth the extra cash.

butThis confrims it though I need xp on it. I might dual boot XP and win7 though use xp most of the time for performance.

Ordering an extra copy of XP now......


Besides I rather run old software on a weak netbook anyway I use it to play dos games and windows 98 level games ETC.

 

[dsolom3]

[citation][nom]Cubical[/nom]I was pretty set on getting xp for my 2.0ghz sony vaio p series netbook the thing is so tiny fits in my pocket so worth the extra cash. butThis confrims it though I need xp on it. I might dual boot XP and win7 though use xp most of the time for performance.Ordering an extra copy of XP now......Besides I rather run old software on a weak netbook anyway I use it to play dos games and windows 98 level games ETC.[/citation]


You are ***ORDERING*** another copy of XP? You know your netbook should come with one, eh? Unless it is a notebook with Vista, then you could get an XP downgrade, and a Win7 upgrade (you can only run one at a time anyway), so save some dough and buy your wife some flowers instead.

I am sorry, but anyone who actually goes out and ***BUYS*** a $200 OS to run on a ~$350 netbook is a moron. If you want looks - get linux, I can run full compiz effects (desktop cube, have mine set up to flip up-down instead of left-right; carousel window rotate; OSX-style widget starter, which is not part of compiz, but...; window effects like minimize/maximize; you name it!) on AAO 150 (GMA945 chipset, not that fancy Ion-9400 or ATi-3450 one either), blows Aero and OSX outta the water right there. Spend 10 more minutes - you can make it look like OSX if that tickles your fancy (I did that to mine, only to change it back after seeing green Apple fans for a day).

Compatibility with older programs.... Wine actually does better job in supporting my all-time favourite card game of Preference, made for DOS in 1992), than either XP, 2K, or Win7 (I will never, EVER, use vista) did. Actually, the windows os's couldn't run the game at all for some reason. Oh, I also run PokerStars software through Wine. It is even compatible with compiz.

Did I mention that it took me 25 minutes to have linux set up on AAO from scratch, complete with drivers and software that is actually needed? Less time than it takes to "install" or "set up" or "personalise" or "finish installing" the pre-installed by default XP. I'll be honest though - ISO download of ~700 mb and putting that on a flash drive is not included in those 25 minutes though.

 

[steiner666]

I'd like to see how the 7 RTM performs compared to the RC used in this article.

But yeah, since XP has the best results on average, i think most ppl will stick with it for their netbooks. who really wants/needs the flashiness and features of win7 on something that you usually only use to browse the net, watch videos, and type on?